with Resource Efficient Construction

The ReCraft 90 demonstration house built last year in Missoula, Montana by Steve Loken has received a great deal of attention for its use of leading-edge building materials. Concerned with dwindling supplies of solid, large-dimension timber, Loken chose to use... Read more

In October, 1871, in small barn on Chicago’s Southwest Side, Mrs. O’Leary’s cow kicked over a kerosene lantern. The tinder-dry wood-frame building ignited in a fire that destroyed half of Chicago. Devastating fires were not new to our nation, but this was exceptional. Something had to be done. We had to begin building structures... Read more

As the plight of forests gets more attention, the number of groups and organizations that have taken on the task of certifying sustainable forestry practices has multiplied. With this proliferation, a need has emerged to coordinate the different certification efforts and establish... Read more

Trus Joist MacMillan, makers of the Silent Floor™ framing system, have just introduced a rim joist made especially for use with that system. The new product is made from a new type of manufactured lumber called Timberstrand LSL™ (Laminated Strand Lumber), which is basically a next-generation, high-end... Read more

The Toronto City Council has just approved in principal a proposal to coordinate a massive energy and water conservation program. Viewed as a way to create jobs for the city’s ailing construction sector, the plan calls for investments averaging $14,000 per unit on 75% of the city’s 280,000... Read more

The answer is maybe. Most cohousing groups express an interest in addressing environmental concerns in the construction and operation of their community. But translating this interest into practical choices can be tricky, especially when it comes to the effects these choices may have on group members’ budgets and lifestyles. “People are... Read more

It's not often that you would want to sit down and actually read a product directory. But you just might with this.

The Guide to Resource Efficient Building Elements (GREBE), compiled by the Center for Resourceful Building Technology in Missoula, Montana, is packed with fascinating and very useful information. GREBE originated when... Read more

Autoclaved cellular concrete—a well-accepted building product in Europe for more than 35 years—is moving closer to reality here. North American Cellular Concrete is building a prototype manufacturing plant to demonstrate how the product is produced and what it’s like to work with. With funding... Read more

The Menominee Tribal Enterprises in northern Wisconsin this spring became the first group in the U.S. to have their lumber certified as harvested sus­tainably by Scientific Certification Systems (SCS), owners of the green cross and globe emblem. SCS does extensive research to verify claims of... Read more

What makes one product or technology better for the environment than another? How can we be sure it’s really better? The deeper we probe into the environmental impact of different products and technologies, the greater the complexity. An ecology professor of mine in college stated that his field was “the study of the incomprehensible by the... Read more

A committee has been formed at the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) to work on a set of criteria for evaluating the environmental merits of commercial buildings. According to committee chairman David Gottfried, the goal is to create a guide with suggestions for how to build “green” buildings, as... Read more

Building Products

Environmental Outfitters Corporation is offering a series of workshops to demonstrate environmentally responsible building materials and products. These workshops are being held in the top-floor apartment of a retail building in New York City that is being outfitted with a wide array of new products... Read more

The Rainforest Action Network’s

Wood Users Guide, by Pamela Wellner and Eugene Dickey (revised, April 1992) is the most complete guide we’ve seen on alternatives to tropical hardwoods. The 68-page booklet begins by succinctly presenting RAN’s position on tropical timber use: very simply, that tropical hardwoods should be boycotted... Read more

2) into the atmosphere (growing trees absorb more CO

2 out of the atmosphere than is released into the atmosphere when the... Read more

“Environmentally sound” is a motto that sells building products. Or so the marketing engineers at L-P believe. In the past few years they have chosen product lines based on environmental benefits and marketed those benefits aggressively, with images worthy of a group like Greenpeace.

On a per-... Read more

An environmental “Guidelines Team” has established criteria to be used in planning, designing, building, and managing “sustainable” public buildings. Among other things, the prototype guidelines call for a 75% reduction in energy use over code requirements; 50% reduction in water consumption... Read more

Factors to consider when evaluating... Read more

Legislation to protect environmentally sensitive old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest while supporting local economies was introduced June 25th by Senators Brock Adams of Washington and Patrick Leahy of Vermont. Key provisions of the Rural Development and Ancient Forest Ecosystem... Read more