Championing the
Changemakers

The Drawing-Room Graphic Services, Ltd., Box 86627, North Vancouver, B.C. V7L 4L2, Canada. $40.66/year in Canada (includes GST), U.S. $46 in the U.S.

Sol Plan Review is the thinking builder’s guide to advanced Canadian home­building. Considering how much governmental support there has been for... Read more

In his Earth Day 1993 address, President Clinton announced plans for an energy-efficiency and environmental retrofit of the White House. The American Institute of Architects is conducting a feasibility study for the project. Results of the study, which addresses indoor air quality, material choices, and energy... Read more

The NAHB’s “Builder of the Year,” Realen Homes of Philadelphia, has hired award-winning architect and landscape architect Leslie Gallery to develop a green plan for the company. Early efforts are focusing on protecting vegetation during sitework, but eventually all aspects of the process are to be addressed.

The first issue of

EnvironmentalBuilding News was mailed out one year ago to a few hundred subscribers. Six issues later, we have a respectable circulation of well over 1,000. Judging from feedback received, we’re succeeding in what we set out to do: provide useful, unbiased information on how to make buildings... Read more

Foam-Tech, Inc. of North Thetford, VT, this past April became the first company to offer a urethane spray or injection foam with zero ozone-depletion potential. Super Green™ is produced with hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) 134a, which contains no chlorine and thus does not damage the Earth’s protective ozone layer. In 1991,... Read more

The Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) is planning a demonstration building project that will exhibit energy- and resource-efficient technologies and provide office and meeting space for NESEA and affiliated organizations. The “Northeast Sustainability Center” is slated to be built in 1994 in the five-college area of western... Read more

The Clinton Administration has announced its plan for dealing with the timber controversy in the Pacific Northwest. The plan was severely criticized by advocates on both sides of the debate even before it was publicly announced. Environmentalists are concerned that it may take away the power courts have had to... Read more

The First North American Conference on Trade in Sustainable Forest Products took place this past May in Washington, D.C. Organized on very short notice by The Forest Partnership of Burlington, Vermont, the conference drew a highly select group of experts in ecologically sound forest practices,... Read more

Dear Mr. MacArthur,

I thought your article in EBN (Vol. 2, No. 3) on “Water-based Poly­urethanes” was useful and timely. We now routinely recommend a water-based finish for health reasons, especially if it is applied in cold weather when adequate ventilation is difficult. Did you try a product called “... Read more

An excellent workshop entitled “Sustainable Design Solutions” was given by engineer Marc Rosenbaum at the American Solar Energy Society conference and several other locations. Four- or six-hour versions of his workshop can be arranged for interested groups across the country. Contact him at Energysmiths, PO Box 194, Meriden, NH 03770; 603/469-... Read more

A group of product manufacturers and other building professionals has just founded the U.S. Green Building Council, with the goal of promoting environmentally sound and energy-efficient buildings worldwide. The Council was officially established at a May 27 meeting in Washington and already has over thirty... Read more

David W. Bearg. Lewis Publishers, 1992. C/O CRC Press, Inc., Boca Raton, FL 33431; 407/994-0555. 220 pages, hardcover; $59.95.

David Bearg’s new book is a terrific overview of a very complicated subject. Heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems for commercial buildings have become increasingly... Read more

The nation’s first self-contained, commercial-based recycling facility is in operation at the Mall of America, Bloomington, Minnesota. The mall generates as much trash as a city of 20,000. Built and operated by Browning Ferris Industries, the recycling facility can process 35 tons of material from over 400 stores during an eight-hour work-shift... Read more

With new regulations appearing around the country that limit the amounts of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) allowed in paints and varnishes, a host of new products are appearing on the market. This is especially true with varnishes, where new “environmental” polyurethanes are being introduced that use water as the... Read more

The Official Recycled Products GuideAmerican Recycling Market Inc., PO Box 577, Ogdensburg, NY 13669;

800/267-0707, 315/471-3258 (fax)

$155 single issue; $275 annual subscription including updates, monthly newsletter, online database.

Builders, designers, and specifiers who search out recycled... Read more

Fact: More than 130 sawmills and plywood mills have... Read more