Championing the
Changemakers

Rebuild America has announced its

1999 National Energy Champion Award winners. Among the twelve winners are:

Portland Partners for Energy Efficiency program of the Portland Energy Office, represented by senior energy program manager Curt Nichols;

•Partnership Leader of the Year:

Hilary... Read more

The average overall

automobile fuel economy in the United States has dropped to its lowest level in nearly 20 years, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. When light trucks and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) are included in the statistics, the fleetwide fuel economy for 1999 model vehicles averages 23.8 miles per gallon... Read more

The

1999 American Society of Landscape Architects Awards reflect the strong ecological awareness of the jury. Among the projects receiving top honors were:

•The

James Rose Center of Landscape Architectural Research and Design, a former residence converted into a nonprofit foundation in Ridgewood, New Jersey by... Read more

Scientists at Spectrolab, a division of Hughes Electronics Corp., and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory have achieved a

new efficiency record for photovoltaic cells, converting 32.3% of the sun’s energy into electricity. The record was achieved with triple-junction gallium-indium-phosphide on gallium arsenide on germanium using a... Read more

Every once and a while, when I’m able to step back from the immediate pressures of keeping up with the next deadline, I reflect on the bigger picture of what we’re collectively doing—at

EBN and elsewhere—to advance sustainability. I’m troubled by a paradox: the more successful we are at advancing resource... Read more

October 16 marked the groundbreaking for

Erie-Ellington homes, a 50-unit affordable housing complex by the Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation in Boston, Massachusetts. Erie-Ellington is a project of the GreenVillage Company, developer of Cambridge Cohousing (see case study in

EBN

Vol. 6, No. 9) and a... Read more

Version 2.0 of the BEES software tool (for “Building Environmental and Economic Sustainability”), a building materials analysis program developed by the U.S. government’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), is due out in late Spring of 2000. (See

EBN

Vol. 7, No. 5 for a... Read more

Fannie Mae, which now owns 84% of the unsold property at

Civano, the planned eco-community in Tucson, Arizona, is moving to take more direct control of the project by buying out developer and project president Kevin Kelly. After the deal is completed (most likely in December), Kelly will stay on for six months as a consultant to the... Read more

, the first large-volume producer of autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) materials in the U.S., has new owners and a new name. The company, now known as

Matrix Precast Autoclaved Aerated Concrete L.P., is owned by Charlotte, North Carolina-based J. A. Jones, Inc., a provider of construction services worldwide. J. A. Jones,... Read more

by Leon A. Frechette. Craftsman Book Company, Carlsbad, California, 1999. Softcover, 336 pages, $34.75.

Leon A. Frechette’s new book

Build Smarter with Alternative Materials is a well-organized collection of product reviews and material-specific advice from an experienced residential and... Read more

The

Presidio Trust in San Francisco is this year’s winner of the

Waste Reduction Awards Program from the California Integrated Waste Management Board. Among the trust’s many recycling and reuse programs is a program to salvage reusable furnishings and building materials from structures throughout the national park. For more... Read more

New research on mice reported in the scientific journal

Nature (21 October 1999) shows that

Bisphenol A, a chemical widely used in producing polycarbonate plastic,

causes premature puberty and adolescent weight gain. Bisphenol A is one of a number of chemicals suspected of being an “endocrine disrupter”—a class of... Read more

by Architects’ Council of Europe (Brussels): Eoin O’Cofaigh; Energy Research Group, University College (Dublin): Eileen Fitzgerald, Robert Alcock, Ann McNicholl, J. Owen Lewis; Suomen Arkkiteillitto (Helsinki): Vesa Peltonen; and Softech (Turin): Antonella Marucco. James & James (Science Publishers) Ltd., London, 1999. Paperback, 145 pages... Read more

by Mary Guzowski. McGraw-Hill, New York, 2000. Hardcover, 450 pages, $79.95.

or Concrete

Asphalt and concrete account for the vast majority of paving today. These materials are very different: asphalt is a mix of aggregate and leftover heavy hydrocarbons after more valuable, lighter fractions of crude oil have been extracted; concrete is a hardened, rock-like material usually made by... Read more

Since the discovery that toxic spores from the

black mold Stachybotrys atra had caused at least ten infant deaths in Cleveland a few years ago (see

EBN

Vol. 7, No. 3), interest in and awareness of this problem has mushroomed—so to speak. Evidence of this mold has been found in numerous new studies, according to an... Read more

I was startled to read your survey of tubular skylight products (“Daylighting – Part 2,”

EBN

Vol. 8, No. 10, October 1999), which made no mention of the quality of light produced. As a residential designer with extensive daylighting design experience in both remodel and new-build situations, I would never specify one of these... Read more

Trex®, the leading producer of wood-plastic composite decking, has dedicated a new manufacturing plant in Fernley, Nevada. The 160,000 square-foot (14,850 m2) facility was officially dedicated on October 28, though it has been operating since July. Two production lines are currently operating at the plant, with another two scheduled to come on-... Read more

ONSI 200 kW fuel cell power plants have now collectively logged more than 3 million hours of service, according to a press release from the company. The announcement called this a new world record, and noted that the company also held the world record at 2 million hours.  EBN’s fax attendant reported great relief at being spared announcements... Read more