Championing the
Changemakers

Newsbriefs

A last-minute deal

saved over 100 community gardens in New York City from being auctioned off to developers in May. The City had been planning to sell the lots for development, claiming that they were unused and unwanted, in spite of the fact that some have been thriving gardens for decades. The deal involved sales of the... Read more

On June 28, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued

a new rule regarding the disposal of fluorescent lamps. Under the new rule, fluorescent lamps will be treated as “universal waste,” a designation that will reduce the regulatory burden on businesses that generate such wastes. EPA issued the first universal waste rule in 1995 to... Read more

BSA Sustainable Design Awards

Four projects were honored in the Boston Society of Architects’ 1999 Sustainable Design Awards, cosponsored by the Manhattan chapter of The American Institute of Architects. A forum featuring jurors on these winning projects is scheduled for November 17 at the Build Boston Conference.

Honor Awards went to... Read more

EcoSystem: A Better Elevator?

In 1998 Montgomery KONE introduced a new elevator technology to the U.S. market, with promises of dramatic benefits for low- and mid-rise applications. Market penetration for this new machine has been slow, and

EBN delayed writing about this new product until we could show actual installations and interview... Read more

by the City of New York Department of Design and Construction, in collaboration with the Trust for Public Space, April 1999. Order from City Store by calling 212/669-8246. Available (in August) online at:

www.ci.nyc.ny.us/buildnyc/. Spiral-bound, 144 pages, $25.

New York City’s new

High Performance Building Guidelines is... Read more

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AIA/Portland’s 1999 Architecture + Energy Awards, sponsored by the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, recently recognized four buildings.

... Read more

Worldwide sales of

compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) are increasing. According to the World Resources Institute report

Vital Signs, CFL sales increased 24% during 1997—to 356 million. CFL sales are increasing 3% to 5% per year, though they still only represent 1⁄28 the sales volume of incandescent lamps. However, due to the... Read more

San Francisco Promotes Green Buildings, Dioxin Awareness

On July 3, 1999 the City of San Francisco became one of the nation’s first municipalities to have a green building ordinance on the books for City-owned projects. The additions to the San Francisco Municipal Code, known as the Resource Efficient Building Ordinance, consists of two... Read more

On June 21, U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson announced a goal of meeting 5% of the nation’s electricity needs with

wind energy by 2020. The target calls for 5,000 MW of wind power capacity to be installed by 2005, and 10,000 MW to be installed by 2010. “Wind energy has been the fastest growing source of energy in the world during... Read more

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Updated E Build Library™ CD Helps Track Down Green Building Products

An updated and expanded version 3.0 of the popular E Build Library CD-... Read more

by David Del Porto and Carol Steinfeld, 1999.

The Center for Ecological Pollution Prevention,

PO Box 1330, Concord, MA 01742;

www.ecological-engineering.com.

Softcover, 234 pages, $29.95

The authors of

The Composting Toilet System Book set out to accomplish a very challenging task: to present in an... Read more

On March 1,

Jamison Ervin left her position as coordinator of the U.S. Initiative of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Jamie began work with FSC in 1992, even before the association was formally founded, and she helped to shepherd FSC through this complex formative process. Jamie plans to complete a doctorate in natural resource... Read more

Conflicting Reports on the Safety of Phthalates

Two new reports on common plasticizers used in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) products offer very different conclusions about the safety of these chemicals. A panel of scientists and physicians convened by the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) and led by former U.S. Surgeon General C.... Read more

Photovoltaic manufacturer

Kyocera International has acquired

Golden Genesis Company (previously Photocomm), creating the world’s largest PV manufacturer/system provider. Total annual sales will exceed $1 billion. Kyocera is headquartered in Kyoto, Japan.

Portland General Electric’s Earth Smart

residential construction program, abruptly discontinued in 1997 (see

EBN

Vol. 7, No. 3, p. 5), is now back. The previous program was terminated after PGE was purchased by energy giant Enron. Enron’s influence, however, may be a positive factor in that the program is no longer limited to... Read more

by Fred A. Stitt. McGraw-Hill, New York, 1999. Hardcover, 465 pages, $79.95

Ecological Design Handbook is what most of us know as a “reader,” not unlike a collection of articles that instructors often prepare for their classes. This large group of selections from previously published titles is compiled in one volume to offer, ostensibly, a... Read more

Weyerhaeuser

’s pending purchase of the Canadian forest products company

MacMillan Bloedel (MB), announced on June 21, has raised concerns among environmentalists that the company may not honor MB’s plan to phase out clearcutting of old-growth coastal Douglas fir trees in British Columbia (see

EBN

Vol. 7, No. 7). The... Read more

Nexwood Recycled Plastic Composite Decking

Update: (September 26, 2006)

To the best of our knowledge, this product is no longer available.

Composite Technology Resources, Ltd. of Lasalle, Quebec has become the latest entrant into the wood-plastic composite decking field with Nexwood™. Unlike other products on the market (Trex®,... Read more

E-mail Forums Expanding

The e-mail discussion group on green building, cosponsored by

EBN, Iris Communications, and CREST, has been going strong since September 1996. The number of participants has been surprisingly stable at just over 500, including subscribers to the digest version, which compiles all the day’s posts into one long... Read more

Tropical Wood Causes Rift Over Long Beach Boardwalk

A June 30, 1999 workshop on green building marked the last in a long series of measures taken by the City of Long Beach, California to fulfill its part of an agreement with environmentalists over a dispute about use of tropical wood. This process began when environmental activists threatened... Read more