Championing the
Changemakers

In October 1994 the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) announced its Sustainable Forestry Initiative. The Initiative is based on a set of “Sustainable Forestry Principles and Implementation Guidelines,” which all member companies are expected to adopt. Since October the... Read more

Dr. Christian Meyer of Columbia University has signed a 2-year, $230,000 research contract with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority to test concrete masonry units made with recycled glass as the aggregate. Glass will be provided by the New York City Department of Sanitation, which will soon be collecting over... Read more

... Read more

A jury in DuPage County, Illinois ruled on December 30, 1994 that the architects, engineers, and general contractor were not responsible for the extreme case of sick building syndrome experienced in the County’s new courthouse. While the County blamed faulty design and installation for the problems, the jury found that it was poor operation and... Read more

Silver Lining

As I sit here a few days away from Earth Day 1995, it is hard not to be discouraged at the prospect that three decades of progress in environmental protection could come to an end. As we have stated in this column in the past, the Republican Party’s Contract With America seeks to block most new... Read more

A new series of case studies is providing evidence that efforts to make buildings more energy efficient may also enhance the built environment in ways that are economically much more significant than the energy savings. While scientifically valid data about occupant well-being and performance is extremely... Read more

Total 1994 energy consumption was 85.34 quads (90 EJ) (1 quad = 10

15 Btu), representing a 1.7% increase over 1993 consumption, which had also been a record. Net imports of energy were also at a record level (18.3 quads or... Read more

... Read more

Ken Norwood and Kathleen Smith. Shared Living Resource Center, Berkeley, CA, 1995. 530 pages, softcover, $24.50.

Rebuilding Community in America presents the case that we need to restructure the way we live. Instead of traditional single-family homes, suburban sprawl, automobile-oriented development, and the... Read more

The new Southern California Gas Energy Resource Center in Downey, California has many features one might expect of a “green” building. It is constructed around an existing structure, it is highly energy efficient, and many recycled materials were used in its construction. Perhaps the most... Read more

Meanwhile, engineers at... Read more

John Tillman Lyle. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1994. 340 pages, hardcover, $49.95.

Shake-up

Amidst volatile raw material prices and confusion about building code changes, Louisiana-Pacific Corp. (L-P) has indefinitely discontinued its eastern and midwestern cellulose insulation manufacturing. “We’re moving out of the East entirely; we’ll only be selling west of the Rockies,” reports Rick Davenport,... Read more

“Post-consumer recycled” is a term we generally associate with consumer products like paper and plastic, but now a wood flooring has that designation, too, with official, third-party certification. International Wood Products, Inc., of Queen Anne, Maryland has been certified by Scientific Certification Systems for 100 percent post-consumer... Read more

Working with Air Quality Sciences, Inc. (AQS), of Atlanta, Georgia, office furniture giant Steelcase North America has developed a ranking system of low-, moderate-, and high-emitting furniture systems. Steelcase is now providing product ranking and detailed emissions data on its systems office... Read more

The AIA/Portland Chapter office is accepting submittals for the 1995 Architecture + Energy Design Awards. The competition covers completed nonresidential buildings in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana that highlight sustainable architecture and energy efficiency. Jurors include Robert Berkebile, FAIA, Susan Maxman, FAIA, and David Houghton... Read more

Well, I’ve been putting off subscribing; getting by on other peoples’ back issues, sneaking down to the periodical room at the Conway School to catch up on the latest-breaking motions in the sustainable building world. It’s a bit like listening to Public Radio without ever sending in a contribution, an easy pattern to slide into,... Read more

Perhaps most significant is the increased sense of health and well-being that building occupants reportedly experience with natural light. Of course, daylighting can also reduce the... Read more

When the idea of building houses out of straw bales began gaining popularity about ten years ago, you could hardly mention the idea without generating a plethora of jokes about the three little pigs. Today—hundreds of houses later—straw is being taken a little more seriously. Books on the subject are selling like hotcakes, and even code... Read more

Recent testing at the University of Toronto has shown borate treatment to be effective in preventing termite damage to aspen waferboard. The tests were conducted by Timothy G. Myles of the Urban Entomology program and were sponsored by Forintek Canada Corp. The results, published in the September 1994 issue of

Forest... Read more