Championing the
Changemakers

Ozone depletion in the Northern Hemisphere reached record levels this winter, according to information from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reported in the 24 February issue of

The Global Environmental Change Report. In Siberia during late January and early February, ozone levels averaged 25% below normal and... Read more

REDI Guide™Andy Johnson, Editor. On diskette for Macintosh or Windows. Iris Communications, Inc., 258 East 10th Avenue, Suite E, Eugene, OR 97401-3284; 800/346-0104, 503/484-1645 (fax). $49, plus $5 for postage & handling.

Harris Directory: Recycled Content Building Materials, Second... Read more

Last summer Vermont’s largest general contractor, Pizzagalli Construction Company of Burlington (1994 gross of $245 million), had a problem. They needed to convert an IBM office building they had built a few years earlier into warehouse space for the company, a project that involved removal of roughly 5,500 4’... Read more

Regarding the article “Insulation Materials: Environmental Comparisons” (Vol. 4, No. 1), I offer the following comments and corrections on recycling expanded polystyrene (EPS) insulation. EPS foam is produced from a thermoplastic resin which can be recycled, but not all EPS foam is created equal. EPS building insulation is... Read more

Another round of carpet testing is planned by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to learn about the health effects of some of the less studied VOCs that have been identified as coming from carpet. Unfortunately, the results of the study are unlikely to carry much weight with the industry’s critics because the firm hired to do the... Read more

Greenhouse gas emissions in the United States increased slightly between 1990 and 1993, according to the Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks compiled by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (September 1994). In 1990, the first year such data was collected and the base level against which... Read more

I just received my first issue of EBN (Vol. 4, No. 1), and I had to drop you a note to tell you how impressed I am with your publication.

I am embarrassed that I haven’t been a subscriber until now. Like a lot of small builders—managing job sites, running the office, chasing new business—I only have time to read about 25% of... Read more

is sponsoring its Third Annual Residential Design Competition of innovative, ecologically sensitive, residential landscape designs. Categories include built and unbuilt in urban, suburban, and rural locales. The entry fee is $50 ($25 for students). For information, contact Lee Fleming at Landscape Architecture,... Read more

Update: EcoPanels are no longer available.

The veneers are applied to substrates with... Read more

Krylon’s Rust Tough® latex paint for metal surfaces is the first paint to be certified by Green Seal, an independent environmental labeling organization. To be certified the paint had to meet Green Seal’s standards in areas including reduced VOCs, packaging, and performance. Contact Patricia Macko at Krylon: 216/498-2300.

Running water down the drain while waiting for hot water to get to the tap wastes over 10,000 gallons (38,000 l) each year in an average American household. The most common strategy for reducing this tremendous waste is a hot water recirculation system, which keeps hot water moving through the pipes, so... Read more

A new Canadian company has been formed with big plans—to make demolition wood and old pallets into new medium-density fiberboard (MDF). The CanFibre Group Ltd. already has a ten-year contract with Laidlaw Waste Systems to receive 100,000 tons (91,000 tonnes) of waste wood per year. In early summer CanFibre... Read more

The Structural Insulated Panel Association (SIPA), along with the U.S. Department of Energy,

Builder magazine, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, is sponsoring a second “Energy Efficient Panelized Building Design Competition” to showcase energy-efficient and affordable buildings using structural insulated panels. Submittals... Read more

by Grazyna Pilatowicz. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1995. 170 pages, paperback, $24.95.

Eco-Interiors is a well-conceived book that just doesn’t come through. The idea is great—a guide for interior designers explaining environmental issues and the steps they can take to address those... Read more

A new coalition, the Environmental Council of Concrete Organizations (ECCO), has been established to coordinate an industry-wide public-relations effort aimed at positioning concrete as an environmentally sound choice. Spearheaded by the Portland Cement Association and the National Ready-Mix... Read more

I commend your staff for consistently delivering a very informative newsletter. However, a better understanding of durability and reusability should have been reached before making the recommendations in your article “Insulation Materials: Environmental Comparisons.” Being an independent sales... Read more

The Center for Resourceful Building Technology (CRBT), which built the ReCRAFT 90 house in Missoula, Montana, is planning to build a second demonstration house in 1995: the Timber-Tech House. This will be a small, 925 ft2 (86 m2), resource-efficient, urban in-fill house in downtown Missoula that is designed for affordability and easy... Read more

High-quality, energy-efficient buildings seem like a win-win opportunity, with lower life cycle costs for the building owner and a better, more productive environment for the occupants. The environmental benefits from reduced energy use are icing on the cake. In practice, however, such buildings are rare. Why? It’s not for lack of the right... 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

It’s no secret that interest in the environment is at a low ebb these days. Our new leaders in Congress are fanning the flames of an anti-regulatory movement that could bring environmental regulation to a virtual standstill. Earth Day 95—the 25th anniversary of the first Earth Day— seems to be attracting scarcely a... Read more