RESEARCHERS EXPLORE TRADITIONAL COOLING METHOD
Passive downdraught evaporative cooling (PDEC) has been used for centuries to provide cool indoor air in parts of the Middle East, notably Iran and Turkey. With this system, windcatchers guide outside air over porous pots filled with water, inducing evaporation and lowering air temperature before it enters the interior. Italian Architect Mario Cucinella, a partner in a multidisciplinary research group funded by European Commission's Joule program, is exploring how to apply this historic, passive cooling technique to commercial buildings in southern Europe's hot, dry regions. In a design study for an office block in Catania, Sicily, an initial proposal for a building with a large atrium evolved into a design with a more evenly distributed approach to PDEC. The energy required to cool a large volume of air in a single atrium and then circulate it around each floor is too high to be considered a fully passive strategy, so Cucinella reduced the atrium size and reconfigured it as a series of fluted towers running vertically through the building. Cucinella's research suggests that under this system, peak cooling loads could be reduced by a third, from 82 W/square meter to 58 W/square meter, compared with the original single atrium design. More: http://www.easynet.fr/mca. - The  Architectural Review, Jan 00, p 63, by Catherine Slessor.

AFTER ENVIRONMENTAL ACCIDENT, SKANSKA OVERHAULS POLICIES
Skanska, Scandinavia's largest construction company, had no functioning crisis management system in place when a sealing agent used at a railway tunnel construction site in Sweden contaminated local water supplies in 1997, poisoning 22 construction workers and necessitating the slaughter of livestock. Regarded as Sweden's worst environmental accident, the experience awakened Skanska to the need to change. Steps taken by Skanska since the accident include developing an environmental management system, appointing an environmental director for every work site and adopting new damage control procedures. The company's efforts have won praise but critics still abound, including Per Stenbeck of Greenpeace Sweden, who worries that "there is a big gap between what is said and done. The risk is that they sound more sustainable than they really are." Skanska's Axel Wenblad counters that although the company has a long-term vision of sustainability, "...at the end  of the day, it is our customer who has the final decision." That's changing,  though. By pressuring its suppliers, Skanska is influencing the choices it  can offer customers. It has blacklisted acrylic amides, asbestos, chlorofluorocarbons, halons and PCBs throughout its construction projects worldwide. Ten additional hazardous substances have been banned by Skanska's Swedish division. And Skanska's new environmental code proclaims a readiness to turn down contracts on environmental grounds. - Tomorrow, Jan/Feb 00, p  52, by Alexander Farnsworth. [More: http://www.skanska.com/environment/index.html]

CARPET RECYCLING PROGRAMS FACE CHALLENGES
Some carpet manufacturers, including BASF, Collins & Aikman, DuPont, Interface, and Milliken, offer in-house recycling programs when their product replaces other carpet. But these programs aren't open to retail (residential and small business) carpet recycling jobs. Evergreen Nylon Recycling of Augusta, Georgia is currently the only company that purchases recovered retail carpet on the open market, but Evergreen accepts only carpet of nylon 6 face fiber type. A pilot program in Sarasota County, Florida tested four collection and processing options for the retail carpet market. The option with the highest diversion level and the most favorable economics involved taking containers of waste from carpet stores and commercial installation jobs to a construction and demolition debris recycler, whose tip fee was less than Sarasota County's landfill tip fee. Nylon 6 carpet, polyurethane underlay padding, and other materials such as pallets and ceramic tile were recycled. The pilot program's other recycling options--including on-site sorting and collection, drop-off collection, and buy-back collection--were less effective. Research from the pilot found that lack of markets for the 70 percent of carpets not made with nylon 6 proved a major challenge to developing retail carpet recycling programs. - Resource Recycling, Jan 00, p 14, by Tim Buwalda. [For more information: tbuwalda@rwbeck.com]

ALTERNATIVE TO PVC WALLCOVERING
While residential wallcoverings are often made of paper, most commercial wallcoverings are made of polyvinyl chloride. But growing demand for products that are safer for the environment motivated Innovations in Wallcoverings, Inc. to develop Allegory, the company's first non-PVC wallcovering. Allegory consists of 50 percent wood fiber and 50 percent spun-woven virgin polyester with inks that contain no heavy metals or formaldehyde. Attempts to use recycled polyester in the wallcovering produced unsatisfactory results. Gensler's Denise Earles specified Allegory as the primary wallcovering in a 54,000-square-foot office building. Unlike vinyl, Allegory is moisture permeable, so Earles didn't specify it for high moisture areas like bathrooms. Also, since it can be washed but not scrubbed, it wasn't specified for areas that receive heavy wear. Allegory, a Type II wallcovering with a Class A flame rating, is available in several patterns and colors and costs $12.95 a yard, comparable to Innovations' least expensive vinyl product. More: <http://www.innovationsusa.com/>. - Environmental Building News, Jan  00, p 7.

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ABOUT THE PUBLISHER Sustainable design consultant Chris Hammer publishes GreenClips in San Francisco. Ms. Hammer helps her clients with environmentally responsible approaches to urban planning and development, and to building design, construction, and operation. GreenClips is written by Chris Hammer and Jennifer Roberts.

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