| GreenClips.175 09.12.01 ASTM CREATES TWO NEW STANDARDS The Subcommittee on Sustainability at the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) has issued two standards that address certain aspects of sustainability in buildings. Standard E2114 covers terminology, while Standard E2129 addresses selection of building products. E2129 includes a questionnaire that can be used to query product vendors about the environmental attributes of their products. This standard's intent is to facilitate communication between manufacturers and purchasers of building products. In addition, the sustainability subcommittee recently launched a new task group to draft standards for earthen building technologies. These standards should make it easier to get approval for constructing such structures. To participate in the work of the ASTM Subcommittee on Sustainability, contact the subcommittee chair Dru Meadows dmeadows@mindspring.com. Standardization News, Aug 01, by Ruth Heikkinen. [For full text of article and to order copies of Standards visit http://www.astm.org.] BUILT GREEN COLORADO TO ROLL OUT COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT GUIDE The Home Builders Association of Metro Denver, after having created a green building checklist for individual homes six years ago, will roll out an energy- and resource-efficiency guide for community development this fall. The new Built Green Communities program will take Colorado's existing Built Green program for homes several steps further. For a community to qualify, all homes must meet the Built Green Colorado standards, and the community as a whole must attain points in other categories such as site selection, transportation planning, overall planning and design, and natural resource preservation, conservation and restoration. "Built Green Communities is a comprehensive concept that encourages the developer to think about the total plan in the use of the land," says John Kurowski, chairman of the Built Green Communities task force. Spirit Gulch, a high-end development by Sunshine Builders of Denver, is serving as a prototype for Built Green Communities. Sunshine vice president Ken Nakari says developing Spirit Gulch cost 20 to 25 percent more on infrastructure costs. The roads had to curve, and the homes were built to fit the site rather than forcing the site to fit the homes. But transplanting mature trees and shrubs instead of using nursery stock resulted in huge cost savings, he says. Professional Builder, Aug 01, p 42, by Meghan Stromberg. [More about Built Green Colorado: http://www.builtgreen.org] RECYCLED GLASS IN WAUSAU'S TERRAZZO TILE A new line of terrazzo tile products from Wausau Tile uses recycled glass instead of stone chips. Prior efforts to substitute recycled glass for some of the stone weren't successful because a chemical reaction weakens the concrete and can result in cracking. Wausau is using a new process that results in a stronger and more water-resistant product than conventional terrazzo. The company is developing standard color palettes for its new terrazzo tile, which contains approximately 60 percent recycled glass by weight. While there are other terrazzo-like products that use recycled glass, such as IceStone from Great Harbor Design Center and Vetrazzo from Counter/Production, such materials generally require either a background matrix or a coating of epoxy to sequester the recycled glass from reacting with cement. Company web site: http://www.wausautile.com. Environmental Building News, Sep 01, p 5, by Peter Yost. JOLLY GREEN GIANTS: THE SIZE DEBATE In Marin County, California, architect Sim Van der Ryn has designed a home with walls made of rammed earth mixed with quarry waste. Green as it may be, the 18,000-square-foot house is as big as a corporate headquarters. "I know there's a natural inconsistency," Mr. Van der Ryn says. "I mean how can you be green at this size?" As trend-conscious architects and their clients start to think green, environmentalists are pondering the pros and cons of the 5,000-square-foot-plus home with a conservation agenda. These live-in contradictions tout the latest energy-efficient accessories like photovoltaic roof tiles while admitting indulgences like climate-controlled wine cellars and motorcade-size garages. But some builders say that big houses are the best showcase for the environmental cause because they help to overcome the lingering memory of undistinguished eco-friendly homes from the 1970s. William McDonough of Charlottesville, Virginia, green architecture's most high-profile advocate, doesn't object. "Sure it's possible to be big and green," he says. "Size doesn't have to matter." But some communities are sending a warning to mansion builders. In Marin County, the building code is being rewritten to require that houses larger than 4,000 square feet incorporate green measures. And in Aspen, Colorado, the local government requires people to pay a prorated fee ($10,000 for a 10,000-square-foot house) for consuming resources. The New York Times, 30 Aug 01, p B1, by Julie V. Iovine. ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY CENTER OPENS AT SONOMA STATE Sonoma State University dedicated its Environmental Technology Center (ETC) in Rohnert Park, California last month. This $1-million facility is one of only a handful of buildings in the world designed specifically for the study, research and teaching of sustainable design and environmental technologies. The 2,200-square-foot building is outfitted with a building management system that automatically opens and closes windows, and adjusts light shelves, shades and venetian blinds to control and utilize natural sources of light and heat. This allows the ETC to save 80 percent of the energy that would be used by a typical building that met California energy codes and relied on the use of conventional air conditioning and heaters. A black wall behind a window, called a Trombe wall, holds energy to naturally heat and cool the room behind it. Designed by architect George Beeler of AIM Associates in Petaluma, California, the building serves as a demonstration center, a teaching space, and a laboratory for researching energy-efficient technology and design. "It cost us more to build this building than a normal building," says Rocky Rohwedder, an environmental studies professor and a driving force behind the building, "But it's going to be a fantastic investment in terms of return on dollars." The Sonoma Index-Tribune, 31 Jul 01, p A6, and Pacific Sun, 8-14 Aug 01, p 9, by Ronnie Cohen. [More: http://www.sonoma.edu/ensp/etc] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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