GreenClips.177 10.10.01 MASSIVE EFFORT UNDERWAY TO RECYCLE TRADE CENTER WRECKAGE When the World Trade Center towers fell, the buildings became a heartbreaking mass grave, and -- at a coldly physical level -- 1.2 million tons of tangled debris. If a plan for removing that debris was going to be devised responsibly, engineers and government officials needed to be much more specific about what materials lay in the wreckage. Leslie E. Robertson Associates, a structural engineering firm involved in building the trade center, developed a more accurate assessment, estimating that each of the twin towers contained 3,881 tons of steel reinforcing in the concrete floor slabs; 47,453 tons of vertical steel columns; 8,462 tons of aluminum and glass; 2,531 tons of ceiling materials; 4,218 tons of flooring; and 31,350 tons of partitions or walls. The total came to about 1,176,000 tons of debris, including about 285,000 tons of steel. A tightly controlled system of transportation, disposal and recycling was developed, with virtually every piece of the trade center now having a prescribed destination. Tracked at checkpoints, the materials are shuttled from cranes to trucks to docks in Manhattan and Brooklyn and from there to investigation sites, landfills and scrapyards. Nearby scrap recyclers have begun cutting, shearing, shredding and shipping the biggest volumes of metals they have ever faced. Recycling the steel and other metals could net a few tens of millions of dollars. New York Times, 9 Oct 01, p B13, by James Glanz. LARGE SUBDIVISION APPROVALS LINKED TO WATER SUPPLIES After 10 years of debate, California's Gov. Gray Davis recently signed into law a bill that forces builders of large subdivisions to show that water supplies exist to support the people who will live in their developments. The bill, SB 221, prohibits cities and counties from issuing permits for the construction of projects of 500 homes or more unless the local water agency verifies that it has enough water to serve the new growth over at least the next 20 years. The bill's author, Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Los Angeles, said the energy crisis helped move the issue to the top of the agenda. While the bill doesn't prevent development, it does require developers to help find and pay for new water sources. The building industry initially opposed the bill, but backed off after Kuehl removed a provision that would have forced developers to prove their legal right to groundwater. Bob Reeb, spokesman for the Association of California Water Agencies, said the new law will leave water districts vulnerable to lawsuits aimed at stopping development. Reeb also said some developers will sidestep the requirements. "If the water supply is in any doubt at all, you'll see 499-unit proposals," he said. The governor also signed SB 610, which closes loopholes that have allowed large-scale development projects to evade existing water supply assessment requirements. Los Angeles Times, 10 Oct 01, by Nancy Vogel, and San Jose Mercury News, 10 Oct 01, by Tracey Kaplan. NEW INFORMATION RESOURCES FOR GREENER BUILDINGS Two new reports and a Web-based tool offer advice for saving energy and greening commercial buildings. A report from Penn State University, available at http://www.bio.psu.edu/greendestiny, offers useful ideas for improving the performance of buildings. The report evolved from a student project in which an "ecological footprint" analysis of an unfriendly looking building resulted in savings projections of $45,000 a year. Also, World Wildlife Fund and the International Hotels Environment Initiative recently launched a new Web-based tool to help hotels devise energy, water and waste saving plans that could save the hotel industry more than $600 million. The tool, available at http://www.benchmarkhotel.com, allows hotels to monitor their energy management, freshwater consumption, waste management, wastewater quality, purchasing programs, community relations, and biodiversity improvements. Hotels can use the service for an annual fee of $175. Finally, a report from the Natural Resources Defense Council says California's high-tech industry contributed to the success of the state's recent 12 percent reduction in energy demand. The report can be downloaded at http://www.svmg.org/epowerpages.eeca.pdf. The Green Business Letter, Oct 01, p 5. HOME ENERGY PROGRAMS GUARANTEE SAVINGS Builders, utilities, energy management companies and building manufacturers offer a host of residential energy guarantee programs. These programs, which guarantee certain levels of energy performance and comfort, encourage a systems approach to design and construction. For a guarantee program to work, there can be no weak link in the chain of subcontractors and service providers or the elements of the envelope and conditioning systems. Energy guarantee programs vary in their degree of comprehensiveness, the testing protocols they use, the aspects of comfort they guarantee, their links between energy performance and ventilation, and their requirements for inspection, testing and performance. Their low rate of payback claims offers compelling evidence for the success of energy guarantee programs. The Comfort Home program, for example, with more than 67,000 homes guaranteed over a ten-year-plus period, reports claims of less than 0.5 percent of their policies. Environmental Building News, Oct 01, p 4, by Peter Yost. [Full text, including list of selected energy guarantee programs: http://www.buidinggreen.com.] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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