GreenClips.30 09.13.95 EPA'S PROJECT XL OFFERS FLEXIBILITY The US Environmental Protection Agency will unveil Project XL next spring. The initiative allows businesses or communities to replace current regulatory requirements with alternatives of their own design. The EPA is seeking proposals from 50 companies and had received 15 by mid-August. Project director Jon Kessler says, "We're very pleased with the quality [of the proposals]. They're not just asking for a rollback without offering anything in return. They truly want to marry flexibility with environmental results." One proposal comes from S.D. Myers, Inc. in Tallmadge, Ohio who has a technology to safely eliminate PCBs. Their proposal asks the EPA to remove its ban on PCB imports so that they can process PCBs from Canada and Mexico. - The Green Business Letter, p. 3, September 1995. APS SHOWCASE HOME Arizona Public Service's Environmental Showcase Home opened to the public early this year in Phoenix. The public utility's 2,640-square-footdemonstration home uses 60 percent less energy and 50 percent less water than a typical Phoenix house. Sun sponges - fabric panels suspended outside clerestory windows - reflect daylight inside but deflect the heat of the late-afternoon sun. The home's energy-efficient building shell consists of Integra Block injected with Supergreen Lite, an expanding polyurethane insulating foam that is free of ozone-depleting chemicals. Integra Blockshave less internal structure than conventional cinder blocks to reduce thermal transmission and make room for more insulation. Architect Edward Jones admits that the swimming pool is a debatable feature, but "we wanted to show how they can be improved responsibly." The solar-heated pool has an evaporation-reducing cover, a non-chemical ionizing cleaning system, and an energy-efficient pump and filtration system. - House Beautiful, October 1995, p. 90, by Jeff Book. SURINAME RAIN FORESTS Suriname, located on South America's northern coast, is a financially poor but rainforest rich country. Suriname has a limited timber industry. Desperate for money, Suriname now wants to let several Asian companies selectively cut ancient trees. In exchange for logging rights for up to 12 million acres or 40 percent of the country, the timber companies promise to invest over $500 million in saw mills and factories. Environmentalists believe the concessions to the companies are too large and worry that Suriname's Forestry Service - two professionals and a broken-down jeep – is not capable of policing contractors. President Ronald Venetiaan denounces what he calls the "ecocolonialism" of international environmental organizations. - The New York Times, September 4, 1995, p. 1, by Anthony DePalma. NETHERLANDS'S GREEN PLAN The Netherlands's Green Plan is the world's most advanced national program for creating an economy that sustains the environment. After reading the landmark environmental report "Concern for Tomorrow", Queen Beatrice alerted the Dutch people about Holland's environmental health trends in 1988. Acknowledging that Holland's current environmental laws were not working, the government established new environmental goals and timetables. Holland's leading industrialists appreciate the freedom the Green Plan gives them to pursue policies or technologies they find effective. And certainty about long-term environmental policy lets them invest confidently in pollution prevention technologies. - Whole Earth Review, Fall 1995, p. 94, by Alex Steffen and Alan Atkisson. COLLINS PINE'S FOREST MANAGEMENT The Collins Pine Company in Chester, California owns and manages the91,000-acre Collins Almanor Forest. Since the early 1940s, the forest has yielded a steady supply of Ponderosa pine, sugar pine, white fir, Douglas fir, and incense cedar. Collins cuts each section of the forest on a ten-year cycle, harvesting no more wood than the forest has produced in the decade. Their forest managers consider species mix, tree spacing, and animal habitat in deciding which trees to cut. Collins supplies certified white fir for Lexington Furniture Industries' "Keep America Beautiful" line of early American furniture. The collection exemplifies environmental steward ship right down to its recycled brass hardware and water-based stains and finishes. - In Business, July/August 1995, p. 35, by Paul Conrad. NEW URBANISM The desire to return to close-knit neighborhoods with varied character inspires an approach to development called New Urbanism. It features pedestrian scale streets, shops and institutions mixed with housing, compact lots, garages mainly along alleys, and high quality building design. Architects, metropolitan areas, and states are adopting its principles to rein in leapfrog and low-density development. Harbor Town in Memphis, Tennessee may be one of New Urbanism's success stories. Narrow streets lined with sidewalks, porches, and balconies encourage walking and socializing. The134-acre development has 600 completed homes, parks, and six ponds. A shopping area will be underway soon. - Progressive Architecture, August 1995, p. 82, by Phillip Langdon. HOPI HARVEST SUNLIGHT Native Hopi people reject power from utility providers. Never signing a treaty with the US government, the Hopi highly prize their autonomy. And they believe that power lines not only destroy Arizona vistas, but that energy emitted from them could disrupt the atmosphere and energy balance of their village plaza and ceremonial areas. But while the Hopi revere the sun and all living things, they would like to use modern appliances, watch television, and read by electric light. In 1988 the Hopi established the Solar Electric Enterprise to bring solar electricity to homes across the reservation. Today Debby Tewa and Owen Seumptewa - trained at Solar Energy International in Carbondale, Colorado - install photovoltaics and wire Hopi homes in about three hours each. - Solar Today, September/October 1995, p. 20, by Nancy Cole.