GreenClips.38 01.03.96 PHOTOVOLTAIC COMPETITION The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Research group announces a photovoltaic (PV) competition for architects and other building design professionals called "Building Integrated Photovoltaics". The AIA hopes the competition will stimulate the architectural profession and the PV industry to achieve forward-looking, provocative, and technically feasible breakthroughs for integrating photovoltaics into next century's buildings. Prizes total $20,000. For more information contact Stephanie Vierra at AIA Research, 1735 New York Avenue NW, Washington DC 20006-5292, 202.879.7752. - AIArchitect, December 1995, p. 16. SCANDINAVIAN FORESTS DRAW SCRUTINY Until now Nordic forests have been immune to the environmental scrutiny that the Pacific Northwest and the tropics have received. Scandinavia has had a strong commitment to multiple-use forest management, a high growth-to-removal ratio, and extensive conservation. But as commercial pressure on boreal zone forests increases, environmental organizations including Greenpeace have recently targeted several Scandinavian silvicultural practices – clearcutting and herbicide use. The Fins clearcut about 29 percent of felled trees and Scandinavians traditionally use herbicides to control hardwoods. In 1995, Finland and Sweden joined the European Union, intensifying demand for "clearcut-free paper" from European countries that require certified paper and forest products. Now forest certification initiatives are underway and Stora Skog, one of Sweden's larger forest owners, has inventoried biodiversity throughout its holdings. - Understory, Fall 1995, p. 4, byYurij Bihun. SOLAR AQUATICS Solar Aquatics, a trade name for a sewage treatment method, combines ecological and microbiological processes to purify wastewater. In greenhouses, plants and organisms consume contaminants in wastewater as it flows through clear tanks, engineered streams, and marshes. John Todd developed Solar Aquatic technology at his Ocean Arks International research facility in Falmouth, Massachusetts. Ecological Engineering Associates (EEA) has commercialized it. Solar Aquatics systems are appropriate for communities that enforce non degradation of lakes and streams or for suburbs too dispersed for sewering but too concentrated to apply waste to agricultural land. Or for large developments like one of EEA's most recent projects, a nursing home and housing project in Halifax County, Nova Scotia. For this system, EEA combined existing tanks and sewer piping from an old Air Force base with a new 6,000 square-foot Solar Aquatics greenhouse. The facility can treat 80,000 gallons of wastewater per day and an additional 150,000 gallons of rainwater through a storm overflow system. - In Business, November/December 1995, p. 42, by Molly Farrell. KENETECH STUMBLES Kenetech, the world's largest manufacturer of wind turbines, is scrambling to survive. With questions about the reliability of its three-bladed KVS-33 turbine, both the chief financial officer and chief operating officer resigned in November. Chief executive Gerald R. Alderson followed in December. Kenetech stock dropped to $1.19 in December after peaking at $29.50 in March 1994. Cracked blades and damaged generators have forced frequent shutdowns at wind farms in Buffalo Ridge, Minnesota and Palm Springs, California according to Wind Power Monthly, a trade publication. Yet one ofKenetech's larger customers, Northern States Power Co. in Minneapolis, is not concerned. They say their Kenetech machines have operated "with no mechanical difficulties". A Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ruling last spring also hurt Kenetech. The commission scrapped a requirement for California utility companies to buy renewable energy sources, including wind power, at prices that had become un competitive with fossil fuels. - The New York Times, December 27, 1995, p. C1, by Agis Salpukas, and ENR, December 25, 1995, p. 16. THE NATURAL STEP Karl-Henrik Robert, former head of Sweden's leading cancer institute, created The Natural Step in 1989. Natural Step is Robert's business-and-life philosophy based on the cyclic principle. This principle says that there must be as much reconstruction of material as there is consumption and that excess waste must not accumulate in nature. Natural Step's premise is that nature cannot withstand a systematic buildup of dispersed matter mined from the earth's crust (minerals, oil), of persistent man-made compounds (PCBs), or deterioration of its renewal capacity (harvesting fish faster than they can replenish). If we want life to continue, says Robert, we must use resources efficiently while recognizing that poverty will lead the poor to destroy resources for short-term survival that we all need for the long-term. Instead of focusing on contentious details, Natural Step encourages business and government to act on generally agreed upon environmental realities. Author Paul Hawken has signed on as president of a fledging Natural Step group in the US. The chemical giant Monsanto Company is among the first American businesses to explore Natural Step. - Utne Reader, January-February 1996,p. 26, by Mary Scott. ECOINDUSTRIAL PARKS In four US locations, demonstration parks are exploring ecoindustrial development's obstacles and opportunities. Brownsville, Texas and adjoining Matamoros, Mexico are examining how port neighbors - a refinery, a stone company, an asphalt company, and tank farms - might interact to curb local environmental problems. Baltimore's Fairfield Eco-Industrial Park (EIP) is a heavily industrialized demonstration site, mainly petroleum and organic chemical companies. Fairfield EIP initiatives include joint pollution prevention and waste reduction strategies and R&D for materials substitution and replacement. The Port of Cape Charles Sustainable Technologies Industrial Park is in rural Northampton County, Virginia. The Park hopes to attract aquaculture firms, resource recovery industries for agricultural materials, hydroponic gardens, organic farms, and ecotourism companies. Its first tenant is Solar Building Systems, Inc. The Chattanooga Eco-Industrial Park Initiative includes four components - a brown field reclamation park, a mixed used site, an ecoindustrial park, and an environmental technology complex. - In Business, November/December 1995, p. 39, by Joe Abe.