GreenClips.45 04.10.96 UN CONFERENCE TO ADDRESS URBANIZATION In 1950 New York topped the United Nation's list of ten largest cities. But by 2025 it may not even make the list as swelling third-world capitals such as Jakarta and Buenos Aires overtake it. In the next ten years more people will live in urban areas than in rural areas, three-quarters of them in developing nations. Urban population explosions in developing nations threaten and exacerbate pollution and poverty. A UN report "The Challenge of Urbanization" profiles 100 cities from Tokyo to Fiji's tiny capital Suva. Urban governments have neither the money nor the management and technical skills to keep pace, says the report, and unexpected increases in population have overwhelmed their master plans. The report will be a reference for delegates who gather for the second UN Conference on Human Settlements this June in Istanbul, Turkey. Habitat II will address the problem of finding adequate shelter for urban dwellers and developing sustainable living conditions. - The Christian Science Monitor, March 25, 1996, p. 4, by George Moffett. PORTLAND REQUIRES CONSTRUCTION WASTE RECYCLING Construction contractors in Portland, Oregon must now recycle construction waste for all projects over $25,000 construction cost. The goal of the new ordinance in effect last January 1 is to help the city reach an overall 60percent recycling rate by 1997. Contractors must at least recycle wood, metals, and cardboard from projects between $25,000 and $500,000. For construction projects costing more than $500,000, the ordinance adds rubble to the list. And for demolition projects over $500,000, it adds rubble and land clearing debris. - BioCycle, March 1996, p. 30, by Marnie McPhee. IRIS UPDATES REDI PRODUCT DATABASE Iris Communications has released REDI 96, a newly updated green building products database. REDI 96 identifies companies that offer recycled content, energy and water saving, and low toxicity products. Iris Communications offers the database as a book or disk for $49. For more information emailiris@irisinc.com. Iris also offers free use of REDI 96 on the World Wide Web at http://www.oikos.com. - Green Design, Winter 1996, p. 10. VERIFONE HALVES ENERGY CONSUMPTION AND ABSENTEEISM Green redesign of VeriFone's Costa Mesa, California worldwide distribution headquarters reduced its energy consumption by 50 percent and decreased employee absenteeism by 48 percent. VeriFone manufactures telephone credit card verification systems. Croxton Collaborative Architects' redesign of the existing tilt-up concrete structure features skylights for natural day lighting, a high-efficiency mechanical system, building materials with minimal volatile organic compounds, and ergonomic office systems. The Rocky Mountain Institute analyzed VeriFone's employee absenteeism and found it dropped from 14.3 hours to 7.5 hours, on average, as a result of the facility redesign. - Consulting-Specifying Engineer, March 1996, p. 46. WASTED LIGHT POLLUTES Under ideal conditions, the heavens pulse with the light of about 2,500 stars. But in lit-up suburbs the naked eye sees only about a tenth of that, says Arizona astronomer and light pollution activist David Crawford. Electric light discharged toward the sky illuminates nothing and causes much of the problem. Crawford estimates that the US wastes a billion dollars a year in errant lighting and the energy required to produce it. "If we did with water what [we do] with light we'd be arrested," he says. Light pollution also causes glare and reduced visibility problems for astronomers around the globe. But Tucson, Arizona codes require closed stores to turn off exterior lights and prohibit blue-tinged mercury-vapor lights. And campus architect Michael Curtis and consultant David Mintz replaced Wesleyan University's floodlights with full cut-off fixtures. When used in street lighting, for instance, these fixtures contain emissions by focusing light directly below -no glare travels above the horizontal axis of the source. Since full cut-off fixtures don't scatter useless light into the atmosphere, they require a much lower wattage to blanket their target zones. - Metropolis, April 1996, p. 54, by Marc Spiegler. HOUSE FEATURES SALVAGED AND CERTIFIED TIMBER Connie Best and Laurie Wayburn's new 2,400 square-foot house in northern California's Anderson Valley combines traditional mortise-and-tenon timber framing with innovative straw bale construction. The house's porch and verandah use redwood timbers salvaged from an old condemned lumber mill. The Duluth Timber Company of Duluth, Minnesota provided most of the salvaged wood and Longview Fiber Mill in Longview, Washington milled it. Its main framing, flooring, banisters, and doors use Douglas fir from the first harvest certified by the Institute for Sustainable Forestry. San Francisco's EcoTimber International supplied certified cherry for other flooring. Bestand Wayburn co-founded Pacific Forest Trust, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving private productive forests in the Pacific Northwest. "We had a few problems with the quality of the salvaged materials," says Best, "but in general it was fine." She expected high waste from bolt and nail holes and from cracked or missing tongues. "Perhaps more important than any problems, the wood costs were truly competitive," Best adds. "This house came in at about $200 [sic] per square foot, which is about average for a custom timber frame in our area." - Understory, Winter 1996, p. 3, by Jason Grant. FLORIDA PLANS AND FINANCES BULLET TRAINS Beginning in 2004, a high-speed train will take passengers the 228 miles from Miami to Orlando, Florida in 1 hour 25 minutes. And the state plans a second 85-mile route between Orlando and Tampa for 2006. Florida will continue to add more than 200,000 new residents a year for the next 25 years. This expectation drove the state to extend to high-speed rail the 40-year government largess given to highways and airports - the Florida Department of Transportation has committed $2.1 billion. At least 24 other states have considered or adopted plans to connect urban areas with bullet trains. But Florida's plan could become a model for other states whose efforts have repeatedly failed to obtain financing, in part because Federal money for such projects has been scarce. The state awarded the project to a consortium including GEC Alsthom, a French-British company; Bombardier Inc. of Quebec; Fluor Daniel, an American engineering and construction company; and Odebrecht Contractors of Florida, a division of Brazil-based Odebrecht Group. – The New York Times, March 28, 1996, p. A8, by Mireya Navarro.