GreenClips.60 11.20.96 ALAMEDA COUNTY OFFERS GREEN SPEC A new guide called Green Spec: Guideline Specifications for Environmentally Considered Building Materials & Construction Methods offers considerations and suggestions for specifying materials in CSI Divisions 1 through 9. Siegel & Strain Architects wrote Green Spec to supplement standard specifications, not replace them. For each section they've organized comments under three headings - the material's qualities, its problems, and their recommendations. To order a copy available on paper and disk in Macintosh or DOS format, call the Alameda County Recycling Board in California, 510.614.1699. Green Spec is free to businesses in Alameda County. Elsewhere the cost is $15. -Environmental Building News, November/December 1996, p. 23. NEW ASSOCIATION PROMOTES BUILDING MATERIAL REUSE The Used Building Materials Association offers sources for used windows, doors, lumber, and plumbing fixtures and guidance on reusing them. With government support from Environment Canada, the new Winnipeg, Manitoba group has formed to represent organizations and companies that salvage and distribute used building materials. The association is gathering a list of building material reuse companies in North America, exploring an internet based building material exchange, and gathering data on the types and quantities of building materials that reusers divert from landfill sites. For more information call the Used Building Materials Association, 204.947.0848. - Architectural Record, November 1996, p. 35, and Wastenot, Summer 1996, p. 1. THE PRICE OF PROGRESS IN COLUMBUS Columbus, Ohio's population grew 68 percent from 1950 to 1990, according to the US Census Bureau, but land consumption jumped 390 percent. And that doesn't include the city's suburbs - several of them have doubled or tripled in size. This unprecedented growth prompted The Columbus Dispatch to launch a year long study of urban expansion's benefits and costs. The newspaper explored the effects of development trends on people, their communities, the economy, and the land in a five-day series titled: The Price Of Progress - 1 The big picture: What is the impact of growth? 2 The influence of public policy: How did we get so big? 3 The costs of sprawl: How much can we afford? 4 The sense of community: Has it changed? 5 The future: How far can we grow? [To order a copy of the Special Reprint, send $2 to Alan D. Miller, The Columbus Dispatch, PO Box 1289, Columbus OH 43216-1289.] - The Columbus Dispatch, September 8-12, 1996. PAY MORE FOR A GREEN HOME? Many US consumers claim to favor Earth friendly building practices, but few are willing to back up their beliefs with their pocketbooks. Only 7 percent are unconcerned with their home's impact on the environment, says a 1995 Home Shoppers survey of 3,600 respondents in nine metropolitan areas. About 25 percent, though concerned, would not consider environmental impact in decisions about their homes. Half want an environmentally friendly home but wouldn't pay more for it - only 18 percent would pay more. Other factors have also slowed green home progress, like reluctant leadership in environmentally friendly products and technologies from building trades and product industries. So says Cameron Duncan, technical specialist and architect for the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Clearinghouse at the US Department of Energy. Availability is a factor, too - many suppliers don't stock the wide variety of alternative building products a growing number of consumers demand. Yet another is complexity. "People expect there to be one way to go," says Mary Jane Heinen, Whole Builders architect and former chairwoman of the Minnesota Renewable Energy Society. "It's not that simple. Making any movement (toward a green house) is the right way to go; there's no ultimate choice." - Minneapolis Star Tribune, November 16, 1996, p. H4, by Jim Buchta. BIOCLIMATIC HOUSES IN THE CANARY ISLANDS Judges of the International Design Competition for Bioclimatic Houses chose twenty-five experimental house designs for construction on Spain's Canary Islands. The Institute for Renewable Energy Sources, the Island Government of Tenerife, and The College of Architecture of the Canary Islands sponsored the competition and required entries to use "ecologically sound materials and methods". After construction, live-in scientists will monitor and evaluate the houses for one year. David Dobereiner, of Rockridge Design in Oakland, California, in association with Dan Chin, was the only US winner. His entry, to be built in 1997, has three vaulted roof forms that channel sun and wind through the house. Solar roof panels and a wind turbine will power it. -Architectural Record, November 1996, p. 21. BIG CREEK SELLS CERTIFIED REDWOOD Big Creek Lumber Company in Davenport, California now sells certified redwood decking, siding, fencing, trim boards, and custom timbers. Big Creek expects to mill four to five million board feet of certified wood - mostly redwood -over the next few months. With certification of its sustainably managed forestry operations in hand last April, Big Creek has now won certification from Scientific Certification Systems of its chain-of-custody segregation procedures through milling, warehousing, and shipping. Big Creek will sell the certified lumber through specialty distributors and wholesalers like Eco-Products in Boulder, Colorado, but sales director Janet Webb hopes to interest more traditional wholesalers and distributors. Eco-Products sells low-grade construction-common redwood 2x6s for $.95 per linear foot. For more information call Big Creek Lumber Company, 408.457.5023. – Environmental Building News, November/December 1996, p. 9.