GreenClips.74 06.18.97 SALVAGING WOOD MAKES DECONSTRUCTION PAY Last year Beyond Waste and San Francisco Community Recyclers deconstructed Building 901 at San Francisco's Presidio, a former military base. And earlier this year Beyond Waste teamed with the Youth Employment Partnership to dismantle the Port of Oakland's Building 733, and to train at-risk youth. Both deconstructions cost considerably less than demolition. The Presidio structure came down in one month yielding 66,000 board feet of old growth Douglas Fir and Port Orford Cedar for salvage. The total deconstructing expense including labor, equipment, and administrative costs was $53,000. With income from the salvaged wood of $43,660, the net cost to deconstruct was $9,340. The demolition bid was $16,800. The Port of Oakland's large warehouse yielded 450,000 board feet of mainly old growth Douglas Fir. The total expenses to deconstruct it were $330,000 and the income from salvaged lumber was $280,000. Net cost to deconstruct: $50,000. Demolition bid: $150,000. For more information call San Francisco Community Recyclers, 415.731.6720, or the Center for Economic Conversion, 415.968.8798. — Urban Ecologist, Number 2, 1997, p. 18. ASK FOR GREEN PRODUCT INFORMATION! Architects are one of the primary groups that motivate companies to market green products, says a 1996 AIA Minnesota Committee on the Environment survey. So it's important for architects to communicate demand for green building products by asking for environmental information even when it's not available. MN COTE members informally asked 85 exhibitors at last year's American Institute of Architects national convention in Minneapolis if they market the environmental features of their products, and why or why not. Sixty-eight percent of the exhibitors said they do, but only 26 percent said their marketing materials discuss environmental aspects. They market environmental features, they said, to publicize their company's concern for the Earth, increase consumer demand, and compete at an advantage. A few vendors were aware of green issues and made them a priority, but most weren't used to talking about their products' environmental features and didn't know how to apply them. Others were informed, but their companies aren't active because they see no market. While 20 percent of manufacturers and owners and 30 percent of builders resist green building products, only 13 percent of architects do. Yet many vendors had never had a request for environmental information on their products. Keep asking! — AIArchitect, May 1997, p. 13, by Jonee Kulman. SISAL, LOW-IMPACT WALLCOVERING Design Materials, Inc. has made sisal wallcoverings for 20 years, but only recently is the Kansas City company emphasizing its products' low environmental impact compared with synthetic wallcovering. Sisal is a thick, woven material made from henequen, a plant native to Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. Henequen growers do not use pesticides or chemical fertilizers to grow fibers for its wallcoverings, claims Design Materials' sales manager Tom Fields, but occasionally they use herbicides for weed control. Design Materials treats sisal yarn with borax, a relatively nontoxic fire retardant, and dyes it with chemicals that conform to German restrictions. Sisal wallcoverings are good choices in high-wear applications requiring durability and low maintenance. Design Materials' sisal wallcoverings range from $1.20 to 1.50 per square foot, including zero-VOC, antimicrobial adhesive. For more information call Design Materials, Inc., 800.654.6451. — Environmental Building News, June 1997, p. 4. KALUNDBORG'S INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY WORKS Neighboring companies in the seaside industrial town of Kalundborg, Denmark exchange waste, by-products, and energy in a highly evolved industrial ecosystem. But for technical, economic, and environmental reasons, duplicating Kalundborg elsewhere may be difficult. To work technically, such industrial ecosystems need two or more process industries — like Kalundborg's coal-fired power plant, oil refinery, pharmaceutical and enzyme maker, and plasterboard manufacturer — that generate continuous and reliable by-products. Instead, most industrial developments have small companies making parts or assembling products that generate small, variable quantities of single-material waste like dirty solvents, paints, or scraps of plastic or metal. Kalundborg also works because the exchange of materials is economically beneficial — by-product prices are below those for virgin materials or exchanging them costs less than pollution control. And Kalundborg benefits from its setting — not only from a backdrop of Scandinavian environmental awareness, but also from its small size and relative isolation that create a short mental distance between industries. — Journal of Industrial Ecology, Volume 1, Number 1, p. 67, by John Ehrenfeld and Nicholas Gertler. DOUBLE SKINS VENTILATE HIGH-RISES Following Ken Yeang's lead, several designers are wrapping new office towers in second skins to ventilate them naturally. As double-facade technology develops, these design considerations emerge — 1. Double facade ventilation strategies rely on good outdoor air quality. 2. Size air paths to make sure stack-effect air flow in the facade cavity is fast enough to dissipate greenhouse heat. Otherwise, opening a window in the summer introduces a burst of hot air. 3. Size exterior ventilation openings to moderate high-rise wind pressures. The opening sizes change at the 16th floor of Ingenhoven Overdiek Kahlen und Partner's 30-story RWE Tower in Essen, Germany. An alarm sounds for windows to close when the wind reaches 7 meters per second in the tower's lower half, 10 m/s above. 4. Consider automatic window opening for night-time ventilation since occupants may not open windows before leaving. Or if windows are open all night, the rooms may overcool and need heat in the morning. 5. Since the outer facade offers weather protection, think about placing remotely operated blinds outside the double glazing to improve solar protection. 6. Consider noise transmission through the cavity from office to office and floor to floor, fire-stopping requirements, and access for maintenance and cleaning. — The Architects' Journal, 15 May 1997, p. 42, by Barrie Evans. CHOOSE GREEN COPIERS The seven million copiers in the US produce 700 billion copies each year using about 2,500 pieces of paper — five reams — for every American. The environmental product labeling organization Green Seal recommends specific manufacturers and models in its latest Choose Green Report. The report urges buyers to select a copier sized for their needs and offers these environmental criteria — Choose an energy efficient copier that meets the EPA's Energy Star guidelines, including the Tier 2 criteria effective July 1997. Pick a copier with an automatic duplexing feature that makes double-sided copies by default. Select one that filters ozone and toner dust. Find imaging assemblies (drums) that use organic photoreceptors, not arsenic, cadmium, or selenium. Buy recyclable plastic cabinetry and structural components. Ask about remanufacturing and leasing programs that relieve users and distributors of disposal responsibilities. For more information call Green Seal, 202.331.7337, or visit its web site, http://www.greenseal.org. — Choose Green Report, June 1997.