GreenClips.81 10.08.97 A BILLION MORE FOR US ENERGY R&D Federal energy research should aim to construct one million buildings by 2010 that use solar power and other means to collect as much energy as they consume, says the President's Committee of Advisers on Science and Technology. The group of scientists, engineers, and business experts is calling for a $1 billion increase in the US energy research and development program over the next five years, including money for more efficient buildings and automobiles and a renewed look at the potential benefits of nuclear power. Such a spending increase would end a 20-year decline in the nation's energy research spending. The White House panel's 30-page report says Federal research should also aim to develop a car that can get 100 miles per gallon. Panel chair John P. Holdren, professor of technology and public policy at Harvard University, says global warming is the "most demanding driver" for change in energy research and development. Acknowledging the likelihood that greenhouse gases are changing the Earth's climate, the committee called for increasing nuclear power plant research from $42 million to $119 million in the next five years. The advisors also called for ending several existing research programs on generating electricity from coal, a major producer of carbon dioxide. — The Wall Street Journal, October 1, 1997, p. B17, by John J. Fialka. PORTLAND'S GREAT WALL CRACKS Long admired as a model for controlling growth, the "Great Wall of Portland" is developing some cracks. To control population sprawl and keep the surrounding area unspoiled, planners drew a line around greater Portland, Oregon in 1979 and have since prohibited development beyond it. But as a still-growing population tries to squeeze itself into a finite space, home prices are soaring, traffic is becoming more congested, parking fees are rising, and public services are becoming more costly. And Oregon politics are becoming more conservative, particularly in suburban communities, so demands for relaxing land-use controls and relieving pressure within the Great Wall will likely intensify. Metro, the three-county regional government, earlier this year set aside nearly 19,000 acres just outside the growth boundary as a 30-year reserve of buildable land, with the idea of reexamining the boundary every five years. Metro's 2040 Framework, a growth management strategy that incorporates the land reserve, projects nine regional centers, many of them built on smart growth principles along light rail links to Portland. Inside the Great Wall, 2040 envisions 25 town centers, each with shops and services within walking or biking distance from housing developments. The Metro Council will vote early next year on the first expansion into the reserve. — The Washington Post, September 29, 1997, p. A01, by William Claiborne. CERTIFIED HARDWOOD PLYWOOD States Industries, Inc. of Eugene, Oregon, now offers a line of hardwood-veneer plywood made entirely of certified wood. Currently, three different certified hardwood face veneers are available — black cherry and red oak from Kane Hardwoods (a Pennsylvania timber operation owned by Collins Pine), and sugar maple from the Menominee Tribal Enterprises in Wisconsin. White fir veneers from Collins Pine's certified Pacific Northwest timberlands make up the plywood core. To bind the veneers, States Industries is initially using urea-formaldehyde (UF) resin, long favored for its light color, workability, and cost. Phenol-formaldehyde (PF) resin usually emits less formaldehyde gas but its darker color can bleed through light-colored hardwood veneers. At first offering the certified plywood on a custom basis in large-lot orders, the company will likely produce it with any resin combination specified. Plywood thicknesses of 1/2", 5/8", and 3/4" are available. Prices are higher than those of conventional hardwood plywood. For more information, call Bill Powell at States Industries, 541.688.7871. — Environmental Building News, September 1997, p. 5. SIERRA CLUB REPORTS ON MIDWESTERN SPRAWL Suburban sprawl in 10 Midwestern states costs taxpayers more than they get in revenue, contributes to increased flooding, and clogs highways, says a new Sierra Club report. The study says that Minneapolis-St. Paul is the third-most sprawling metro area among the 25 largest US cities, and that the growth corridor that runs from St. Cloud through the Twin Cities to Rochester is the fastest-growing metro area from the Great Plains to the Eastern Seaboard — a claim questioned by a planning analyst from the region's Metropolitan Council. Between 1990 and 1996, housing and "mall sprawl" development in the Twin Cities and 11 surrounding counties consumed 120,000 acres of farms, parks, and open space, the Sierra Club says. Urban sprawl, it says, is the largest single cause of forest loss in the state. The report credits Minnesota as the only state among those studied that has sprawl control laws. Building homes in areas without schools, roads, and other amenities costs four to five times as much in taxes as building in settled areas where these facilities already exist, the Sierra Club says. Yet in Chicago's northwest suburbs, a recent Chicago Tribune poll found that people were nearly 10 times as likely to say they would live in more rural areas, if they could, than a more urban setting. — Minneapolis Star Tribune, September 26, 1997, by Mike Kaszuba, and Chicago Tribune, October 4, 1997, by Jean Latz Griffin. BREEAM CUTS BUILDING COSTS, ADDS MARKET VALUE Last year, the UK's Building Research Establishment asked Deloitte and Touche Consulting Group to compile a market survey on the effectiveness of BRE's Environmental Assessment Method for buildings called BREEAM. The survey found general agreement among property managers that BREEAM not only helps them keep costs down, but adds to the resale or lease value of a building. BRE launched BREEAM in 1990 to reduce buildings' cost and impact on the environment. BREEAM sets standards on building materials, design, and operation that help office managers, architects, and developers achieve favorable environmental performance ratings for their buildings. Deloitte and Touche's survey showed that major main-street firms, government departments, and utility companies in the UK have introduced BREEAM assessment as standard procedure for new and existing buildings. Canada, Hong Kong, and Norway have similar programs. NatWest Group Property in the North only acquires new buildings with a 'good' BREEAM rating. The importance of a BREEAM assessment is greater still for organizations like PACE, an Executive Agency of the Cabinet Office that gives professional advice on building issues to various government departments. "We achieved a double 'excellent' on our own building in Bristol," says Mike Levy. "We can present ourselves as an example to clients." Levy also sees the high BREEAM rating as a marketing tool for attracting tenants to vacant space. Later this year, BRE will announce ongoing improvements to BREEAM based on the market survey and further research. For more information, call the BREEAM Office, 01923.664462. — Building for a Future, Summer 1997, p. 22, by David Nicholson. SPECIFY LOW-VOC COATINGS FOR STEELWORK Environmental legislation in the UK is greening protective coatings for structural steel. A new guide from CIRIA [Construction Industry Research and Information Association] says why specifiers should use them. The Environmental Protection Act gives structural steel fabricators two options for controlling volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from shop coating — installing equipment to limit emissions or using coating systems with a lower VOC content. Most of the industry prefers the latter, and coating manufacturers now offer new products that comply with the act's 1996 VOC limits. Most are close to complying with the stricter limits set for 1998. CIRIA Report 174 titled New Paint Systems for the Protection of Construction Steelwork says that compliant coatings are easy to specify and may save fabrication delivery time. Requiring fewer coats than conventional materials, high-solids epoxies are likely to dominate the compliant coatings market, the report says. Though more expensive than conventional ones, compliant coatings are part of a general green trend to reformulate products and processes to curb emissions rather than just containing them. CIRIA's report offers a range of specifications for compliant coating applications. Arup R&D and the Paint Research Association contributed to the report. For a copy of the report, call or fax the CIRIA Publications Department, 0171.799.3243 [or visit http://www.gold.net/ciria/index.html]. — The Architects' Journal, 25 September 1997, p. 72, by Barrie Evans.