BRE TESTS ALTERNATIVE REFRIGERANTS
The UK's BRE [Building Research Establishment] has investigated system efficiency and performance of R22-based air conditioning systems after converting them to alternative refrigerants. R22 is the most widely used refrigerant in existing building air conditioning plants. Having banned CFC refrigerants in 1995, the European Commission will within the next decade likely ban R22 and other ozone-depleting HCFCs from new systems and restrict them for maintaining existing systems. Alternatives to R22 for existing systems include HFC-based refrigerants and natural hydrocarbon (HC) refrigerants. HFC-based refrigerants have a high global warming potential and long atmospheric lifetimes but low toxicity and are generally nonflammable. In contrast, HC refrigerants have negligible global warming potential and short atmospheric lifetimes but are flammable and explosive. The BRE tests confirm the good refrigeration properties of HCs, but their high flammability still limits large-scale applications. Converting to an HFC-based alternative may be the only safe and viable option for some systems though it may significantly reduce system performance. HFC-based alternatives for existing systems are R407C and Isceon59. R407C requires a retrofit. Isceon59 is a drop-in conversion. HC alternatives are R290 (propane) and Care50 (propane and ethane). Both are drop-in conversions. [The latest BRE Information Paper on new refrigerants is IP6/98.] For information on ordering BRE publications, visit <http://www.bre.co.uk> or call CRC Ltd, 0171 505 6622. - Building Services Journal, Jul 98, p 45, by David Butler.

ENERGY STAR COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS PROGRAM
The US Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star Buildings Program for commercial buildings takes a different approach from the agency's Energy Star Homes Program. Rather than certifying individual homes as energy efficient, the Buildings Program signs up corporations as Energy Star "partners". Corporate partners agree to carry out energy improvements with existing and new buildings over a multi-year period. EPA provides partners with technical support to help them implement energy- and money-saving measures and recognizes their participation in the program. Energy Star Buildings partners agree to upgrade at least one pilot building within two years through a process of surveying energy retrofit possibilities, analyzing energy improvements economically, and carrying out all profitable upgrades. The corporations agree to upgrade at least 50 percent of their facility space within another five years. Partners also agree to choose highly energy- efficient mechanical equipment when replacement is necessary, to maintain or improve indoor air quality, and to build any new buildings at least as energy- efficient as upgraded buildings. The EPA has geared a subset of this program, Energy Star Small Business, to companies with less than 100,000 square feet of space. For more information, visit <http://www.epa.gov/energystar>. - Environmental Building News, Jun 98, p 1, by Alex Wilson.

UNITED TECHNOLOGIES PRAGMATIC ON GLOBAL WARMING
United Technologies Corp. is joining a dozen other international companies as advisers to the new Pew Center on Global Climate Change, a nonprofit research group funded with $5 million from the Pew Charitable Trusts. UTC sees global warming as a looming issue - if the Kyoto Protocol fails, UTC expects other attempts to address it. The company senses a "plausible risk" that, because of global warming, it will have to change its products and alter the way its factories operate. So the Connecticut-based company says it plans to cut its water and energy consumption per dollar of sales by 25 percent over the next 10 years. Cutting energy use should lead to a corresponding drop in the company's output of ozone-depleting gases. UTC says it wants to get ahead of the issue because emissions cuts could affect several of its products - Carrier air conditioners, Pratt & Whitney jet engines, and Sikorsky helicopters. It's pushing to get credit for early efforts to cut emissions and wants to be able to swap emissions credits globally. The company cut emissions dramatically in the past 10 years and plans to reach its new goals by changing to more efficient fuels, improving lighting, using more compressed air in manufacturing, and making employees more aware of the need to conserve. UTC and the others on the Pew center's advisory council - including the Boeing Co., Enron Corp., and Toyota - are unusual. Many other companies challenge the science behind warnings of climate change. Some argue that market forces will prompt companies to find solutions without government interference. Others say cutting emissions will devastate the US economy. - The Hartford Courant, 15 Jul 98, p D1, by Barbara A. Nagy.

ECO-REALTOR
The environmental Realtor may sound like an oxymoron. But not in Hamilton, Montana where real estate agent Laura Merrill rejects listings that encourage sprawl in the Bitterroot Valley. She's not alone. A handful of other real estate agents in this state have started turning down listings that encourage sprawl or involve damaging wildlife habitat. Sprawl has become the main threat to the natural world in Montana, many environmental groups say. In the last six years, the valley's Ravalli County has approved 596 subdivisions. A former Forest Service scientist, Merrill is an independent broker who won't sell subdivisions and encourages owners to put conservation restrictions on their land. Merrill favors controlling development and trying to keep farmland intact, positions she says don't exactly endear her to fellow real estate agents in a state where planning is anathema. She still sells plenty of property, she adds, but it is land intended to stay as it is. More and more, clients ask Merrill about conservation easements, binding legal agreements that limit development. In agreeing to place restrictions on their land, owners can receive estate and income tax benefits and payment from private foundations or Federal, state, or local governments. - The New York Times, 9 July 98, p A13, by Timothy Egan.

ARBOR HOUSE, AN ENVIRONMENTAL INN
The backgrounds of John and Cathie Imes blended splendidly in the founding of an environmental inn. Not only had John logged seven years in the hotel business but managed environmental affairs for a large, conservation-minded printing company. Cathie was working in advertising and earning her MBA when in 1994 they bought the historic 1853 tavern and stagecoach stop in Madison, Wisconsin they now call Arbor House, An Environmental Inn. "We had the idea of combining high quality hospitality with a model for urban ecology," says John, "providing a showcase for ecoefficient design, technology and practices with a mindset of showing that sustainability can be comfortable, beautiful and elegant." Their inn has eight guest rooms - five in the renovated original inn, three in a new 3,600-square-foot annex. The Imeses committed to creating a model of sustainability in all aspects of the inn renovation and annex construction. "I said that we won't perpetuate the myth that green costs more," recalls John. "We wouldn't compromise on recycled timbers, recycled tile and everything else. In some cases, things did cost a bit more, but not as much as what people think." The annex won a national sustainable design award from the Boston Society of Architects. And the Imeses set up an environmentally conscious operational ethic that earned their inn the 1996 state Waste Reduction and Recycling Award. Now the Imeses want to start Arbor Houses in other markets, including at the Presidio, a 1,400-acre former military base in San Francisco. For more information, visit <http://www.arbor- house.com>. - In Business, May-Jun 98, p 18, by Dave Block.

GYPSUM WALLBOARD FROM POWER PLANT EXHAUST
Now under construction are the first plants in the US designed to make wallboard entirely from synthetic gypsum, a by-product of the flue-gas desulfurization (FGD) technology that removes sulfur dioxide from the emissions of coal-burning power plants. Europeans have used FGD gypsum for years but until recently, US utilities found it more economical to landfill their gypsum-containing fly ash. Now some are selling their fly ash and FGD by-products, turning an environmental liability into a new source of revenue. Standard Gypsum LLC is building one of the new synthetic-gypsum wallboard plants next to Tennessee Valley Authority's Cumberland generating station. To allow recovery of gypsum from the exhaust stream there, TVA moved the scrubber after the electrostatic precipitator. Other new synthetic-gypsum wallboard plants are coming out of the ground in Alabama and Pennsylvania, and an Indiana plant is rebuilding and modernizing. FGD gypsum's proponents say that although it requires extensive drying and careful handling, its consistency will be much better than quarried gypsum. Standard Gypsum will price its FGD- gypsum board competitively with rock-gypsum board. - ENR, 6 Jul 98, p 25.

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