OCCUPANT MANUALS FOR GREEN BUILDINGS
The facility manager may get an operating manual with a new, finely tuned green building, but what about the people who work there? The Rocky Mountain Institute's Green Development Services and its partners are writing occupant's manuals for a number of buildings they're designing or retrofitting for Monsanto on the biotech giant's St. Louis corporate campus. Each manual will describe the building's design philosophy, identify the materials and components used, explain how things work, and give workers tips on making individual spaces comfortable and efficient. RMI has helped Monsanto with a five-year plan to renovate 1.5 million square feet of offices on the St. Louis campus following sustainable design principles. Already complete is the A3 office renovation, notable for its use of daylighting and the control its occupants have over their immediate surroundings. Currently in the works is the Monsanto Incubator Facility, a new laboratory that will be highly energy efficient. - Rocky Mountain Institute Newsletter, Summer 98, p 6, by Dave Reed.

UT-HOUSTON EXHIBITS SOLAR ENERGY SYSTEM
The University of Texas-Houston Health Science Center launched a demonstration solar energy system this month, the first in a series of electricity-producing devices planned there. Four large solar panels on top of the UT Center Tower's garage will power the six-story parking structure. More such projects may follow. But UT's campus energy manager Mani Palani says the university has grander plans for the energy-efficient Nursing and Biomedical Sciences Building, a 250,000 sq ft, 10-story structure it plans to have in place early in the next century. Solar panels on its roof and walls, Palani says, could generate as much as 20 percent of the electricity the building will require. The bulk of the funding for the garage project was $250,000 "saved from ongoing energy conservation efforts," UT documents say. Another $45,000 came from a Utility Photovoltaic Group Match-Up grant as part of the Clean Power Alliance. And $30,000 came from the State Energy Conservation Office. - Houston Chronicle, 17 Sep 98, p A29, by John Makeig.

A PRAIRIE STATE OF MIND
A new appreciation for prairie is flourishing in Chicagoland. Illinois is, after all, the Prairie State. Workers at Sears, Roebuck & Company's new suburban headquarters jog among prairie wildflowers - a foil for the usual corporate pond with swans. Black-eyed Susans and coneflowers planted by the city of Chicago sprout on Michigan Avenue. And the former Joliet Arsenal, once the world's largest TNT factory, is now home to the 19,000-acre Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, the largest restoration of its kind. Still, a lot of house hunters pull in to Prairie Crossing, a 667-acre subdivision with a reconstructed prairie at its heart, see what they consider to be weeds, and pull right out again. But not all. So far, 125 of the planned 317 houses - clustered to preserve 463 acres of open space - are in place in suburban Grayslake. The maverick development, just 40 miles from the Chicago Loop and three and a half years old, grew out of a 15-year battle against a plan that would have brought 10,000 people to the site, versus the 1,500 who will live there in the end. Prairie Crossing is the first major prairie reconstruction in a residential development. Part of the appeal of prairie plants is that, unlike sod, they don't need artificial life-support. "The Chemlawn man is dressed up like Neil Armstrong for a reason," says one convert. Several backyard pondlets with bulrushes capture rainwater from residents' gutters. And the deep prairie roots of native grasses like Virginia wild rye and native fescue, says a research ecologist, reduce runoff about 50 percent more than lawns. - The New York Times, 10 Sep 98, p B1, by Patricia Leigh Brown.

RESOURCES ON CONSTRUCTION & DEMOLITION WASTE
The US Environmental Protection Agency has recently released its first report titled Characterization of Building-Related Construction and Demolition Debris in the United States. EPA estimates building-related C&D debris at 136 million tons per year. The report breaks this total down into residential and non- residential categories and by source - construction, renovation, or demolition. EPA estimates that 65 to 85 percent of the C&D waste stream is landfilled. To order the report call 800 424 9346, or download it at <http://www.epa.gov/msw>. Other C&D waste resources include two documents produced by the National Association of Home Builders Research Center under a cooperative agreement with the EPA. A case study titled Deconstruction - Building Disassembly and Material Salvage: The Riverdale Case Study is available at the Smart Growth Network web site <http://www.smartgrowth.org/casestudies/casestudy_index.html>. And a guide titled Residential Construction Waste Management: A Builder's Field Guide is available from the NAHB-RC at 800 898 2842. - Resource Recycling, Sep 98, p 42, by Ken Sandler.

CONSTRUCTION RESOURCES OPENS IN THE UK
While eco-building product centers are nothing new on the Continent, Construction Resources is Britain's first, officially opening last May [in London]. The comprehensive displays at the store highlight the wide range of product combinations that entrepreneur Richard Handyside has brought together with his nearly two-million-pound investment. More than just a showroom, Construction Resources provides extensive information and education on the application, installation, and maintenance of the products it distributes. It also holds seminars for architects and specifiers and training courses for the various trades involved. Construction Resources markets mainly continental European eco-building products including Holzweg emulsion paint, semi-rigid cellulose fiber and flax insulation batts, and natural earth render and straw- earth blocks. Though untried and untested in the UK, on the Continent every product is certified by the appropriate test houses, Handyside says, and most products have Din or ISO approvals which are acceptable under UK building regulations. [For more information on Construction Resources, email <info@ecoconstruct.com> or call 171 450 2211.] - Building for a Future, Summer-Autumn 98, p 5, by Keith Hall.

ECOCOLORS FROM ARCHITECTURAL FOREST ENTERPRISES
Architectural Forest Enterprises, a 25-year-old maker of architectural veneers and panels, now offers EcoColors, a line of interior panels that is an environmentally sensitive, cost-effective alternative to plastic laminate, melamine, or prefinished veneer panels. AFE makes EcoColors particleboard panels from agricultural straw fiber using a non-formaldehyde glue. At its Brisbane, California factory, new flat-line finishing equipment efficiently applies nontoxic dyes, sealers, and top coats by roller, much like a printing press. Ultraviolet light cures the panels, creating a hard, durable surface. The company says the new line produces virtually no waste materials or [airborne] solvents. For more information, call AFE at 800 483 6337. - Understory: Journal of the Certified Forest Products Council, Fall 98, p 13.

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http://www.eren.doe.gov/buildings A healthier, more prosperous future through the wise use of energy in buildings and communities is the vision of the DOE's Office of Building Technology, State and Community Programs. BTS aims to create a new generation of buildings and appliances for the 21st century that are energy-efficient, reliable, and environmentally sustainable through partnerships with building and appliance industries, research and development groups plus government entities - virtually all groups who influence how residential and commercial buildings are designed, built and used. October activities of BTS include release of "Energy Savers, Tips on Saving Energy and Money at Home", the Oct. 7 kick-off of National Building Museum/DOE noon Lecture Series entitled Buildings of the 21st Century, and the National Tour of Solar Homes on Oct. 17. More information on these topics is available on the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Network web site <http://www.eren.doe.gov> or by calling 800 DOE 3732.