GreenClips.105 10.07.98 GREEN KITCHEN CABINETS Neil Kelly Signature Cabinets, a small Portland, Oregon-based maker of kitchen and bath cabinets, is adding a Naturals Collection line that includes a number of environmental features. The company, a member of The Natural Step [<http://www.naturalstep.org>], wants to be a leader in environmental building. It will make the Naturals Collection cases from particleboard with certified wood components including doors, drawers, and veneers. The company hopes to offer certified particleboard, when available, as the standard case material. Among the environmentally friendly finishes available is a natural oil-wax finish that the homeowner periodically renews. These base environmental features, the company estimates, add 7 to 12 percent to the price, putting the Naturals Collection in the same range as Wood-Mode and somewhat below Rutt cabinets. As an add-on option, a buyer could switch the case material from the standard urea-formaldehyde-bonded particleboard to certified plywood or non-formaldehyde Medite II medium-density fiberboard (MDF). Neil Kelly has dealers in Oregon, Washington, and northern California, but also sells outside that region. [For more information, email Kathleen Donohue <kathleen@neilkelly.com>.] - Environmental Building News, Sep 98, p 5. MILWAUKEE SUBURB SEEKS ECO-FRIENDLY DEVELOPER With financial incentives in hand, Germantown, Wisconsin officials hope to attract development of a so-called conservation subdivision that could gain national recognition for safeguarding the environment. The Conservation Fund, a national group, promises to help design the project and promote it as a model for protecting water quality in the Great Lakes region. "I hope it will change the way we do business," says village planner Sig Strautmanis, "convincing us to use smaller lots and protect more open space." The Germantown Plan Commission last month endorsed general guidelines for future conservation subdivisions. Now the door is open for a developer, Strautmanis says. "We'd love to hear from them." To get developers' attention, the Plan Commission is offering financial incentives like basing sewer-service area calculations on the total size of the site, not just on the space suitable for development. Siepmann Realty of Waukesha, Wisconsin, a potential candidate known for preserving green space at its developments, has already talked with village officials about the project. The Conservation Fund received a two- year, $275,000 grant from the Great Lakes Protection Fund to help set up conservation subdivisions in three Great Lakes communities. Two projects are already underway in Huron, Ohio and Niles, Michigan. [For more information on The Conservation Fund's sustainable community efforts, visit <http://www.conservationfund.org/conservation/sustain/index.html>.] - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 14 Sep 98, p 1, by Don Behm. BNIM WORKS AROUND OBSTACLES AT KC ZOO PAVILION The design of the Kansas City Zoo's Deramus Education Pavilion is a story of frustrating obstacles to a sustainable approach that, in the end, point Berkebile Nelson Immenschuh McDowell Architects to successful alternatives. Wood is the main material used in the $16 million, 71,500 sf pavilion except for its curved roofs, clad in recycled copper. BNIM planned to recycle heavy Douglas fir timbers from an old railroad building, but demolishing the structure cost too much. Instead, the designers chose glulam beams and columns made from smaller sizes of southern yellow pine from managed forests. Another obstacle - a sudden 35 percent increase in Kansas City construction costs - forced the architects to settle for a lower-performance passive solar design instead of the sophisticated energy-efficient mechanical system with costly light and mechanical controls they had planned. Still, what remains after painful value engineering is an effective passive solar design - a southward orientation, deep overhangs that control solar gain, and operable windows that allow natural cross ventilation. - Wood Design & Building, Fall 98, p 28, by Kathryn Hensley. WORLD'S LARGEST SOLAR ROOF An integrated photovoltaic roof from Pilkington Solar International is part of a gigantic glass hall that will cover the Academy of Further Education in Herne-Sodingen, near Essen in west-central Germany. A hotel, restaurant, offices, and recreational facilities already sit in landscaped areas under the $10 million, 100,000 sf roof completed late last year. The glass roof and walls of the outer structure form a micro-climatic envelope that lets in carefully controlled amounts of sunlight and, in summer, fresh air. By varying the mix and densities of solar cells and glass, the roof's design creates variation in light and shade beneath, like cloud cover. The 1-megawatt photovoltaic glass roof delivers up to 900,000 kilowatt-hours a year. [For more information, phone Pilkington Solar International in the US at 301 767 9850 or in Germany at 49 221 925 970 0.] - Inland Architect, vol 115, no 3, p 70. TEXSTYLE OFFERS HEMP WALLCOVERINGS AND FABRICS TexStyle Fabrics' new Nothing But Naturals collection includes wallcoverings and upholstery fabrics made of hemp. Modern technology has softened hemp for interior applications, but it's still as strong as flax and twice as durable as cotton. With only five percent elongation - low for a natural fiber - hemp fabrics hold their shape in contract upholstery and wrapped wall panels. Hemp is inherently resistant to ultraviolet light and mold, making it appropriate for window treatments, high-humidity areas, and outdoors. Porous, hemp absorbs water and dyes more readily than cotton and linen so it's less likely to fade. Hemp plants propagate rapidly, yielding on the same acreage 250 percent more fiber than cotton and 600 percent more than flax. Strong, three-foot roots conserve water, use less fertilizer, and prevent topsoil erosion. And since hemp doesn't exhaust the soil, crops don't need rotation. Growers currently produce hemp in Germany and China, but not in the US where it's associated with marijuana. For more information, call TexStyle, 201 666 5509. - Interiors, Sep 98, p 58. RECYCLED PAPER GOODS Creation Baumann has joined with Swiss manufacturer Jakob Schlaepfer to produce Ceres, a 95 percent recycled paper fabric made of woven paper strips and a light polyester thread. The 79-inch-wide textile is $132 per yard. For more information, call 905 271 3832. And Inna Alesina's ovoid stool is made of 100 percent post-consumer paper pulp in the form of egg crates. Priced at $150, it also works as an ottoman, magazine rack, or coffee table base. For more information, call 212 568 8624. - Metropolitan Home, Nov-Dec 98, p 38. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GreenClips is free of charge thanks to these sponsors - EPA'S ENVIRONMENTALLY-PREFERABLE PURCHASING PROGRAM Working to make the environment a consideration in federal purchasing. http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/epp INTERFACE, INC. More than a carpet company. Much more. http://www.ifsia.com THE SMART GROWTH NETWORK Metropolitan development that serves economy, community, and the environment. http://www.smartgrowth.org WSU ENERGY PROGRAM http://www.energy.wsu.edu Providing objective research, information and solutions. Washington State University Cooperative Extension Energy Program in Olympia, Washington. To subscribe to GreenClips and/or other mailing lists related to energy and the environment, go to <http://listserv.energy.wsu.edu/guest/RemoteAvailableLists>.