NEW JERSEY LURES DEVELOPERS TO BROWNFIELDS
New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman has signed a bill intended to entice developers to build on thousands of pollution-tainted industrial sites around the state. Some developers and urban planners say the law could spur urban renewal by shifting the construction of new commercial buildings and housing from suburbs to places like downtown Newark, Trenton, or long-abandoned spots along the Hudson River waterfront. The bill creates tax incentives of up to three-fourths of site cleanup costs and offers a cash credit to small developers who test new technologies for sealing off or eliminating pollution. The new law exempts anyone who buys and restores one of New Jersey's 8,800 tainted sites from any new cleanup costs once state environmental officials approve the job. And it can protect buyers from private lawsuits related to past pollution problems. Some environmental groups say the bill bypasses local master planning in letting the developer choose whether to clean a site to commercial or more stringent housing standards, for example, depending on the developer's plans for the site. But the commissioner of the state's Department of Environmental Protection says the agency could still require public hearings in the cleanup process. - The New York Times, January 7, 1998, p. A18, by Andrew C. Revkin.

NRCan DECONSTRUCTS OFFICE FLOORS
Under a project called Green Floors, Canada's Department of Natural Resources (NRCan) has renovated two floors of its 22-floor Booth Street offices in Ottawa and compared the results to conventionally renovated floors in the building. Together with Public Works and Government Services Canada, NRCan began Green Floors as part of its mandate to promote conservation practices and technologies and to integrate green building practices into an office environment. Instead of gutting the two floors for the refit, NRCan's team carefully deconstructed them, diverting most of the materials from landfills to reuse in other Ottawa-area building projects. In all, they recycled 90 percent of the demolition waste - over 20 metric tons. The project team redirected 100 percent of the doors, wiring, power poles, metal, blinds, and drapes. But carpet and insulation proved more difficult and they could salvage less than half of these materials. The new refit includes energy-efficient lighting, personal ventilation systems, recycled and low VOC-emitting building materials, and energy saving control sensors. In the end, deconstruction did not significantly effect the construction schedule or cost. Eliminating hauling costs and landfill fees offset the additional labor cost of dismantling and stockpiling the materials. But overall, the cost of the green refit - and the learning experience - came at a 37 percent premium when compared to conventional refits of other floors. For more information, fax Marc Beaudoin at NRCan's Facilities Management Division, 613.947.0568, or fax Ian Beausoleil-Morrison at NRCan's CANMET Energy Technology Centre, 613.996.9909. - Advanced Buildings Newsletter, December 1997, p. 14, by Rich Janecky.

SEATTLE NEIGHBORHOODS STEM SUBURBAN SPRAWL
Approved in 1994, Seattle's 20-year strategy to keep the Emerald City thriving and green is already showing signs of success. "In other communities," says the Bullitt Foundation's Kathy Becker, "people would be building $400,000 houses on 2.5 acres in the suburbs." But not here. Following decades of decline, the city's population is growing steadily and property values are rising. In King County, which includes the city of Seattle, nearly 90 percent of new housing units are now springing up in urban rather than rural areas. Seattle's emphasis on limiting sprawl grew in part from the 1990 Washington State Growth Management Act that required fast-growing areas to create comprehensive, coordinated plans for future development. To check its 1980s suburban sprawl, the county drew a boundary between Seattle and rural lands to the east. Beyond it, the county prohibited single-dwelling lots smaller than five acres and denied new water and sewer services. Meanwhile, to attract the displaced growth, Seattle began promoting dozens of urban villages. Urban villages are distinct old neighborhoods invigorated with tightly clustered mid-rise condos, low-income apartments, and town houses that are an easy walk to the cafes, shops, and businesses of their central commercial cores. "As population density rises, people do less driving and more walking," observes Alan Durning of Northwest Environment Watch. "Most people believe the alternative to cars is better transit - in truth, it's better neighborhoods." - The Christian Science Monitor, January 9, 1998, by Ann Scott Tyson.

CONTRACTOR-FINANCED ENERGY IMPROVEMENTS, ROUND TWO
The Clinton administration has awarded the second round of contracts in a Department of Energy program designed to cut the US government's energy bills by about $10 billion over 15 years and to reduce emissions blamed for global warming. This round of contracts went to Energy Masters International, part of Northern States Power Co.; CES/Way International; Duke Solutions, a subsidiary of Duke Energy Corp.; ERI Services Inc., a subsidiary of Equitable Resources Inc.; Johnson Controls Inc.; and Honeywell Inc. They will install energy-management devices worth $750 million in federal buildings in nine states, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. With about 500,000 buildings nationwide, the federal government spends about $4 billion a year on energy for lighting, heating, cooling, and appliances. Under the DOE program called Financing Renewable Energy and Efficiency Savings, private companies work out agreements with various federal agencies to install equipment - at their own cost - to increase energy efficiency. The companies and the federal agencies then split the audited savings from the improvements. The DOE is awarding contracts region by region. It announced the first round of contracts last May and expects to complete the contracting by the end of this year. [For more information, call the Federal Energy Management Program, 800.363.3732.] - Washington Post, January 13, 1998, p. D03, by Martha M. Hamilton.

INTERFACE PURSUES SUSTAINABILITY
Flooring maker Interface is working to be "the first name in industrial ecology, worldwide, through substance not words," says company CEO Ray Anderson who also co-chairs the President's Council for Sustainable Development. The Georgia-based company has annual sales approaching US$1 billion, 6,300 employees, and manufacturing plants in 26 countries. In three years, Interface has reduced its $70 million annual waste stream by $30 million. Compensation formulas reward managers who trim wastes, measure progress, and provide ecological training to staff. Interface's sustainability programs aim toward zero waste, benign emissions, reliance on renewable energy supplies, closing the product loop, using resource efficient transportation, raising people's ecological sensitivity, and redesigning commerce. The key to commerce in the next century, says Jim Hartzfeld, coordinator of Interface's sustainability programs, is getting manufacturers to design and manage their products through multiple life cycles. Companies that know they're responsible for their products in perpetuity eliminate ingredients and production techniques that hinder disassembly or make them more costly, hazardous, or difficult to cost-effectively reuse, recycle, or compost. Interface is working with others to turn the tide on US subsidies and tax incentives that discourage this approach. For more information, visit http://www.ifsia.com or call Jim Hartzfeld, 770.421.9555. - Tomorrow, January-February 1998, p. 52, by Cynthia Pollock Shea.

EARTH FRIENDLY HOME REDECORATING
Mitchell Gold of North Carolina makes sofas and chairs for Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, and Restoration Hardware using sustainably harvested wood. And it makes pre-fabricated slipcovers to fit its furnishings in cotton, linen, and recycled soda bottle fabric. Priced from $200 to $500, the machine washable covers will last 10 to 15 years. For more information, call 800.789.5401. 2-Day Designs in Georgia uses reclaimed wood from old warehouses, barns, and mills to make chests, end tables, and accessory boxes. For more information, call 706.779.5485. Earth Runnings in New Mexico offers organic cotton and hemp throws and pillows, mildew-free hemp shower curtains, hemp bedspreads, and natural fiber sheets. For more information, call 505.758.5703. And New Jersey's Ruckstuhl makes long-lasting, nontoxic floor coverings from natural fibers including jute, flax, linen, wool, sisal, coir (from coconut shells), and cotton. They come with natural latex and cotton backing. For more information, call 908.686.7203. - E Magazine, January-February 1998, p. 50, by Tracey C. Rembert.

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