UK'S FIRST PUBLIC "ZERO-ENERGY" BUILDING
London architects Jestico + Whiles describe its Council Offices project in Hyndburn, Lancashire as the first public "zero-energy" building in the UK, heated and powered entirely from renewable sources. The four-story, competition-winning local government building reinterprets the thermally massive construction of local cotton mills - its gently curved north face is built of reclaimed stone. The south face is mainly glazed to benefit from daylighting and passive, low-level winter solar gain. Prismatic glass and shading will prevent excess solar gain. A linear lightwell through the length of the building will enhance daylighting and act as a thermal stack to help draw ventilating air through the building. Using a raised floor to introduce the ventilation air will control drafts and prevent overheating by cooling the structure during summer nights. A combination of photovoltaic, wind, and water power will supply energy to meet an annual need of about 180,000 kWh. Roof- mounted photovoltaics will likely generate about 35,000 kWh. A single wind turbine in a nearby park will provide the remainder. Using water from an on- site reservoir that once powered cotton mills, the new building's air-to-water heat pump will generate thermal energy for winter heating. - The Architectural Review, Apr 98, p 77, by Catherine Slessor.

LANDSCAPE TO CLEANSE AND CONSERVE STORM WATER
New landscaping at the Environmental Center of the Rockies in Boulder, Colorado will demonstrate how a business or residential landscape can cleanse polluted storm water. This spring, workers will remove frayed asphalt, plant a row of six shade trees between parking lines, replace a redundant sidewalk with a sinuous swale planted with sedges and rushes, and clear nonnative plantings for perennials like daylilies, penstemon, coreopsis, western blue- flag iris, and purple coneflower. Denver's Wenk Associates and Joan Woodward of California State Polytechnical University at Pomona developed this $113,000 scheme that will prevent pollutants from running off paved surfaces into Boulder Creek and retain storm-water runoff for on-site irrigation. The half- acre retrofit is one of 25 pilot projects that the National Forum on Nonpoint Source Pollution - a blue-ribbon panel of environmentalists, industry leaders, and government officials - hopes will illustrate techniques to negate nonpoint pollution. Now the most significant threat to US water quality, nonpoint pollution - the pesticides, oils, and detergents that wash into streams following rainstorms or snow melts - can't be traced to a single source. Early-1990s research suggested that nonpoint sources account for 70 percent of pollutants reaching Boulder Creek. The Center's two swales and gardens will retain runoff up to the level of the first flush which contains most pollutants. The root systems of hardy wetlands plants will absorb and disperse some pollutants. Others will harmlessly settle out. The building houses regional offices of the Sierra Club, the National Wildlife Federation, and its owner the Land and Water Fund of the Rockies (the LAW Fund). - Landscape Architecture, May 98, p 58, by Michael Leccese.

MARYLAND UTILITY ENDS ENERGYWI$E PROGRAM
Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. will end its highly successful EnergyWi$e program this July after a four-year run. In its place, BGE will offer home buyers a mortgage certification program, a switch that transfers the cost of financing energy-efficient homes from the utility to the homeowner. EnergyWi$e comes from a 1988 Public Service Commission order setting up energy conservation programs to avoid building expensive generating plants. It pays builders $2,000 for every single-family home and $1,500 for each townhouse that passes BGE's guidelines. "What was happening was that we were refunding to the builder the full equipment cost to make the homes EnergyWi$e," says BGE's G. Robert Light Jr. "The builders discovered that an energy-efficient home was highly marketable and people were willing to pay an extra price for EnergyWi$e homes. So what they were doing was after collecting the rebate from us, which the customer knew nothing about, they would turn around and charge the customer a premium for an energy-efficient home." BGE's new certification program will allow consumers to apply for mortgages with higher debt-to-income ratios and to receive 100 percent financing for energy-saving products and technology. Traditionally, a loan applicant's house costs - principal, interest, taxes, and insurance - must not exceed 28 percent of the applicant's income; [total debt] must not go over 36 percent. With certification, these ratios rise to 33 and 41 percent. BGE hopes raising these limits will encourage buyers to add energy-saving options that would increase the price of the home. Since the lender finances the full cost of these options, buyers could add them without increasing their down payment. Builders doubt that buyers will rush to add energy-saving items and are sorry to see EnergyWi$e go. - Baltimore Sun, 10 May 98, Real Estate, by Robert Nusgart.

RECYCLED PRODUCTS FROM WALLBOARD SCRAP
Waste Reduction Products Corp. of Goldston, North Carolina makes spill absorbants and lawn and garden products from scrap gypsum wallboard. Don Evans, a founder of WRPC, directed a 1993 Research Econometrics study of the construction waste stream. It found wallboard scrap, a major component, overlooked as a reusable material. North Carolina's robust mobile and modular home industry supplies the paper-covered gypsum scraps that WRPC now converts to calcium sulfate powder and cellulose fiber, useful raw materials. The company combines the powder and fiber to form pellets or separates them as base materials for other products. WRPC is aiming its recycled products at markets including home gardening, lawn care, golf course maintenance, industrial spill absorbants, animal waste management, and cat litter. Company executives believe that offering a low-cost alternative to wallboard disposal will change builders' view of the scraps as waste. - In Business, Mar-Apr 98, p 33, by Matt Ewadinger and Kathleen Gray.

SCOTTSDALE LAUNCHES GREEN BUILDING PROGRAM
The city of Scottsdale, Arizona inaugurated the Scottsdale Green Building Program: Sustainable Building in the Sonoran Desert at a February workshop that attracted 60 participants and certified three home builders. The voluntary program has four main areas of focus - energy, building materials, water, and solid waste. Scottsdale's hot, dry climate drives many of the program specifics. The program offers builders a menu of about 150 green building measures organized in 20 categories. Each measure has a weight of 1 to 4. To meet requirements of the program, a house must earn 44 points with a certain number from each of the 20 categories, or 50 points with fewer than the required points in each category. The program's ultimate success will likely depend on adequate marketing by the city and the support of groups like the home building association. But a program organizer says the local association has so far shown little or no interest in the program. For more information, visit <http://www.ci.scottsdale.az.us> or call Anthony Floyd at the city's Environmental Management Office, 602.941.6992. - Environmental Building News, Apr 98, p 4.

GREEN GROCER: LEBANON FOOD CO-OP
The new Lebanon Food Co-Op offers its members in Lebanon, New Hampshire more green than peas, broccoli, and rebates - it's also environmentally friendly. Designed by Arrowstreet Inc. [of Somerville, Massachusetts], the 55,000 SF store is a branch of Hanover Co-Op, a 62-year old consumer food cooperative founded by Dartmouth College faculty. From design workshops held among Arrowstreet and its separate clients Dartmouth and the Co-Op, energy efficiency emerged as the highest priority. When natural light pours through the Co-Op's central skylight, sunlight-sensitive controls automatically dim its electric lights then brighten them as night approaches. Sixteen-foot ceilings help spread daylight from the skylight. A New England Electrical Systems rebate for using energy saving options partially paid for the skylight and lighting controls. The utility company also helped finance specially designed, energy-saving refrigerators and heaters. The Co-Op's roof is recycled timber, its counter-top millwork recycled, and its concrete made from fly ash. Installed building products made with recycled materials include gypsum wallboard, rubber flooring, vapor retarders, fiberglass insulation, steel stud framing, and carpeting. - Contract Design, Apr 98, p 52, by Linda Burnett.

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