FOSTER PUTTING WATER TO WORK
Foster and Partners is using water in buildings for more than just aesthetic features. The firm is putting water to work in environmentally friendly heating and cooling systems like the innovative glazing system it's designing for the Vision for Europe project in Dusseldorf. Using the same basic principle as rooftop solar collectors, the proposed glazing system would capture solar heat in water circulating between glass [window] panels. Water would feed into the bottom of the glazing cavity through pipes at floor level, increasing in temperature as it rises in the cavity. When it reaches the top, the hot water would then travel to a heat exchanger or a storage tank for use at night. Water, points out Foster's Stefan Behling, has 2,400 times the thermal capacity of air. So using water to store heat or coolness or to move it around a building requires a lot less space than air does for ductwork and such. The space savings can make all the difference in commercial terms. - FX, Dec 98, p 34, by Jeremy Melvin.

CHIP MILL CONTROVERSY REACHES VIRGINIA
The wood chip industry, maker of particleboard among other products, has in the last decade expanded through the southeastern US. Now some southwest Virginia residents are concerned as Pittston Coal Company plans to build a $5 million chip mill in Dickenson County that will require the annual cutting of 5,000 acres. Forestry experts and industry officials say environmentalists and local residents need not worry about Virginia's supply of wood. Of the state's roughly 15.5 million acres of forest, 200,000 acres are logged every year, says Bob Shaffer, professor of forestry operations at Virginia Tech. Of that, 100,000 acres are clear cut. The tracts are replanted, says Shaffer, the trees come back in abundance, and Virginia's forests are as healthy as ever. But local resident Gerry Scardo says Pittston's clear cutting, if done wrong, will lead to soil erosion, the clogging of nearby streams, and the loss of wildlife habitat. While the timber industry believes chip mills create markets for local landowners to sell scraggly and low-grade trees, Scardo believes that with a chip mill nearby there's no incentive for landowners to leave any standing. Randy Bush, president of the Virginia Forest Products Association, disagrees. Creating a market for timber encourages landowners to keep trees growing, he says. If they can't sell timber, they're likely to convert the land to some other use, causing a decrease in the size of Virginia's woodland. State Delegate Barnie K. Day has proposed legislation calling for a study of the economic and environmental impact of the Pittston mill. "Chips mills are an $11 billion industry, and I don't want to presuppose what we'll find out about it," he says. "It could turn out that we need a big chip mill. But we need a study." - Richmond Times-Dispatch, 7 Feb 99, by Rex Bowman.

RADIANT FLOOR HEATING CAN SAVE ENERGY
Radiant floor heating systems can reduce energy costs while providing a comfortable occupant environment. Most commercial RFH applications have been in buildings with high ceilings and large overhead doors like warehouses, truck maintenance terminals, and aircraft hangers. Keeping the floor warm and radiating heat upward, RFH systems can reduce energy costs by focusing heating in the lower occupied areas instead of heating large volumes of air. An RFH installation consists of rigid insulation boards over a gravel or concrete slab base, a layer of rebar and wire mesh, a layer of water tubing, and a concrete cover. Boilers, waste heat, or solar devices can heat the circulating water. Cross-linked polyethylene (PEX) tubing developed by European firms has eliminated leaking problems of earlier systems. Installation of an RFH system typically costs 50 to 100 percent more than a forced-air system, says John Sweaney of Heatway, a Springfield, Missouri-based maker of RFH systems. But annual operating costs are "15 to 30 percent less." Other makers of RFH systems include Wirsbo of Apple Valley, Minnesota and Rehau Industries of Leesburg, Virginia. [For more information, visit <http://www.heatway.com>, <http://www.wirsbo.com>, and <http://www.rehau.com>.] - Building Design & Construction, Jan 99, p 62, by Hugh Cook.

FLORIDA OPENS RIVERS TO SINKER LOG SALVAGING
Florida now permits salvagers to reclaim logs that sunk to the bottom of its rivers while floating to mills from 1860 to 1920. The state had banned the practice of salvaging sinker logs in 1974 because it thought the logs provided important habitat for fish and aquatic organisms. Since 1984, Goodwin Heart Pine of Micanopy, Florida has milled sinker logs from surrounding states into long leaf yellow pine flooring and now welcomes the regulatory change that allows it to salvage logs in its home state. Companies that harvest Florida sinker logs will need a use agreement on logging practices and off-limits areas, dredge and fill permits, and the approval of state biologists. River salvage, estimates George Goodwin, accounts for about 200,000 of the half- million board feet of salvaged lumber the company produces annually. The remainder comes from demolished structures. For more information on Goodwin Heart Pine, visit <http://www.heartpine.com>. - Environmental Building News, Jan 99, p 4.

MCDONOUGH NAMED DESIGNER OF THE YEAR
Interiors magazine's 1999 Designer of the Year is William McDonough, an architect noted for proposing a radical overhaul of designers' attitudes toward energy, natural resources, and production. McDonough + Partner's architecture projects include the Miller SQA factory in Michigan, The Gap offices near San Francisco, the Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies at Oberlin College in Ohio, and Nike European headquarters in Hilversum, the Netherlands. McDonough's community and regional planning initiatives include Coffee Creek Center in Indiana. His collaboration with Michael Braungart called McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry has as its ultimate goal the redesign of industry itself. [This 22-page article extensively covers McDonough's work.] - Interiors, Jan 99, p 95, by Andrea Truppin.

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ABOUT THE PUBLISHER Architectural researcher and environmental consultant Chris Hammer of Sustainable Design Resources publishes GreenClips in San Francisco. Ms. Hammer helps planners, developers, building owners, designers, builders, and facility managers practice sustainable planning, development, building design, construction, and operation. GreenClips is written by Chris Hammer and James Richert.

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