. . . AND SIEGEL & STRAIN WIN FOR RESOURCEFUL BUILDING
Showing that affordable housing and environmental sustainability aren't mutually exclusive goals, Siegel & Strain Architects of Emeryville, California have won a P/A Award for Architectural Research for the Emeryville Resourceful Building Project. For a newly constructed three-unit house in Emeryville, the researchers found that the cumulative effect of small environmental improvements combined with select cost-saving measures can generate significant savings. Siegel & Strain addressed disciplines from design to life-cycle assessment to energy analysis and over the three-year project conducted research in the office and at the construction site. "They enlarged the definition of quality in affordable housing," says juror Bob Berkebile. "They established a methodology for evaluating the design of environmentally sound and affordable housing." Findings include: efficient structural design reduced wood consumption by 19 percent; efficient wall assemblies reduced fuel used in material production by 37 percent; and energy efficient measures like shading windows to keep interiors cool can save homeowners $200 a year in operating costs and can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 22 percent. - Architecture, Apr 99, p 121. [Resourceful Building Project report (due in June): <info@siegelstrain.com>]

USPS DELIVERS GREEN POST OFFICE
The United States Postal Service earlier this year opened a 25,500-square-foot post office in Fort Worth, Texas, the first of a series of demonstration green buildings it has planned to test various environmental measures. Since 1993, the USPS has worked to reduce the environmental impact of its operations by using alternative-fueled vehicles, recycled and recyclable paper, and now by introducing low-impact buildings. To conserve energy, the new Fort Worth PO uses an exterior ceramic coating system that reflects heat, low-e glazing, and natural lighting. Low-impact building materials include Agriboard straw-and-OSB panels for the exterior walls. Rainwater is collected for irrigation and, after the first year and water quality tests, for drinking water. The project budget of $93.50 per square foot allowed 10 percent to cover experimental green strategies. The next demonstration post office is under construction in Raleigh, North Carolina. - Environmental Building News, Apr 99, p 13.  [Full EBN text: <http://www.ebuild.com/Archives/Other_Copy/postoffice.html>] [More: <http://www.usps.gov/environ/webpages/grnbldg.htm>]

STRAWBOARD MAKERS NUMBER THREE IN NORTH AMERICA
Three North American manufacturers now produce particleboard made of [residual] wheat straw instead of wood: PrimeBoard, Inc. in Wahpeton, North Dakota; Prairie Forest Products, in Hutchinson, Kansas; and Isobord Enterprises, Inc. in Elie, Manitoba. An [annually renewable] agricultural product, strawboard generally sells for the same price as wood particleboard. It can replace wood particleboard or medium-density fiberboard in non-structural applications like furniture, cabinets, store displays, door panels, moldings, and other fixtures. Strawboard is about 97 percent straw and three percent methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI), a resin that is five times as expensive as urea formaldehyde, the most common wood particleboard resin. Though formaldehyde-free, the petroleum-derived MDI resin is classified as a hazardous air pollutant, and at least two strawboard makers are working to develop a vegetable-based resin. Strawboard's nail- and screw-holding capacity and moisture resistance outperform competitors. It machines smoothly, offering a superior laminating surface. An acre of wheat usually produces about a ton of straw. Generally farmers harvest only about half of this for strawboard leaving the rest on the field for soil nutrition, and [in the Midwest], farmers harvest a field for strawboard only once every two to three years. But in the state of Washington, where fertile soil and irrigation produce as much as two to three tons per acre, farmers frequently burn straw in the field since there is too much to plow into the soil. The burning has created air quality problems and led to strong interest in developing a local strawboard plant. - The Carbohydrate Economy, Spring 99, p 12. [PrimeBoard: <http://www.primeboard.com>] [Prairie Forest Products: 316 665 7000] [Isobord Enterprises: <http://www.isobord.com>]

KHALILI EXPERIMENTS WITH RAW BUILDING MATERIALS
Set among Hesperia, California's high-desert tract houses with well-watered lawns and year-round air conditioning, the Hesperia Museum and Nature Center is now under construction using a system of self-supporting sandbags called Superadobe. For eight years, Iranian-born architect Nader Khalili has taught the art of building from raw materials at his Cal-Earth Institute in Hesperia, northeast of Los Angeles. Assisted by students, Khalili erects arches, domes, and vaults of handmade adobe bricks, factory-produced bricks, and earth-filled sandbags. To make Superadobe buildings, Khalili winds sandbags in a coil or lays them like big bricks, mildly reinforces them with barbed wire, and finishes them in stucco. The system can incorporate chimney-like wind catchers for cooling and solar panels for heating. An existing brick structure called the Rumi Dome will become the museum's entrance. Khalili hopes the $1.2 million city-commissioned museum will show that brick domes and Superadobe can not only be inexpensive and practical but also poetic and beautiful. For more information, visit  <http://www.calearth.org>. - The New York Times, 15 Apr 99, p B11, by  Frances Anderton.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

GreenClips is free of charge thanks to individual members and 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.interfaceinc.com

WSU ENERGY PROGRAM http://www.energy.wsu.edu Manufacturing Leaders Conference. May 19-20, 1999 in Portland, Oregon. Call 800 872 3568 or visit <http://www.energy.wsu.edu/conf/industry/>.

CALIFORNIA INTEGRATED WASTE MANAGEMENT BOARD http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov The California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) offers contractors  information on recycling and reusing materials from construction and  demolition (C&D) job sites and how it can save them money. The Construction &  Demolition Recycling Program fact sheet summarizes CIWMB programs that can  help contractors in C&D recycling efforts. It lists other available fact  sheets such as Asphalt Pavement Recycling, Drywall Recycling, Recycled Latex  Paint, Why Use Recycled Plastic Lumber? and more. Also available is  California C&D Recyclers, a list of approximately 500 sites in the state,  sorted by county, that receive construction and/or demolition materials for  recycling or reuse. To obtain any of these publications, call 916 255 2149 or  visit <http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/ConDemo/>.

US DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY http://www.eren.doe.gov/buildings Lighting retrofits. Car pools. Energy-efficient manufacturing. Wind turbines.  Energy education in schools. Sustainable planning. Revolving loan programs.  Energy performance contracting. Building energy codes. Industrial waste heat  reclamation. Photovoltaic programs. And the list goes on. Not many programs  can claim such diverse activities. But the State Energy Program (SEP),  operated by DOE's Office of Building Technology, State and Community  Programs, can. The SEP has been instrumental in implementing more than 8,000  state conservation projects since 1983, and improving the energy efficiency  of 69,000 school and hospital buildings since 1979. Some 6,300 people are  employed as result of these projects. For more information on BTS' efficient  building programs, please see DOE's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy  Network website <http://www.eren.doe.gov/buildings> or call 800 363 3732.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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.

To CONTACT THE PUBLISHER Email GreenClips@aol.com or call 415.928.7941.

BACK ISSUES Two Internet sites host GreenClips archives for reference and research: http://solstice.crest.org/sustainable/greenclips-info.html (keyword search) http://www.greendesign.net/greenclips (browse contents)

REDISTRIBUTION Please do not redistribute or post copies of GreenClips regularly. Encourage readers who receive GreenClips from you to subscribe directly. Continuing sponsorship depends on accurate reader counts.

To SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE Subscribe, unsubscribe, or change your address at this web site: http://listserv.energy.wsu.edu/guest/RemoteListSummary/GreenClips

You can also do this by email following these instructions: Address an email message to <GreenClips-request@listserv.energy.wsu.edu>.  In the body of the message (not the subject line) type either: subscribe <your internet email address> unsubscribe <your internet email address>

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Copyright 1999 Sustainable Design Resources. All rights reserved. Republishing GreenClips in print or on a web site, in whole or in part, or commercial distribution in any form requires advance permission of the publisher.