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American Lung Association, Minneapolis Affiliate The American Lung Association (ALA) has been fighting lung disease, with assistance from the American Thoracic Society and the medical community, for over 90 years. The ALA offers a variety of health education programs about lung disease and its prevention. They also provide education, community services, advocacy, and research on the subject of good health. To learn more, give them a call at 1-800-LUNG-USA (586-4872). Up to 30 percent of new and remodeled buildings worldwide may generate excessive complaints related to indoor air quality. A Minneapolis affiliate of the ALA has gone one step further in the fight for good heath. From 1992 to 1996 they've been involved in building or remodeling 14 model homes with the goal of providing a healthier indoor environment. These model homes comprise an ongoing project called Health House. The Minneapolis Affiliate offers consulting services through their Healthy Building Consulting Group. Professionals who are serious about building an environmentally-safe home should take a look at their book, The Health House Workbook: A homeowner's manual for building a healthier home. It's a workbook that provides an objective approach to targeting and using important information for building a healthier home and eliminating indoor air quality problems. It's geared toward the consumer, but includes an outline of information and questions directed to professional builders. It's a useful resource you could refer to when dealing with a customer who wants to build or remodel to provide a healthier environment. To order this workbook ($29.95 including shipping and handling) or to find out how the American Lung Association, Minneapolis Affiliate, can help you with your next project, contact: Health House Project Center for Resourceful Building Technology (CRBT) This nonprofit organization was started by Montana homebuilder Steve Loken back in 1990, when he saw the environment around him declining due to the overuse of natural resources. At the same time, he was frustrated by the shortage of quality lumber available. This inspired him to gather information on environmentally-responsible and resource-efficient building materials and technologies. Through research, education, and demonstration, he's been distributing this information to both the building industry and the general public. Research The center is a nationally-recognized source of information on resource-efficient building methods and materials. They continue to collect information on building materials and evaluate them for resource efficiency according to these criteria:
They publish a reference directory of manufacturers whose products are resource efficient. Guide to Resource Efficient Building Elements ($28.00 including S&H) is now in its sixth edition. Education CRBT conducts slide presentations, workshops, and seminars on resource-efficient building. They've also created Building Our Children's Future, a 15-part interdisciplinary curriculum on resource-efficient building for grades kindergarten through 12. Demonstration In 1992, CRBT completed its first demonstration home building project, called ReCRAFT 90. This 2,400 square foot single-family home featured more than 40 resource-efficient and recycled building materials, with far less dimensional lumber than a conventional wood-framed residence. In 1995, they sponsored a new demonstration project in Missoula, Montana. The Timber-Tech House highlighted advances in efficient wood fiber use, including engineered wood, recovered wood fiber, and salvaged lumber. It shows that builders can build more resource-efficient houses using materials readily available today. I had the opportunity to interview Steve Loken, who has been designing and building homes for over 20 years that emphasize resource- and energy-efficient design, materials selection, and construction. Here's some of what he had to say: "The concern with efficient building materials is 'How do you use the least amount of material to accomplish the greatest amount of good in building?' For example, plywood and OSB are more efficient substitutes for 1 x 10 boards, and an I-joist is an efficient replacement for a solid-sawn beam. Overall, efficient building can be defined as being less material-intensive, and engineering for optimized strength-to-weight ratios. "Alternative products, on the other hand, represent materials and practices not in mainstream use, like replacing a 2 x 6 with straw. In the quest for alternatives, we have to be careful that what we're doing really is best for the building, and isn't just driven by the desire to adopt something new. At the same time, we have to make sure that we don't get locked into using materials just because they're traditional. We need to be open to using new materials that could work better in certain applications within a building, or maybe in certain climates or regions. "Most areas in the United States tend to overbuild, using an excessive amount of materials, due in part to habits and traditions that are hard to break, as well as code-enforced safety factors. We can decrease our material demands and still make strong and long-lasting buildings. Technology is currently the 'Hamburger Helper' of the construction industry – it's helping us to stretch the resource base. We can build equal or even better structures with less materials and resources. Also, we can decrease labor costs by decreasing the amount of material used, and by using engineered materials that have fewer defects and produce less waste. "Also, using resource-efficient materials can help keep costs down, by reducing the total amount of material needed in a structure. If you're talking about up-front material cost in dollars, then some alternative products are more expensive. When you factor in labor savings, energy savings, and maintenance savings over the life of a structure, alternative materials often appear as clear winners. And when you include the environmental costs of producing conventional materials – things like loss of biodiversity and water and air quality and preservation of building occupant health and productivity – it throws a whole new light on the conventional cost equation. "Change in any industry is painful and hard. There will be successes and failures – after all, even conventional materials experience failures. My only hope is that companies will proceed with the research and development of new materials carefully, and not rush to get a product on the market before it's ready. The worst thing that can happen in this market right now is repeated failure of new materials that haven't been completely tested. If that happens, builders start to develop an attitude of 'Oh, I already tried that product and it didn't work,' so it's hard to improve a product once it's already on the market. "Also, I want to mention that one giant product that's supposed to fit all applications may not be what the industry should be looking for. The most resource-efficient materials could well be the ones that are produced regionally, and are appropriate for the area. It's perfectly acceptable to have a product that performs well in some regions, but shouldn't be used in others. "I encourage construction professionals to always question what they're doing with materials and applications, and to ask themselves:
"We have an expanding population, an increasing need for affordable housing and a limited resource base. That says it all. We're going to have to enter an age of minimization, in which renovation, salvage, and reuse of materials will all become more and more important as we meet the challenges of housing in the 21st century." To learn more of the valuable services offered by the Center for Resourceful Building Technology, contact them at: Center for Resourceful Building Technology |
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Build Smarter with Alternative Materials |
