| We live in one of the nation’s hot spots for green building, yet there
are still obstacles to building a truly sustainable structure. While many
new green and greenish building materials have been introduced in recent
years, purchasing good sustainable products is still not anywhere as easy
as selecting conventional items. To add to the difficulty, several of the
good green products that many of us used in the past are no longer available
here or do not even existing anymore. Some sustainable building products
that we have been able to find in Central Texas are now on the Endangered
Materials list and will soon cease to be available here unless their use
is supported by area green builders.
The good news is that there ARE many good products out there…But we still have to work just a little bit harder to find them at times. Some are as accessible as the local Home Depot, while others can only be found at specialty stores such as EcoWise or through the manufacturer. Other excellent sustainable products are as close as our Habitat Restore or available from one of the several local salvage dealers. Even when they are available, choosing the right green building materials is not always simple. Determining the greenest or at least greener product for the job is not always an obvious decision. Balancing performance, dollar cost and environmental cost ranges from easy to nearly impossible. |
Marc Richmond, Project Manager with the renowned City of Austin Green
Building Program, will speak with us about the current state of affairs
regarding green building materials in Central Texas. He will review some
of the new products and discuss the availability of these and other historically-utilized
sustainable items. Marc will give us ideas on what is available currently,
where to find these materials, and how to make educated choices.
Resources from June Presentation
Environmental Building News, Vol. 6, No. 1, Jan. 1997, "Material Selection: Tools, Resources, and Techniques, for Choosing Green. Environmental Building News, Vol. 9, No. 1, Jan. 2000, "Building Materials: What Makes a Product Green?" EcoWise, the Green Hardware Store, 110 West Elizabeth, Austin, TX, 512-326-4474. Habitat Restore, 310 Comal, Austin, TX, 478-2165. New Uses, Architectural Salvage Warehouse, 12010 Hwy. 290 W., Suite 160, 512-301-6477. |
Announcements
| C.O.A. Green Building Seminars
All seminars are from 12:00 - 2:00 pm at Town Lake Center 721 Barton Springs Rd 1st floor Assembly Room. Call CJ Boggs 505-3700 no earlier than two weeks in advance to reserve a place. Topic, time and place are subject to change, so always call to confirm about 2 weeks in advance of the date given in the given in the schedule. July 12 Selecting Appropriate Paints and Finishes
Texas Renewable Energy Roundup
The Austin SBC and the San Antonio SBC will be "pardnering" a booth at The Texas Rewewable Energy Roundup: Green Living & Sustainability Fair in Fredricksburg, Texas next fall. The date for this event is September 29-30 and October 1, 2000. If you want to take part in the planning and design of a booth call Elena at 512-448-4229. FREE EVENING SEMINARS
6:30 to 8 p.m. at Austin Branch Public Libraries 2200 Hancock Drive in Central Austin (454-7208) sponsored by Renewable Energy Association of Central Texas (REACT) Texas Solar Energy Society (TXSES) 512.326.3391 Thurs. June 8 Home Energy Awareness
Tues. June 27 Passive Solar Energy Design
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Texas Renewable Energy Roundup Green Living And Sustainability Fair Education/Products/Services
September 29-30, October 1, 2000
Organized by
WEB SITE:
Contacts:
Book Sales
The Sustainable Building Coalition has taken on selling books. This is being done to help educate the public, provide a good source of sustainably oriented books for our members and help raise money for the SBC. Please support the SBC. 10% off the list price to current or new SBC members. Title List
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