Green Builder Resources
Here's the list of the resources mentioned in each of the articles. Please remember
that this information was accurate as of April 1994 and some things may have changed.
- Building Materials
- Material World
- Reuse
- Habitat for Humanity Thrift Store (Re-Store)
- 310 Comal; 478-2165
- Carries an ever-changing inventory of materials; keep checking
back.
- Ramirez Properties
- 3131 Bastrop Hwy; 335-5512
- Mountains of wood from salvage jobs
- Del Valley Recycling
- 1713 Hwy 71; 385-4617
- A smattering of doors and windows; watch out for the yellow dog.
- Alamo Hardwoods
- San Antonio; 210/736-3137, Biff Huebinger, Sr.
- Occasionally gets old timbers, like 12x12 cypress.
- Wampler Manufacturing
- Bastrop; 512/321-2916
- Family mill, good source of large timbers.
- Texas Kiln Products
- Route 1 Box 66, Bastrop, Texas 78602; 800/825-9158
- Mesquite and other regional woods.
- Uvalde Mesquite Products
- Box 5367, Uvalde, TX 78802; 210/591-0404
- Mesquite flooring specialists.
- Delta Lumber
- 4701 E. 5th St., Austin, TX 78702; 385-1812
- Norton Hill Wood Company
- 701 Airport Road, Santa Fe, NM 87501; 505/471-2456
- Timbers, beams, post, and corbels.
- Hansen Lumber
- 1113 Calle Largo, Santa Fe, NM 87501; 505/471-8280
- Ogden Restaurant Equipment
- 2401 Thorton Road, Austin 78704; 444-3669
-
Recycled Materials
- Renewed Materials Industry
- Chuck Hickey: sales rep; 512/836-0374
- Rubber lumber from recycled plastics.
- Louisianna-Pacific
- 111 S.W. 5th Avenue, Portland, OR 97204; 503/221-0800
- Foxworth-Galbraith Lumber Company
- 451-4477
- Finger-jointed framing studs.
- Home Depot
- 10107 Research Blvd and 5400 Brodie; 795-8011 and 892-7887
- Insulation from recycled cotton fibers, batt and blown, with
non-toxic fire and bug retardant, Glidden 2000 paint.
- Eco-wise
- 1714 S. Congress Ave.; 326-4474
- Plant-based paints and stains.
- Environmental Construction Outfitters
- 44 Crosby Street, NY, NY 10012; 212/334-9659
- A "green" building products department store, with everything from
CFC-free refrigerators to naturally-felled lumber to solar electric vehicles,
hopefully franchising soon to a town near you.
- Stripling-Blake
- 3400 Steck Avenue, 5508 Hwy. 290 W.; 465-4260
- Company now carries lumber from Collins Pine Co. of Chester, California.
- Lauren Concrete, Inc.
- 4501 Shaw Lane, Austin, Texas 78744; 389-2113
- Fly-ash concrete and enthusiastic advice.
- Enerchek
- Terry Taylor, 12406 Old San Antonio Rd, Manchaca, TX 78652-4803; 512/282-2288
- Cellulose insulation from recycled newpaper.
- Books & Publications
- Environmental Building News
- RR 1 Box 161, Brattleboro, VT 05301; 802/257-7300
- A bimonthly newsletter on sustainable design and
construction.
- Building with Junk
- Jim Broadstreet, Author, Loompanics Unlimited, P.O. Box 1197, Port Townsend, WA 98368
- This publisher sells some pretty scary books on hiding things,
lock picking, wire tapping, civil war and surviving jail, but Building
with Junk doesn't seem to have any hidden "apocalyptic" agenda.
- The Sustainable Building Sourcebook
- The City of Austin's Environmental and Conservation Services/Green
Builder Program; 499-7822
- An exhaustive resource, required reading for anyone wanting to
build "green" in Austin, the best thirty bucks you can spend.
- Real Goods Catalogue
- 966 Mazzoni St., Ukiah, CA 95482-3471; 1/800/762-7325
- Mail-order source for composting toilets, photovoltaics,
solar-charged lawnmowers, 12-volt blenders, and other must-have items for green
consumers (Is that an oxymoron?) Real Goods sometimes makes sustainable building
look like a rich man's game, but they also offer a wide selection of books and
publications for the penny-pincher interested in independent living.
- Guide to Resource Efficient Building Elements
- Center for Resourceful Building Technology, Box 3413, Missoula, Montana 59806
- Source for materials, systems and stuff with R-values etc. $25.
- Earthword Journal
- 580 Broadway, Suite 200, Laguna Beach CA 92651
- Issue No. 5 of this new journal is all about sustainable and
indigenous architecture. It's a good source for adobe and earth shelter ideas,
domes, cooling towers, lots of cool stuff. $7.
- The Sourcebook for Sustainable Design
- Boston Society of Architects, 52 Broad St., Boston, MA 02109-4301
- One of the first books written about environmentally friendly
building materials. $25.
- Environmental Resource Guide
- AIA Order Dept., 9 Jay Gould Court, Box 753, Waldorf, MD 20604
- Huge guide to practical and theoretical information compiled by
the American Institute of Architects. $275.
- Are We Running Out of Wood
- Forest Partnership
- 431 Pine Street, Burlington, VT 05402-0426; 800/858-6230
- This non-profit group helps connect organizations interested in
sustainably harvested wood. They publish a newsletter on timber issues and are
publishing a CD-ROM database called "Woods of The World," a compendium of 750
species of wood, along with their physical properties. They also help coordinate
delivery of sustainable wood to builders.
- Rainforest Alliance
- 65 Bleecker St, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10012; 212/677-1900
- Founded in 1987, this group started the Smart Wood Program, which
certifies logging companies and the wood they produce as coming from a
sustainable source. The group has about 3,000 members. Dues are $20/yr.
- Stripling-Blake Lumber Co.
- 3400 Steck; 5508 Hwy 290 W.
- Company now carries lumber from Collins Pine Co. of Chester,
California.
- City of Austin Green Builder Program
- Laurence Doxsey, 206 E. 9th, Suite 17.102; 499-3504
- The Green Builder Program can give you more information about sustainable wood.
- Foxworth-Galbraith Lumber Company
- 8910 Research Blvd, Bldg.C, Suite 2, 451-4477
- Finger-jointed framing studs.
- Redesigning the Forest Economy
- By Alan Thein Durning, WorldWatch Paper 117, Published by the WorldWatch Institute,
1776 Massachusetts Ave., Washington, SC 20036
- An in-depth essay about the reformation of the timber industry.
This paper was also included in WorldWatch's State of the World 1994
report. It sells for $11.95.
- The Last Straw
- Sustainable Systems Support
- Carol Escott & Steve Kemble, Box 318, Bisbee, AZ 86503; (602) 432-4292
- These two have been involved in straw bale projects since 1990.
They have a video on straw bale construction called The Elegant Solution,
which is an informative and entertaining video with footage of historical straw
houses in Nebraska.
- Bowerbird Construction
- Strawbale Building and Consulting, Box 698, Dripping Springs, TX 78620; 512-476-3030
- Duncan Echelson, Keith Miller are one of the only companies
specializing in strawbale construction in Austin. Call to get on their mailing list for
the next workshop.
- A Straw Bale Primer
- MacDonald and MacDonald, Box 58, Gila NM 88038
- Just as the name implies, this is a book to get you started. $10.
- The Last Straw
- 1037 E. Linden St., Tucson, AZ 85719
- A quarterly journal on strawbale construction. Funny and
informative. $28/yr.
- Mansion Industries/Pyramod International
- 14711 E. Clark Ave, City of Industry, CA 91745; (818) 968-9501
- This company is trying to sell stock to begin manufacturing
compressed straw home kits. Call for a prospectus.
- Earthy Solutions
- Adobe Journal
- Box 7725, Albuquerque, NM 87194
- A quarterly magazine on adobe. $15 for 4 issues.
- Sod Walls: Story of the Nebraska Sod House
- Robert L. Welsch, 541 S. 54th, Lincoln, NE
- Rammed Earthworks
- 1058 2nd Ave, Napa, AC 94558; 707-224-2532
- This company specializes in pise, or rammed earth shelters. They also sell
books which explain how to build rammed earth structures.
- Earthship
- Michael Reynolds, Solar Survival Press, Taos, NM
- Reynolds pioneered the rammed earth/tire idea. His books are the
best on the subject.
- R.C. Smoot Construction
- 9103 Towana Trail, Austin, Tx 78736; 288-1001
- Michael Langley
- Villa Nuevas, Inc.; 329-8944
- Water
- Graywater
- The Sustainable Building Sourcebook
- The City of Austin's Environmental and Conservation
Services/Green Builder Program; 499-7822
- An exhaustive resource, required reading for anyone wanting to
build "green" in Austin, the best thirty bucks you can spend.
- Homing Instincts
- by John Connell (Warner Books)
- This guide to "using your lifestyle to design and build your home"
argues a strong case for more widespread use of greywater irrigation. It lists a
couple of sources in its bibliography for more information: Residential
Water Re-use by Murray Milne, Davis, CA: California Water Resources
Center, 1979; and The Toilet Papers by Sim Van der Ryn, Santa Barbara, CA:
Capra Press 1978.
- Water Efficient Technologies: A Catalog for the Residential/Light
Commercial Sector
- Rocky Mountain Institute, 1739 Snowmass Creek Road, Snowmass, CO 81654-9199; (303) 927-3851
- RMI has a ton of literature on energy efficiency, some of it
authored by Mr. Negawatt himself, Amory Lovins. The water efficiency catalog, $25,
contains the latest on urinals, washing machines and other good stuff. Ask for
RMI# W91-18.
- Problems of Elimination
- Clearwater Systems
- Michael Kelly, 305 W. Mary, Austin, TX 78704; 441-6046
- Aerobic wastewater disposal.
- Earth Sky Designs
- Lucia Athens, 522 E. Live Oak, Austin, TX 78704; 447-9023
- Sewage disposal systems.
Several local agencies have useful info on on-site sewage
treatment:
- Austin-Travis County Health and Human Services
Department
- Mary Bell Lockhart; 469-2015
- Texas Natural Resource Conservation Comm.
- Sherman Hart, 463-7972
- TNRCC can give you the latest standards for on-site
treatment.
- Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA)
- Burt Carter or C.D. Van Cleeve; 473-3200, ext. 2710 or 2566
- The LCRA will tell you about their plant based system for
treating wastewater. The prototype system is currently in use on Lake Travis,
but the technology will eventually be available for consumer use.
- Goodbye To The Flush Toilet
- edited by Carol Hupping Stoner
- Good bathroom reading on various alternatives, including
composting toilets and graywater alternatives; available in Austin's downtown public
library.
- On-Site Wastewater Research Treatment Council
- This group was recently appointed by the Governor. Call 463-3109
or 409-845-1851 for more info, or to recieve their newsletter.
- National Small Flows Clearinghouse
- 1-800-624-8301
- This West Virginia non-profit group has received backing from the
EPA to publish a free on-site newsletter. They also offer books, videos and
other information services.
- Water Efficient Technologies: A Catalog for the Residential/Light
Commercial Sector
- Rocky Mountain Institute, 1739 Snowmass Creek Road, Snowmass, CO 81654-9199; (303) 927-3851
- RMI has a ton of literature on energy efficiency, some of it
authored by Mr. Negawatt himself, Amory Lovins. The water efficiency catalog, $25,
contains the latest on urinals, washing machines and other good stuff. Ask for
RMI#W91-18.
- Energy Efficiency
- Plugging Into "Negawatts"
- Allied Energy
- Box 50042, Austin, TX 78703; 443-3938
- High-efficiency, water-cooled air conditioning systems.
- Real Goods
- 966 Mazzone St., Ukiah, CA 95482-3471; 800/762-7325
- A huge catalog of PC goods from water filters to natural shampoo.
Call to get on their mailing list. They also produce the following
publications:
- Wind Power for Home and Business ($35) tells you all you
need to know about windmills, wind turbines, and the like.
- Alternative Energy Source Book ($16) has 528 pages of
things like solar, wind, and hydro systems, lighting, heating, water usage, and
more. The next edition, coming in May, will be called Solar Living Source Book
($19).
- Guide to Resource Efficient Building Elements
- Center for Resourceful Building Technology, Box 3413, Missoula, Montana 59806
- Source for materials, systems, and stuff with R-values etc. $25.
- Earthword Journal
- 580 Broadway, Suite 200, Laguna Beach, CA 92651
- Issue No. 5 of this new journal is all about sustainable and
indigenous architecture. It's a good source for adobe and earth shelter ideas,
domes, cooling towers, lots of cool stuff. $7.
- Water Efficient Technologies: A Catalog for the Residential/Light
Commercial Sector and Practical Home Energy Savings
- Rocky Mountain Institute, 1739 Snowmass Creek Road, Snowmass, CO 81654-9199; 303/927-3851
- RMI has a ton of literature on energy efficiency, some of it
authored by Mr. Negawatt himself, Amory Lovins. The water efficiency catalog, $25,
contains the latest on urinals, washing machines, and other good stuff. Ask for
RMI#W91-18. Practical Home Energy Savings, $8, has lots of tips on
insulation, appliances, and the like. Ask for #E91-12.
- Organizations
- Green Builder Program
- City of Austin Green Builder Program
- Laurence Doxsey, 206 E. 9th St. Suite 17.102, Austin TX 78701; 499-3504
- Distributes both the Green Building Guide ($5) and the
Sustainable Building Sourcebook ($25).
- From Fringe to Center
- Pliny Fisk III
- Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems, 8604 Webberville Rd, Austin TX 78724; 928-4786