This news digest is published every two weeks by Chris Hammer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The building's most impressive feature is an 80 kW wind turbine that supplies the building's power and exports electricity. A ground source heat pump heats and cools the two-story headquarters.
Compost toilets use only a pint of recycled rainwater per flush.
Architect Carole Townsend specified window frames and reveals from sustainable timber sources and treated with Borex, a nontoxic preservative. And Cheshire Heritage provided reclaimed bricks, cleaned and palleted. But the design team struggled to find recycled aluminum for the roof, eventually getting the 2.5 metric tons of roofing they needed from British Alcan. At first Alcan wanted Groundwork to fund an entire production run of 50 metric tons, but by marketing the roofing as reclaimed Alcan easily sold the remainder of the run to customers willing to pay a small premium for recycled products. Since 1994, Phenix Biocomposites, Inc. has offered Environ, a decorative surface material used instead of wood or stone for store fixtures, countertops, furniture, and signs.