CONTRACTORS IN DAVIS, CALIFORNIA WILL NO LONGER BE ALLOWED TO BUILD ENERGY-INEFFICIENT HOMES under Ordinance No. 784, recently adopted after a year of public debate before the City Council. New ordinance-the first of its kind in California-regulates the orientation and placement of windows, total window area allowed (3% of floor area for unshaded glass), roof color, and heat storage capacity of new dwellings. Code aims for 50% reduction in energy required to heat/cool new homes.
SWEDEN PLANS TO INSTITUTE NATIONAL PROGRAM FOR "ZERO ENERGY GROWTH" in the wake of a nationwide energy-use study. "We came to the conclusion," Prime Minister Olof Palme said, "that instead of using 4.5%o more energy each year as we do now, a 2.0% yearly increase up to 1985 and a leveling off to zero by 1990 was a reasonable target." Conservation campaigns and an energy tax are among methods that will be used to achieve program goals.
SOLAR ENERGY PROJECTS TO GET $116 MILLION, WITH $50 MILLION MORE SLATED FOR GEOTHERMAL R&D, in proposed 1977 budget for Energy Research & Development Administration. That's the good news. The bad news: breeder reactor program is budgeted for $575 million, and weapons expenditures are set at a staggering $1.6 billion. Even fossil fuel projects will receive $442 million . . . more than will be spent on all forms of "alternative" energy combined.
ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION REPRINT SERVICE (EARS) OFFERS QUANTITY DISCOUNTS on a variety of energy-related books, periodicals, pamphlets, posters, films, and article reprints. Interested individuals or groups may obtain Catalogue 5A (wind and solar publications) or 5B ("Nuclear Energy Information for Concerned Human Beings") or both, by writing EARS, 2239 E. Colfax, Denver, Colo. 80206. Enclose 25 cents to cover expenses, and tell them MOTHER sent you.
FEDERAL ENERGY ADMINISTRATION HAS GIVEN $103,000 TO THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS to prepare a study of the economic, social, and environmental ramifications of California's nuclear safeguards initiative. Study is due to be completed before the state's June ballot, and Project Survival-the group behind the initiative campaign-has filed suit to challenge the government contract.
WHAT JUST MAY BE THE MOST INFORMATIVE (AND EXCITING) WIND ENERGY POSTER IN THE WORLD is available now for $3.00 from Windworks, Rt. 3, Box 329, Mukwonago, Wis. 53149. On the front: a colorful chart with point-by-point comparisons of 17 classic windplant designs ranging from the Persian Sail of 600 A.D. to NASA's 100-kw Sandusky, Ohio rotor. And the back side of the 23" X 30" poster is crammed full of figures, photos, tables, equations, and write-ups that explain the performance and potential of wind generators . . . truly something you'll have to see to believe!
FOLKS WHO LIVE IN THE SOUTHEASTERN U.S., ATTENTION! The N.E.C.-Natural Energy Company--may be just what you're looking for if you need solar water stills, photovoltaic cells, parabolic reflectors, Clivus Multrum (and other) waste treatment systems, a variety of windplants, or even custom solar engineering. Find out about all this and more in N.E.C.'s brand-new catalogue, available for 75 cents from P.O. Box 1033, Delray Beach, Fla. 33444.
AMERICANS WASTED MORE FUEL IN 1975 THAN WAS USED BY TWO-THIRDS OF WORLD'S POPULATION according to a study by Denis Hayes, noted environmentalist and founder of Earth Day. Hayes' research-which received funding from the Federal Energy Administration-was recently published as Worldwatch Paper 4, Energy: The Case for Conservation. Informative 80-page report is available for S2.00 per copy from Worldwatch Institute, 1776 Massachusetts Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036.
HOUSE AND SENATE CONFEREES HAVE ACTED TO TERMINATE FEA'S NUCLEAR PROPAGANDA DEPARTMENT, otherwise known as Office of Nuclear Affairs. Legislators refused $1-million appropriation request for Office, stating they were "disturbed at the establishment of a nuclear energy office to act as a `government advocate for public acceptance' of nuclear power".
HOW TO CHALLENGE YOUR LOCAL ELECTRIC UTILITY: A CITIZEN'S GUIDE TO THE POWER INDUSTRY is title of new 112-page manual for activists who wish to engage in dialogue with utilities on environmental, consumer, and social issues. Guide includes chapters on how to oppose new power plant installations, change discriminatory rate structures, etc. Single copies $1.50 each from Environmental Action Foundation, 724 DuPont Circle Bldg., Washington, D.C. 20036.
AN ALL-NEW BIBLIOGRAPHY OF TECHNICAL ARTICLES AND DISSERTATIONS ON BIO-GAS PRODUCTION is being offered by Professor James A. Moore of the University of Minnesota's Agricultural Engineering Department. More than 450 entries-many with abstracts-have been included in the 105-page volume, covering nearly three decades' work in this important field. Copies of The Anaerobic Digestion of Livestock Wastes to Produce Methane by Gregg Shadduck and James A. Moore are available for $2.00 each from Professor Moore at the Agricultural Engineering Dept., Univ. of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minn. 55108.
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