Minnesota's bookstore is housed in an award-winning underground building designed to save energy and space while providing scenery. It includes vaulted ceilings, slanted windows, a recessed courtyard, platforms, mezzanines, and plants growing in bookcases. A solar energy unit supported by a federal grant is incorporated in the design. (LBH)

Presently available design techniques, technologies, and management practices can significantly reduce the energy requirements of new buildings. A two-part section discusses solutions to the energy problem in the commercial, institutional, and industrial fields. (Author/MLF)

Describes the construction of a simple apparatus capable of converting solar energy into mechanical energy. Construction of the engine'' is inexpensive, and should stimulate student interest in the idea of producing power directly from the sun. (JR)

Discusses the radioactive waste management in Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the USSR. Indicates that scientists and statesmen should look beyond their own lifetimes into future centuries and millennia to conduct long-range plans essential to protection of future generations. (CC)

The Space Shuttle Program is aimed at not only providing low cost transportation to and from near earth orbit, but also to conduct important biological research. Fields of research identified include gravitational biology, biological rhythms, and radiation biology. (PS)

Presents new evidence to show that nuclear radiation is associated with impaired cognitive functions. Links changing levels of radiation from U.S. nuclear bomb testing to the long decline--and now the beginnings of a rise--in Scholastic Aptitude Test scores. (Author/RW)

Stresses the importance of energy education and discusses various aspects of and trends related to energy in the United States. These include energy costs, recession and energy conservation, the nuclear debate, environmental concerns (including acid rain), solar energy, technological developments, energy policy/politics, and projection of energy…

Describes three experiments (also useful as demonstrations) using a "thorium cow," a device which concentrates the daughter products from thorium compounds by precipitation on a charged electrode. (JN)

Describes a low-cost instrument using a solar cell as a sensor to measure both instantaneous and integrated value of solar flux. Constructing and calibrating such an instrument constitutes an undergraduate experimental project, affording students an opportunity to examine a variety of aspects associated with solar energy measurements. (Author/SK)

The University of San Francisco financed conversion of three dormitories to solar heat by having private investors purchase and install equipment through a limited partnership. A public utilities rebate and eventual donation of the equipment also resulted. Available from California Higher Education, P.O. Box 26541, Sacramento, CA 95826, $2.00.…

The author explains some of the activities he uses in his upper elementary energy curriculum when dealing with these topics: the definition of energy; gasoline consumption; energy conversion; solar energy; and the politics of energy. Resource agencies to which students may write for information are listed. (SJL)

Due to increasing energy demands and decreasing supplies, it is important for teachers to provide students with a solid foundation for energy decision making. Activities are presented which offer hands-on experiences with four sources of energy: wind, water, sun, and fossil fuels. (JN)

New energy-responsible buildings will not only use less energy, but will be more comfortable, more closely attuned to nature, and will create a better learning and living environment. The most cost-effective planning decisions have to do with good passive solar design and sensible operations. (MLW)

The new Civil/Mineral Engineering Building on the University of Minnesota Minneapolis campus is a demonstration design in energy conservation and innovation in active and passive solar energy applications. Its antecedents at the university represent contributory steps in the identification of issues and the development of design principles. (MLW)