Would you like to participate in a daily discussion dedicated to energy-efficient and environmentally-responsible building without leaving your chair? If you have electronic mail, you can join the Green Building Discussion Group.

Most of the roughly 600 group members (as of February 1998) are building professionals, such as architects, engineers and contractors, although anyone is welcome to join. Most members are American or Canadian, but others from the United Kingdom, Australia and Germany add their unique perspective to the discussion.

Members ask questions, answer questions, discuss and debate. New members generally start off by spending a few weeks just reading messages--a process called "lurking." After getting a feel for the group and the topics, they begin to ask questions and contribute their own thoughts.

Here's how it works. Members send email messages to a special address. Those messages are copied to all other members. If you join, expect to see between 20 and 50 messages a day from the list. Of course, you're not required to read them all. People wanting to actively participate in the discussion generally like to receive individual messages. However, others like to reduce the inbox clutter by using the "digest" version. This way you receive each day's discussion compiled into one email message. You won't miss a bit of the discussion.

To sign up, send an email message to the address "majordomo@crest.org". In the body of the message, type "subscribe greenbuilding" (without the quotes). More complete instructions can be seen on the Oikos Web site. The Green Building Discussion Group is co-sponsored by Environmental Building News, Iris Communications, Inc. and the Center for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technology (CREST).