April 1st, 2009
Hot Green Flooring Options
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If you’re tired of the same old bamboo flooring, some wonderful flooring materials have come out in the last year or so. These relatively new products are exciting, beautiful, environmentally friendly and are certain to bring warmth and style to your remodel or new home. Here are our suggestions for some beautiful new flooring materials.
KirKirei is well known for its interior finish materials, including the well-known Kirei Board, an engineered panel made from sorghum stalks that is used for wall panels and cabinetry. Kirei is now making tiles from leftover coconut shells that would otherwise be sent to the landfill or burned. Coconut shells have a rich, nutty brown color that make for a durable tile that can be cut and designed into these beautiful patterns. An FSC certified wood is used for the backing material and the tiles are coated with a low-VOC resin to help protect them. These handsome tiles can be used for floors, headboards, walls, cabinets and decorative pieces.
While EcoDomo’s line of leather tiles is certainly not new, we thought them worthy of mentioning here on LIL. EcoDomo’s expansive line of tiles includes eight different colors, four different textures and a variety of shapes and sizes. The tiles are made from at least 65% post-industrial recycled leather, which has been ground up into fibers and reprocessed with natural binders like natural rubber and acacia wood bark. The leather pulp is then sheet extruded from a machine with coloring and texture. Tiles are very easy to install much like cork or vinyl, naturally sound absorbent and very luxurious looking. These tiles are not recommended for bathrooms or other rooms exposed to water and they should also be waxed occasionally to retain their natural shine.
Expanko is a well-known manufacturer of cork flooring and has recently come out with a few new styles for their Traditional Cork Flooring. Cork is sustainably harvested from the bark of cork trees every nine years, leaving the tree healthy and alive to regrow its bark. To make their flooring even more sustainable, Expanko uses 100% post-industrial cork for its traditional flooring line. Their newest styles include colored cork tiles rather than the traditional browns and also two new cork patterns designed by Italian Artisans. These new and nontraditional looking cork floors bring a fresh new look to a already great flooring choice. The style shown here is the Spinato Veneer.
EnviroMODE is a new line of recycled porcelain floor and counter top material made by EnviroGLAS. This colorful, resin-filled material is made from toilets and sinks that are crushed then formed into tiles and counter tops. Resin colors include red, blue, tan, black, gray and white. EnviroMODE is naturally heat and scratch resistant, has no VOCs and does not require a seal, which makes for a very low-maintenance and healthy material.
Showercork is yet another new cork flooring option that uses recycled cork material to create a rich mosaic tile. Sustainable Flooring uses post-industrial wine stoppers, cuts them into thin rounds and sets them onto a special backing material, which can easily be installed much like traditional mosaic tile sheets using glue and grout. A water-based polyurethane coating can then applied for water-resistance.
Mulberry is another post-industrial material sprouting up as for interior materials. The Mulberry tree and it’s leaves are used throughout China as food for silkworms. Each year silk worms devour the leaves off the tree, which stops the tree from growing anymore. To encourage new growth, the branches of the mulberry are trimmed, leaving a lot of leftover mulberry limbs behind, which can be processed into engineered composite wood similar to Kirei Boards. Mulberry makes for very interesting patterns and can even be naturally dyed for use as flooring, wall panels and cabinets. A number of companies have this product, but we like Engineered Timber Resources best.
To see many other excellent green flooring options, click here.
via Re-Nest and This Old House
Popularity: 11% [?]
March 24th, 2009
Cardboard Furniture: From Cheap to Artsy to DIY
Most cardboard has a pretty high recycled content — and can be easily re-recycled or composted to boot. Plus, cardboard’s also an inexpensive material that’s light and, usually, flat — characteristics that make cardboard furniture affordable (usually, at least) to make and ship. All these qualities are making cardboard — something we often think of as a low quality, one-use, disposable product — a popular material for serious eco furniture designers!
Cardboard’s an especially popular material for children’s furniture — perhaps because easy-to-recycle cardboard makes sense to use for pint-sized chairs and little cradles kids will quickly outgrow. Green Lullaby’s Eco-Cradle (above), for example, is an all-cardboard cradle made with over 60% recycled pulp! Eco-Cradle ships flat and can be assembled quickly without tools — and can also be disassembled and re-flattened to be easily stored away for the next baby. The Eco-Cradle’s available for $99.50 at Olive and Bean Boutique.
Another cardboard baby bed option’s the customizable cardboard cot by Album di Famiglia (above). However, this boxy cot’s very pricey! Parents will have to spend $220 Euros plus UPS shipping to the U.S. at the Little Fashion Gallery to get this cot.
Lots of other kid furniture’s available at Cardboardesign, a company that offers a basic kids’ drawing table ($58) and chair (2 for $45) — but then thinks outside the cardboard box to create everything from an all-cardboard lemonade stand to a rocket to a play castle too (above). The kids can certainly enjoy playing with and using these toys and furniture, but half the fun seems to be in the assembling and decorating of these cardboard structures. Each product comes with assembly instructions — and a packaway flat box for storage.
Cardboardesign also makes furniture for adults! The light, easily assembled, flat-packed tables and chairs are especially popular with eco-companies with booths at expos and conferences, since the furniture travels easy. I see them being great for bake sales or other community events. Why lug big heavy tables and chairs around when you can easily get the same setup from a flat cardboard box?
Those cardboard pieces can apparently withstand 600 lbs of weight according to Cardboardesign’s website, but even more sturdy looking shelves, chairs, and desks — like the one above — are also available from the company.
For those willing to shop for their furniture from afar, ReturDesign Studio in Sweden offers a very large variety of furniture, ranging from basic tables and chairs to beautiful sofas (above), functional display units, and gorgeous lamps. According to CNET, ReturDesign gets many customers from U.S.! To be one of them though, you’ll need deal with currency exchanges and international shipping.
Big spenders can browse Frank Gehry designs, made by Vitra. These high end seats are gorgeous show pieces — and will put you back $480 - $985 a piece at All Modern.
Not willing to fork over that kind of cash for — cardboard? Then try your hand at making your own cardboard furniture. Foldschool has free patterns and detailed instructions for making a stool, chair, or rocker for kids!
Up for a bigger challenge? Check out this Instructables post on how to design your own cardboard furniture. These instructions were taken from a video — How Things Are Made: Cardboard Furniture — featuring Eric Guiomar of the Les Cartonnistes, a collective of French cardboard furniture makers! (via Apartment Therapy)
For more cardboard inspirations, read about the offices of Nothing, a commercial creative agency, and Beast, an ad agency (via Treehugger). Both offices were designed entirely by cardboard!
Photos via Olive and Bean Boutique, Little Fashion Gallery, Cardboardesign, ReturDesign Studio, and Foldschool
Popularity: 11% [?]
March 12th, 2009
Preservation: The Greenest Building is the One That’s Already Built
Tearing down our homes seems to be almost a national pastime. Americans have always viewed anything old with suspicion, and that makes sense when we’re talking about outdated concepts of governing such as having an inbred, pinky finger-wagging king tell us what to do. But when it comes to the architectural legacy left to us by preceding generations of Americans, this approach not only robs us of unique neighborhoods and our history, but also is insanely destructive to the environment.
According to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, rehabbing old buildings is the ultimate form of recycling. The Trust’s president, Richard Moe, says, “The greenest building is one that’s already built.”
Think about it: when a building’s torn down, where does all that rubbish go? Maybe the bricks are recycled along with a few architectural elements, but where do the dumpsters full of the rest of the refuse go? Why to a landfill, of course. According to Preservation Magazine, 136 million tons of waste are created from teardowns—annually. Even a brain as agile as Einstein’s would have a difficult time comprehending just how much garbage that is. In addition, existing buildings represent an investment in energy of around 5 to 15 gallons of gasoline per square foot.
And then there’s all the waste associated with the construction of a new building which can easily fill an additional dumpster. The Trust cites figures showing that an average 2,000 square foot home generates the following waste: 3,000 pounds of wood, 2,000 pounds of drywall and 600 pounds of cardboard. That’s a hell of a lot of garbage.
Ignoring the dire environmental affect of our profligate ways in this area is akin to the elder Hiltons sending their wayward, party-happy daughter Paris to dry out on Bourbon Street with a case of booze, a clutch of friends, and a film crew from Girls Gone Wild. Seriously, we can do better and we should.
Some might argue that rehabbing old buildings isn’t a good investment, but there are plenty of examples of the opposite being true. In Charleston, S.C., it’s the quaint antebellum quarters that attract millionaires, while in Boston, the Federalist townhome-studded Beacon Hill remains the city’s most desirable neighborhood.
Moreover, older buildings are, by and large, built to endure. And while it might seem counterintuitive, most aged buildings are actually better poised to withstand a fire.
According to Matt Picard, a Delavan, WI, firefighter and Chicago carpenter, new construction typically utilizes petite, lighter wood that catches fire more easily and burns faster. Moreover, the toxic glues, particle board and trusses seem to nearly dissolve during a fire, rendering newer buildings much more susceptible to fire. An older, masonry building with plaster walls, lathe, old-growth beams and individual floor and ceiling joists can burn for hours and still be salvageable.
Older buildings certainly are not the most energy efficient, but they can be brought up to date and made green with far less waste and damage to the environment than tearing them down and starting over. To make an old or historic building eco-friendly, check out our guide to green architects here, or you can also find a green builder or remodeler here.
Our country’s older structures, often constructed by highly-skilled craftsmen who built exactingly and to last, will likely survive another century (if they can avoid the wrecking ball). And saving and rehabbing them is one of the greenest – not to mention patriotic - things we can do.
Popularity: 5% [?]
March 5th, 2009
Eco-friendly Carpet Choices for Your Home
A friend of mine is just about to have a baby, and she asked me for my thoughts on what kind of carpet or rug they should get for the nursery. Naturally, we here at Low Impact Living have many suggestions!
First, most commercially-made carpet is loaded with nasty chemicals which can off-gas and pose health risks to your baby and your family. (Learn more about indoor air quality.) Many carpets contain a chemical called 4-phenylcyclohexene (4-PCH), which is a byproduct of the latex binder used to secure the fibers to the backing. 4-PCH is a volatile-organic compound (VOC) that off-gases and is unhealthy to breathe.
Remember that babies and small children are more susceptable to air-borne toxins than we adults, so it’s particularly important to make good choices in nursery’s and childrens’ rooms. So I would say “no thanks” to most wall-to-wall carpet options. (In fact clean, natural, bare flooring options like reclaimed hardwood flooring or Marmoleum (shown at right) are really the best option from a health perspective–because they don’t trap allergans and chemicals like rugs and carpets do. But some people may not like these harder surfaces for little legs and arms crawling and knocking about!
How about a cork floor? Cork is a wonderful option because it is a renewable resource, dampens sounds (great for sleeping babies), and is soft on little bodies. Cork is harvested by shaving off the “bark” of the tree– trees are not killed in the process. I think a cork floor in a nursery would be green and groovy!
But if you’re set on getting some kind of carpet or rug, you have many great options.
You might consider a hemp rug. Hemp is a wonderfully sustainable material and is also durable and comfortable. Abundant Earth makes lovely hemp rugs made free of child labor in India, as does Rawganique, which uses European hemp fibers.
Other sustainable fibers include sisal, seagrass, and jute. All are rapidly renewable and can be woven into lovely rugs. They are also super durable and hold up great with the “spills and thrills” of children. Natural Area Rugs.com has a huge selection of all of these materials.
How about putting some Japanese flair into your room? Japanese Igusa mats are made out of sustainably-harvested, quickly regenerating rushes and are durable, beautiful, and comfortable. Raku Livingsells wonderful igusa mats for homes– and they have a super cute kids line with adorable bunnies, monkeys and elephants–oh my!
Popularity: 9% [?]
March 3rd, 2009
EPA Announces Top 10 Cities for Energy Star Buildings
Many people think of energy-efficient appliances when they hear Energy Star, but they also rate buildings. The EPA today is announcing the top 10 US cities with the most Energy Star-rated commercial buildings.
Why is this important? Well energy use in commercial buildings and plants accounts for nearly half of the total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 50 percent of energy consumption nationwide. In 2008 alone, more than 3,300 commercial buildings and manufacturing plants earned the Energy Star rating for excellent energy performance. These energy-efficient buildings saved more than $1.1 billion in energy costs and reduced more than 7 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions in 2008, which is a savings equal to the emissions from electricity use of more than 1 million homes for a year.
The Top 10 cities announced today are, not surprisingly, led by two California cities– Los Angeles at number 1 and San Francisco at number 2. Los Angeles weighs in with around 250 Energy Star buildings, and San Francisco has around 200. Quite surprisingly Houston, Texas is number 3, with 150 buildings. (They prove once again, Don’t Mess with Texas.) Also on the list are Chicago, Dallas, Seattle, and Washington DC. You can see the full list of the Top 10 and learn more about their green buildings here.
What makes a building an Energy Star building? To qualify for EPA’s ENERGY STAR, a building or manufacturing plant must score in the top 25 percent using EPA’s National Energy Performance Rating System. Buildings can be rated on an energy performance on a scale of 1-100 relative to similar buildings nationwide using the EPA’s Portfolio Manager tool. Buildings that earn a rating of 75 or greater may qualify for the Energy Star designation. Buildings are rated on such factors size, location, number of occupants, number of PCs, heating and cooling systems, etc. You can learn more about the Energy Star building system here.
Popularity: 4% [?]
