Green Underfoot

This post is dedicated to our old friend, the carpet. Carpet is the number-one floor covering in the United States for several reasons: comfort, ease of purchase, affordability. Unfortunately, it's also pretty nasty, environmentally speaking.

Carpets are either woven or tufted, in which case they are tied and glued to a backing. With the exception of those made of wool, almost all carpets are made of petroleum-based fabric. Dalton, Georgia, the carpet capital of the U.S., produces millions of gallons of wastewater annually from the chemical-intensive processes of manufacturing and dyeing petroleum-based carpet fabric. In addition, the adhesives used to glue the fibers together contain benzene and toluene, toxic VOCs that outgas into the environment, especially when the carpet is new.

In order to avoid some of these environmental pitfalls, consider purchasing wool carpet, which uses far fewer chemicals in the manufacturing process. The Carpet and Rug Institute's "Green Label Plus" standards can help you find a carpet with low-VOC adhesives, thus avoiding chemical offgasing. Some carpet pads are made of wool or recycled materials that don't require adhesives, so look around before buying.

Other carpet drawbacks include the collection of mold, mites, and environmental toxins. Large area rugs made from natural fibers can be shaken and vacuumed on both sides, which helps eliminate some of the trapped particles.

Fortunately, there are a number of sources of enviro-friendly carpets. Classic Rug Collection offers hemp rugs dyed with vegetable dye. Zaki Oriental Rugs specializes in hand-spun, vegetable-dyed, wool rugs. The water used in the dyeing process for Tufenkian's rugs passes through a purification plant and is reused.

Of course, buying an antique rug falls under the category of reuse, which is always a good option for the environment. Apadana, Metropolitan Carpet, and Markarian are three good local sources for antique rugs.

Top 10 Green Building Products - Part 1

BuildingGreen, the publisher of the GreenSpec Directory and Environmental Building News, has released a top-10 list of Green Building Products. The selections are drawn primarily from new additions to the GreenSpec product directory, to which more than 250 product listings were added during 2006. Products are selected for inclusion in the GreenSpec directory by editors of Environmental Building News based on criteria developed over the past 15 years. Manufacturers do not pay to be listed in GreenSpec, and neither GreenSpec nor any other BuildingGreen publication carries advertising; both are supported exclusively by users of the information. Five of the products on the list are described below.

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Polished Concrete System from RetroPlate

Polishing concrete is a technique for turning both new and old concrete slabs into attractive, durable, finished floors. RetroPlate pioneered this process of grinding, polishing, and chemically hardening concrete in the 1990s, and its system has now been used on more than 100 million square feet of flooring. The process involves large walk-behind diamond-wheel grinders, which remove a thin layer of the concrete floor surface. Consecutively finer-grit grinding and polishing wheels achieve a fine polish. During the polishing process, sodium silicate is applied, which reacts with the concrete to form a layer of calcium silicate hydrate. The resultant concrete surface is highly durable, easy to maintain, free of VOC emissions, and more reflective (which can reduce light level requirements). The system enables the concrete slab to serve as the finished floor surface, thus reducing material use.

What makes this product green?

• Reduces impacts from construction or demolition
• Reduces heating and cooling loads
• Alternative to hazardous components
• Releases minimal pollutants
• Exceptional durability or low-maintenance

Underwater Standing Timber Salvage by Triton Logging

Triton Logging harvests underwater standing trees from forests that were submerged decades ago by reservoirs created by hydroelectric dams. The company uses its proprietary Sawfish logging submarine, which is tethered to a surface ship and controlled remotely. The Sawfish clamps onto a tree, attaches inflatable floats, then cuts the trunk with an electric chainsaw. Because the trees are cut above the reservoir floor, sediments are not disturbed. The company recovers Douglas fir, western white pine, lodgepole pine, hemlock, and other species. All of the milled wood is certified as SmartWood Rediscovered by the Rainforest Alliance. The company produces a range of lumber products and is launching a line of glulam beams made from underwater-salvaged timber.

What makes this product green?

• Salvaged products

SageGlass Tintable Glazing from Sage Electrochromics

SageGlass is an electronically tintable exterior glazing that provides glare control on demand while preserving views. SageGlass is more durable than earlier switchable glazing products, which degraded with exposure to UV light. Used with typical clear glass in an insulated glazing unit, SageGlass significantly reduces visible transmittance and solar heat gain. Sage Electrochromics is partnering with numerous window, skylight, and curtainwall manufacturers to produce both commercial and residential products with this glazing control options; these products can provide energy savings, control peak electricity demand, enhance comfort, and potentially result in higher worker productivity.

What makes this product green?

• Building components that reduce heating and cooling loads
• Improves light quality

PaperStone Certified Composite Surface Material from KlipTech Composites

PaperStone, from KlipTech Composites, is a dense, hard, water-resistant, solid-surface composite material used for countertops and exterior rainscreen siding. It is made from paper fiber and a non-petroleum resin derived in part from a natural oil in the shells of cashews. There are two versions of the product: standard PaperStone contains at least 50% post-consumer recycled paper, while the newer PaperStone Certified has 100% post-consumer recycled paper. PaperStone Certified is certified by SmartWood to carry the Forest Stewardship Council recycled-content label. Overall, the product is 60% paper fiber by weight and 40% resin. While PaperStone Certified today includes some coal-derived resin, the company expects to convert to 100% natural resins this year.

What makes this product green?

• Post-consumer recycled content
• Rapidly renewable
• FSC-certified wood
• Low-emitting product with no formaldehyde

Varia and "100 Percent" Recycled-Content Panel Products

Two interior panel products from 3form offer interior designers a wide range of design opportunities coupled with recycled content and low emissions. Varia is 3form's line of transparent and translucent panels made from its 40% pre-consumer recycled-content Ecoresin, which is chemically similar to the plastic used in beverage containers. Some of the Varia products include plant materials—collected by indigenous peoples using environmentally responsible practices—that impart biophilic design features to the product, helping building occupants feel more connected to nature. The opaque 3form 100 Percent product is made from 100% post-consumer recycled high-density polyethylene. Available in a range of colors and patterns, 100 Percent is appropriate for such applications as toilet partitions, interior workstations, and interior trim. The company has recently added UV-inhibitors that make the product appropriate for outdoor applications. Scientific Certification Systems has certified the recycled content of 3form Varia and Greenguard Environmental Institute has certified its low emissions; similar certifications for 3form 100 Percent are expected this year.

What makes this product green?

• Post-industrial recycled content
• Post-consumer recycled content
• Does not release significant pollutants into the building

Build It Green!

If you're looking for building materials and want to do your part to reduce waste, look up Build It Green! NYC. Build It Green, New York City's only non-profit retail outlet for salvaged and surplus building materials, has over 75 tons of materials for sale, including doors, flooring, sinks and toilets, lighting, windows, trim, cabinets, and metal studs. Build It Green gets its salvaged materials from a variety of buildings about to be demolished in New York City. Surplus materials are donated by building suppliers and contractors interested in protecting the environment and reducing their waste.

Build It Green is sponsored by the Community Environmental Center (CEC), a non-profit organization that provides energy, building performance, green building, and environmental services for 1-4 family homes and residential, commercial, and institutional complexes. All proceeds help support CEC's environmental education programs at Solar One, the City's first solar-powered “Green Energy, Arts, and Education Center.”

If you're looking to donate materials, check out Build It Green's list of accepted items. Build It Green provides limited pick-up service for high quality kitchen cabinets sets and appliances with total original cost of over $3000 and for other high-value donations.

Upper East Side Eco-Apartment

Here's an example of the use of environmentally conscious materials in an Upper East Side apartment designed by David Bergman, Architect. The materials include glass tiles and resin panels (recycled), cork flooring and wheatboard cabinets (sustainably grown), and low-VOC paints.


The project was recently featured in Natural Home Magazine. And, according to the architect, the cost of the renovation was not increased by the use of these sustainable materials.

The Good News About Green Living

You don't need to go this extreme:

The New York Times reports that some homeowners are going well beyond the usual sphere of green building and installing dirt floors in their homes. Proponents of these "earthen floors" cite their environmental, aesthetic, and spiritual benefits, including a reduction in heating costs. Just watch out for those high heels.

"...some builders add the blood of oxen for maroon coloration."