by Patricia Gaylor
www.PatriciaGaylor.com
Despite the freezing temperatures outside, Greenbuild Boston got off to a great start with an inspiring and motivational speech by Rick Fedrizzi, president and CEO of The US Green Building Council. Staying positive, and moving past the usual 'doom and gloom' attitude of late regarding the current state of the economy, Mr. Fedrizzi noted with enthusiasm the palpable energy in the room. Over 25,000 attendees this year, including myself were anxious to see what was new and exciting in the world of sustainable building and design.
Archbishop Desmnd Tutu delivered a gracious speech on the changes we are
experiencing right now, not only in green building but also the main change that our nation experienced on November 4th. Diversity, change and hope were words frequently used by Tutu.
Those words set the tone for the three day event, and I anxiously entered the
exhibit floor and got a sense of just how the green movement has grown in a few short years. Hundreds of exhibitors with amazing technology and ideas gathered in one room with one goal in mind...our survival as a planet and our well being as individuals.
As a green designer of residential interiors, my main purpose of going to Greenbuild was to search for the most accessible and affordable products that homebuilders, designers and homeowners can find to green up their homes. This has become increasingly easier for the green novice, thanks to programs like the US Department of Energy's well- known 'Energy Star 'program, and now their new water conservation program called ‘WaterSense’. Selecting a faucet, toilet or showerhead that displays the WaterSense logo assures the buyer that they are purchasing a product that conserves water without sacrificing the efficiency of the product or the comfort of the individual. The words 'Low Flow' will no longer have the negative connotation we're familiar with. New technology in water delivery makes it nearly impossible to tell the difference between a 1.5 gallon per minute flow, and one that's twice as high. What this means in terms of us as a nation could mean a savings of 30% in water usage, which is so important in areas of our country that suffer from water shortages.
New technologies in touch-control or hands -free control for kitchen and bathroom faucets have advanced and become more affordable. Delta and their sister line Brizo has several options in all price points for hands free water delivery. So the designer is no longer locked in to a high priced line for their affordable-oriented green customer, and specifying products for an up-scale, 'socially conscious' consumer is also a no-brainer.
The next generation of toilets is here, with a lot of different flushing options. The old 1.6 gallon inefficient toilet, which sometimes had to be flushed twice, is a thing of the past. Hi efficiency or HET toilets deliver a 1.28 gallon flush with great results. Dual flush toilets are becoming more commonplace, and easier to install. Toto’s Aquia III delivers a powerful dual flush, 1.6 gals for solid and 0.9 gals for liquid flushes. The price of around 400 dollars for a well made, durable product that can not only save money, but thousands of gallons of water a year for an average sized family of four gets my vote for a great green product.
Now this may sound a little odd, but Sloan Valve Company, a toilet manufacturer, was showing a really cool grey water retrieval system called Aqus. What it does is capture used bathroom sink water and routes it to toilets, after going through a filter treatment system in your vanity under the sink. Grey water is held in a reservoir installed in the vanity, and when the toilet flushes, cleaned water is piped from the reservoir to the toilet tank. Now this may sound like a lot to go through for water to flush toilets, but the average two person bathroom uses 10-20 fresh gallons of water per day, or about 5,000 gallons annually, just for hand washing and brushing teeth. More than 4.8 billion gallons of water are flushed down US toilets each DAY. So the water savings can be significant. The price tag for the unit is somewhere around 350 dollars.
Water conservation at home seems to be an important issue that’s slowly getting tackled, thanks to all those inventive products from manufacturers.
I learned some new ways to identify different types of green consumers at one of the many great seminars that were held at Greenbuild. This is helpful in trying to identify the market niche you are trying to target:
FOREST GREENS: the younger generation that is highly educated and just entering the job market
HEALTHY GREENS: The 'Whole Foods' type shopper who has a high income and
will make non-economic decisions based on health and well being instead of cost.
GREENBACK GREENS: The 35-65 yr old group who are willing to spend their money
on efficient and attractive materials, but expect a return on their investment in about 3-4 years.
Some other notable new products:
Silestone, who already manufactures a beautiful line of engineered quartz counter tops has a new product line coming out from Cosentino. It's called "Eco" by Cosentino, and it's a small line of eco friendly quartz tops that uses 75% post-consumer and post-industrial raw materials and a binder that's made from corn-based resins, instead of petroleum based ones.
Shaw floors, a leader in carpet and hard surface flooring, continues with their ‘Cradle to Cradle’ line of carpets, which are all made from N-6 nylon fiber, which can be recycled again and again. What this means to a consumer is simple. When your carpet needs to be replaced, your installer can take it to a local carpet reclamation center for the return trip to the carpet manufacturer for re-manufacturing into new carpet.
Shaw's ‘Epic’ engineered wood flooring with a center core called "Envirocore" is engineered wood floor with a core of 50% recycled material, instead of plywood. Not only does the Envirocore save on lumber, but according to the manufacturer, it’s more stable than regular plywood, and there is less movement in the wood.
Their hand-scraped look for 8" wide wood plank floors is made from joining small scraps of wood together to create a wide board. You get the look of a beautiful wide plank floor and know that you've saved precious lumber Resources.
Crossville tiles in Tennessee have introduced Color Blox EC, an eco friendly line of porcelain tiles with a 20% recycled content. The styles and colors are gorgeous and understated, and it’s priced well below other porcelain tile from other companies with the same contemporary look. Their glass tile mosaics, called “Echo” have anywhere from 10 to 100 per cent recycled content, depending on the color. It’s one of the very few affordable glass tiles with recycled content, and looks great coupled with the Color Blox EC tiles. Crossville Tiles is one of the first companies to practice sustainable manufacturing and recapturing of waste in their plant.
These were just a few things from the show that I thought I’d share, and I hope they’re helpful to you.
All the best,
Pat
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