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Innovations : Green Design :
Eco-Friendly Materials
Eco-Friendly Materials
What makes a building product an environmentally sound
choice? Outside of energy and water conservation, where it's
relatively easy to quantify the environmental impact, you
have multiple factors to consider. When it comes to choosing
your materials for kitchen cabinets, counters and flooring,
look for the following criteria:
- Recycled content, whether post-consumer, post-industrial or
agricultural waste
- Ability to be recycled, reused or reconditioned when you're
through with it
- Durability: products with a long lifecycle need to be replaced
less frequently
- FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification, identifying wood
as harvested from a sustainable, well-managed forest
- Rapidly renewable: Made from plants that grow to maturity
quickly: cork, bamboo, cotton, etc.
- Found in nature (stone, wood, etc.) and requiring minimum
processing, which can create harmful chemicals and toxins
- No pollutants: wood products without formaldehyde; low- or
no-VOC (volatile organic compounds) paints, caulks, adhesives and
sealants; flooring without PVC (polyvinyl chloride)
- Noise absorbing or reducing properties
- Locality: Transporting materials a long distance takes energy
and pollutes the environment
How green you want to go is up to you. Re-using salvage items might
be the most green option of all, but other approaches almost always have
a trade-off to consider: For example, granite is a natural material, but
importing it from overseas uses a large amount of energy, and quarries
can damage the environment.
Read on to research specific cabinet,
counter and
flooring options.
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