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Volatile organic compounds: something's in the air
You can't see them, but they're all around us. They aren't listed as ingredients on the objects we bring in our home, but they're often there. They're
volatile organic compounds, or
VOCs, a wide range of carbon-based molecules (organic compounds) used in a wide range of products that find their way into our homes. Under normal conditions, they vaporize, effectively leaving their host and entering the air (that's the "volatile" part) where they combine with other airborne compounds to form
ozone, which isn't good to breathe.
Though they exist everywhere in the environment -- the most common
volatile organic compound is
methane, which comes from everything from wetlands to
cow farts and other ruminant gases to
rice agriculture -- they are most well-known for the harm they can cause indoors, where they can be introduced via paint, carpets, furnishings, and cleaning agents....
TreeHugger knows that all leather is
not created equal, but there are
ways to do it greener than the conventional chromium-tanning process. One of those greener ways to use the remarkably durable material is to recycle it, by using industrial scraps and byproducts of other manufacturing; if it's going to be used anyway, we might as well clean up the mess and put it to good use.
Such is the strategy of
EcoDomo, who make durable, versatile floor tiles and wallcoverings out of a recycled leather composite. The company collects scraps discarded from producing upholstery for leather goods like BMWs and luxury handbags; the scraps are ground into shreds and mixed with water, natural rubber, and acacia bark. The manufacturing is done a closed loop system to conserve water, and the finished product is eligible for LEED credits as a recycled, low-VOC material -- check out the
green features section of their site for more details and hit the jump for more pics of the tiles in action.
::EcoDomo via
::Metropolis...
Ring the bells! Pop the (organic) champagne! TreeHugger's 2007 Gift Guide is here!
We've made this guide the most comprehensive yet, with 180+ gift ideas in three shades of green, making it a perfect reference while shopping for everyone on your gift list. In addition, we'll be adding organizations to support and useful tips for making your holidays more efficient.
Go to Part II here and
Part III here.
For more great ideas, don't forget to visit our past guides from 2006 and 2005.
...
At TreeHugger, we don’t like bottled water (read
here,
here and
here) and believe tap water is the greenest way to have it. However, some of us are unfortunate to live in areas where the tap water tastes really bad, so we need to filter it.
Water softening also helps, or you can install an osmosis system or use other
water-filer products. A more simple and beautiful option for filtering your tap water is the century old Asian method of using active charcoal. The Danish company
Sort of Coal have made it their mission to combine the purifying elements as well as the aesthetics of charcoal in their products. These derive from the mountain forests of Japan and Korea and are harvested in a sustainable way. The tree’s root structure is not damaged so that after the best branches have been collected, they can grow back over and over again.
So how does charcoal work as a water purifier? The
Binchotan (left picture), a beautiful thick charcoal branch, absorbs unwanted particles like bacteria and smells from the water and instead, releases natural minerals. Because the water is softened, our bodies easier absorb it. One
Binchotan branch serves for about 1 litre of water. After leaving it in the fridge for 1 night, the water is pure and soft. After about 3 months they recommend changing the branch, or you might be able to reactivate it a few times by boiling and drying it. At the end of its life, it should be smashed and composted. One
Binchotan costs 20€....
Five new hip eco-friendly wallpaper patterns are the result of a design challenge given to 22 students at Central St. Martins University in London. Wallpaper/wall art company
Graham & Brown asked the students to design fashion-conscious sustainable wallpaper to add to the company's line. The five designs chosen from the competition will now go into production.
The final wallpaper uses materials sourced from sustainable forests in Finland and keeps packaging to a minimum by removing the need for any tape or plastic. The company even recycles heat given off by furnaces, reduces drainage to prevent local flooding problems, and uses vegetable oil within tractor hydraulics so as not to contaminate forest floors.
And, if you find yourself lusting after chic green wallpaper like this, remember - that glue you buy at the store can be nasty stuff. It's easy to just make your own non-toxic
wallpaper paste at home.
:: Via
Inhabitat...
West Coast Green – when they billed it as the biggest green building conference on this coast, they weren’t lying. It was huge and the lineup of speakers was excellent. There were roughly 4 tracks a day with at least 40 different sessions going on at the same time so there was no way to come even close to seeing everything. It was amazing!...
At the
West Coast Green conference last weekend, I had the opportunity to sit down with EcoTop/EcoClad creator Joel Klippert, and Squak Mountain Stone creator Amee Quiriconi to talk about the creation of green surfaces. The two recently joined creative forces to develop Trinity Glass – a unique countertop surface that is both refined and rustic. These two designers shared a little bit of their passion for the industry and the charge they get from designing with materials once though to be worthless....
We all know double glazing drastically reduces
heating and cooling costs as well as noise levels. Still, glass heats up in the summer which is far from attractive when you’re inside a glass building. However, nobody wants to give up the beauty of such building from the outside nor the luminosity they provide inside and so glass is becoming more and more popular in modern architecture. The fact that glass heats up causes big problems in hot countries like Spain, especially in the summer, and leads to more and more air conditioning, not a very eco installation.
Luckily it seems innovation has entered those glass facade windows by adding water. A group of researchers at the Polytechnic University in Madrid (UPM) are developing a system to cool the windows by adding a 1cm slot through which the water circulates on the inside to absorb the heat of the sunbeams. The spin-off project of the UPM is called
Inteliglass. With its installation, buildings with glass facades could save up to 70% on air conditioning. Contact Inteliglass for more information:
creacion.empresas@upm.es (Tel: +34 91 336 59 71). via
::Habitat Futura ::UPM Inteliglass (in Castilian)
...
As the name suggests, the
Green Fusion Design Center (GFDC) offers a slick combo of green building and design retail, a bookstore, and a showroom for all of their green products. Offering not just the stuff to make your home healthier and more efficient, but also the green knowledge behind the benefits of using bamboo cabinets or no-VOC paint, GFDC aims to bridge the gap between supply and demand for your greener life. The store is located in San Anselmo, California (just north of San Francisco), and recently celebrated the expansion of their showroom into a new, larger gallery space; they now claim to be the largest, most comprehensive green retail store in the Bay Area, with a product list to match. They've got a pretty wide variety of products that reads like a how-to 'hugg your home, from paints and wallcoverings like
AFM Safecoat and
American Clay Plaster to building materials like
kirei board to flooring options including
cork and
marmoleum to kitchen accoutrements like
AlterEco bamboo cabinets and
AZCAST stools and tabletop accessories...whew. ...
Wallpaper for commercial applications must be a hardy, sturdy product to withstand daily wear and tear. But vinyl is a TreeHugger no-way…unless it is recycled.
LSI Wallcovering is making wallcovering waves with the market's first ever recycled vinyl wallcovering for commercial applications, which is also stylish enough for high-end applications. The manufacturer launched its recycling program Second Look last year and will premier the fruits of this endeavor in three new collections—Versa, Cirqa, and Plexus—this Spring at contract furnishings tradeshow
NeoCon World’s Trade Fair. Composed of 20 percent recycled content and a minimum of 10 percent post-consumer content, Second Look meets the
U.S. Green Building Council’s criteria for LEED certification. A low VOC, Type II, 20-ounce wallcovering, it uses water-based inks, can be installed with water-based adhesives, and is also available with Permavent, a hi-tech feature that allows walls to breathe. Have vinyl wallcovering from a recent renovation job? LSI accepts used vinyl wallcovering from any manufacturer, which can be sent to its factory for recycling. ::
Second Look also see ::
Mod Green Pod: Organic Cotton Fabric & Vinyl-Free Wallpaper ::
Solar-Powered Wallpaper
...
An experiment with cassette tape took Texas-based artist
Alyce Santoro’s knitting in a new direction. The result? The Sonic Fabric, created from woven recycled audio tape--something we brought to your attention
a while back. Well, now Santoro has teamed up with one of TreeHugger’s favorite
sustainable designers, textile manufacturer
Designtex, in collaboration with the
Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, to launch the fabric at the
International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York. The multi-purpose textile, appropriately, has its own track. Draw a tape head from a revamped Walkman over its surface and you’ll hear a medley of sound Santoro recorded from musicians on subway platforms, conversations, and city streets. It's also amazingly durable, thanks to the tape, which is the thickest 100 percent polyester tape product on the market, and the best for recording. Applications range from upholstery, wallcovering, to drapery, in markets including hospitality, corporate, and residential, says Designtex. Thanks tipster Meg. ::
Alyce Santoro ::
Designtex...
When it comes to concepts central to the notion of TreeHugging, few are higher on the list than biomimicry. We have a lot to learn from the way things are designed in nature, and both the general principle and more specific examples can be applied to everyday products to help them more effective, last longer, and be more efficient (see our recent look at
sea sponges used for solar power for a great example). Here are a few of our picks for biomimicry in product design.
1) Biomimi-wha? If you're new to the subject,
read a quick 'n easy definition of the concept in lay terms.
2)
Sto Lotusan paint uses "the Lotus Effect" that mimics water beading off a lotus leaf to essentially be self-cleaning.
3) Read
our interview with Seventh Generation's Gregor Barnum to learn about how the company integrates biomimicry in their products.
4) Check out "
Better By Design: An Innovation Guide" for a bevy of everyday products that use of design-for-environment and biomimicry principles.
5) Want more? This
biomimic database has lots more examples of biomimetics used to solve engineering problems, even if its design leaves a little something to be desired....
TreeHugger has seen lots of wallcoverings options, from
paint to
stucco interior wall finish, fabrics made of
cork and
organic wool, to
wallpaper and
clay plaster. We're pleased to add a new one to the TreeHugger wallcovering family today: lime wash. Courtesy of our friends at
dominomag.com, but not part of our collaboration on the
Green List, a quick look at lime wash proves that its not only beautiful and versatile, but TreeHugger green as well. Lime wash is made by dissolving slaked lime (or calcium hydroxide) in water, and has very low VOC (volatile organic compound) content. When mixed with pigment and then dried, calcite crystals that absorb the color are created by a chemical reaction; the final product looks slightly aged, with a slight glimmer as the crystals reflect light. You can still mix it by hand, though its available pre-mixed for anyone not interested in DIY chemistry. The folks at
domino recommend six hours' drying time in between coats, and that a brush (and not rollers) be used to apply the stuff; after you're done, water is all you need to wash the brush. Beware that most walls need priming, and the project takes planning; you shouldn't start unless you can do an entire wall without stopping. Hit up
dominomag.com for more details on where to get what you need to splash some color and character on your walls with lime wash.
::dominomag.com How To...
We're nearly half-way through our peek at the
Green List, TreeHugger's collaboration on green design with
domino magazine. Today, it's all about the tile; as with many of the other sections, there's something for any preference: colors, materials, style, budget and more. Oceanside Glasstile (top right -- we covered them
here) uses recycled bottles (over 2 million pounds a year -- wow!) for their multitude of patterns and colors. For a less pearl-like look and feel, check out the granite dust and recycled glass in fireclay, terra-cotta tiles, (top row, next to the green list) which come in equally gorgeous matte and glossy shades. The indoor/outdoor versatility of the tiles from Coverings, Etc. (bottom left) comes from the combination of recycled glass, granite and marble chips mixed with cement for a very textured, multi-toned terrazzo. Eco-friendly Floorings' recycled-brass squares with a brushed finish (bottom left-center) are just one of the wide variety of surfaces that can green your backsplash or bathroom; add a little color and pattern with Granada Tiles (bottom right), who use a 19th-century French technique using tinted cement rather than clay (requires no firing and less energy) to produce vibrant, Provençal patterns. Lastly, Erin Adams' shiny recycled-aluminum bars (right-center, on the bottom row) are a great way to add a little dimension to a shower without adding more metal to the waste stream. Check out more of the tiles on file over at
dominomag.com and on page 48 of the print version.
::domino's Green List: Tiles...
House & Garden's March issue is all about color, and even has a few tips about TreeHugger's favorite hue. They stop in to visit Rizal Coleman (page 54), who owns Architectural Coatings+Design Center in Los Angeles, to talk green paint and wall finishes (and not just the color, in this case). Coleman opened the Center last November, after spending six years developing paints for an upscale brand and inhaling chemicals that were hard on his sinuses; now, after making the switch to nontoxic, VOC-free paints, "I derive such joy from testing new colors," he says, and we think anyone who buys his paints will probably feel the same once they go up on the walls. As a special bonus in the issue, readers will find H&G's "little black book of design," a handy, pocket-sized reference guide to the best in home design, from furniture and fabrics to lighting and laundry, that's the result of polling 20,000 designers and decorators from across the country. They give a nod to some great green design in New York, with
Q Collection,
Cambium Studio and
Vivavi, and TreeHugger is flattered to be included in their favorite websites alongside design powerhouses
Apartment Therapy and
design*sponge. Pick up the issue for more,
take a closer look at Rizal Coleman's shop and offerings over at
houseandgarden.com, check out the full list of the Designers' Best at
their site and get more green design at
TreeHugger's H&G blog.
::House & Garden March 2007...
domino magazine teamed up with TreeHugger to create "The Green List," a celebration of green design, and we're taking a closer look at each section of the list. Today, we'll ponder the three ways we picked to spruce up your walls: paint, wallpaper and plaster (check out page 40 of the print mag for the final list). Paints have the most options, with low and no-VOC options for any color palette and taste; among those chosen were
YOLO Colorhouse, for their groovy earth tones, Harmony, from Sherwin Williams, Aura, by Benjamin Moore (who swear it only takes one coat to do the job!) and Olympic (available at Lowe's) for their vibrant colors. When it comes to wallpapers and coverings,
Phillip Jeffries made the list with their breathable arrowroot-grass cloth, while Woodson & Rummerfield's pop patterns print on recycled paper with vegetable-dye inks made a big splash as well. For a more traditional look, we also liked Lim & Handtryck's patterns, produced with wooden & brass roller techniques. For a texture and look all its own,
American Clay Plaster offers a blend of pure clay and non-toxic pigment that transforms any surface, with any color and three different finishes. Whether its color, texture or both that you seek for your walls, the Green List is a great place to start sourcing some great TreeHugger-friendly options. There's more to see at
dominomag.com and in the print version on page 40.
::domino's Green List: Wallcoverings -- see it all at
::The Green List...
Seattle-based
modularArts have been hard at work. Since we last heard from them (we featured their
custom installation at the Sony Design Center) they've sprouted a few new designs that have us looking at bare walls and drooling. "Vortex Bloom" (above, left) and "Cooper" (right) were recently added to their collection of modular TreeHugger-friendly wallcoverings; like the panels
we mentioned before, these new designs are composed entirely of nontoxic mineral and do not off-gas VOC's like plastics, or formaldehyde like most MDF and many composite wood products. They are fire-code safe, containing no accelerators, retardants, or release agents, many of which contain either probable or confirmed carcinogens, and they now offer low-VOC installation kits to ensure the use of responsible, tested installation materials. The panels, which are designed as 32" squares that can be joined for an uninterrupted, continuous wallcovering, contain ingredients comparable to ceiling tiles and drywall and may be recycled at the end of their useful life.
Their website showcases their full complement of designs, which range from wavy and smooth to geometric and dynamic to subtle; the hard part is picking your favorite one.
::modularArts via
::Fabulously Green...
Now that winter has set in (in the northern hemisphere, at least), the cooler temperatures mean less open windows and less natural ventilation. This can lead to poorer indoor air quality, which, in some cases, is 10 times worse than outdoor air quality to begin with. Here are some picks for improving indoor air quality in your home.
1)
Get a plant that helps remove nasty indoor pollutants from the air, like the peace lily (pictured above).
2)
Keep volatile organic chemicals out by using a VOC-free paint.
3)
Keep your air filter clean so it removes maximum pollutants from the air you breathe.
4)
Greenguard-certified seating and furniture like the
Steelcase's Think chair and
Haworth's Zody chair won't contribute nasty stuff to your air, and that's a good thing.
5) Want to know more?
Dig in deeper with the help of Inhabitat's handy Green Building 101 guides....
We'll be working on better category archives soon. In the meantime, take a look at the
if you really want to dig around, or use the search box at the top of the page.
on 11. 5.09
In the hallways of 15 apartments at a complex in the city of Gothenburg is the ultimate smart-home gadget (fancier and smarter than Joule's 
Joining 
Those of us who are planted in front of a computer screen for most of our waking hours -- for 
