MechoShade calls it “the revolutionary eco-effective solar shadecloth.” They spent six years developing the project with Cradle to Cradle eco-bigwigs William McDonough and Michael Braungart, achieving a three dot rating on their sustainability scale of five (though no product has got all five dots yet). Instead of the PVC typical to shadecloth, EcoVeil uses EarthTex thermoplastic olefin yarn coated in more of the same polymer, allowing the whole shebang to be melted down into new shades with no degradation of quality (MechoShade takes the cloth back so you don’t have to rely on the local recycling center having the right facilities). The mono-material approach also means any cut-off in the factory can be immediately reused, reducing the potential landfill waste by a million pounds. For now you can pick from the eight colors with a 5% openness to the basket weave; more options will be introduced as the company phases out its PVC solar shadecloth in favor of EcoVeil. If you’re counting on big windows for passive heating, cooling, and lighting, it’s nice to be able to cover them in something besides a pile of PVC. ::MechoShade [by KK]

Network on the Life Span of Consumer Durables

Canadian War Museum by Moriyama & Teshima with Griffiths Rankin Cook