Jetson Green

Top 10 Green Building Products [Sustainable Industries]

Just recently, Sustainable Industries announced their list of the Top 10 Green Building Products for 2008.  To get that magic number of 10 products, SI accepted roughly 80 nominations and narrowed those products down based on their ability to meet the following criteria: LEED compatibility, environmental performance, value, scalability / market impact, innovativeness, and design aesthetic.  Without further ado, here are the Top 10 Green Building Products for 2008:

[Video] Peel and Stick Solar For Commercial Buildings

Lumeta has developed what's said to be the world's first commercial-scale, "peel and stick" solar modules called Lumeta Power-Ply 380.  The Power-Ply solar modules use adhesives to attach to the roof, making the system a cinch to install.  The short video below shows two guys installing six modules on a roof in roughly 34 minutes -- it seems so simple anyone could do it!  Of note, the 4' x 8' modules don't require roof penetrations or mounting systems, as opposed to most solar power systems.  You may also note that the flat roof style installation sacrifices the optimal solar angle (and loses about 5% of the power production), but Lumeta is confident that the benefits to the peel and stick solar product outweigh the slight losses in production.

Oceanside Glass Tile offers Beautiful, Recycled Tiles

Oceanside Glass Tile offers an absolutely beautiful line of glass tiles.  Not all tiles contain recycled content, but a good amount of them do.  The recycled content is according to the tile color.  For instance, cobalt, has almost 75% post-consumer content.  The great thing is that you can see which colors contain recycled content, and how much, right on their site; there is a simple table that makes it easy to evaluate your color choice. 

Sustainable Eucalyptus Flooring by Duro Design

Duro Design is offering a beautiful collection of eco-friendly Eucalyptus flooring.  The wood is grown in managed forests in Europe and is available in 12 colors ranging from gray to natural to a warm apricot color.  Premium German and Swiss pigments give the flooring its wonderful tints and depth of color. 

Kirei Board, It's Kirei, So Use It! [Video]

I've mentioned Kirei in projects previously, but I've never really blogged about it.  Kirei, or きれい, is Japanese for pretty, beautiful, pure, or clean -- an apt description for this popular green product.  Constructed of reclaimed agricultural fiber (which is heat-pressed with a non-toxic adhesive), Kirei Board is lightweight and durable.  It's often used as a finish material in flooring, furniture, cabinets, and other interior design applications.  Use of Kirei Board may help contribute towards credits for LEED certification, depending on a variety of factors ...

Edificio BIP Computers, Simple Transitivity Design

I was blown away by Alberto Mozó's simple and clean design for the Edificio BIP Computers building in Santiago de Chile.  It's an unassuming three-story structure built on a lot that's zoned to allow a larger structure of up to twelve stories in height.  Knowing that the building may not last very long (due to the favorable location and zoning), the design makes use of standard-sized, laminated timber beams that can be dismounted and used to reconstruct the entire building somewhere else.  Mozo calls the idea "transitivity" -- designing structures that can be easily broken down and reconstructed elsewhere.

AmCork, Affordable and Beautiful Cork Flooring Option

Amcork, a Texas based company, offers an incredible variety of cork flooring and wall covering options.  Their flooring is available in floating floor planks (12"x36") and glue-down parquet tiles (12"x12").  Wall tiles are 12"x24" size.  There are two things that set this company apart from others that I have found: price and style.  Amcork has 21 colors of wall tiles and 25 colors of flooring available. 

Harmony Art, Organic Fabrics for Interior Home Design

Harmony Art, based in California, is an organic fabric company which was started a few years ago by a woman named Harmony.  She designs all the prints, most of which are inspired by nature.  The colors are wide-ranging and the prints are modern and fun.  They offer jersey, interlock, twill, denim, sateen and flannel.

I am using her solid white sateen, which has a slight sheen, for our living room curtains.  The fabrics are of wonderful quality and start at around $15/yard.  You can visit her site to find online retailers, which is how I ordered my fabric.

A Perspective of Green Building [Quotable]

"Truth is, I've been a skeptic about many aspects of the green building movement.  My eyebrow arches when, for example, someone uses bamboo flooring (which is held together with lots and lots of glue, often containing formaldehyde, and is shipped to the US on bunker-oil-burning ships) to floor a new 'green' 11,000 sf house.  Tough too to get on board when magazines feature low-VOC paints on one page and walk-in showers with multiple heads and bodywashers on another.  Greenwashing, marketing whatever's hot, and just trying to make ourselves feel better as we change almost nothing about our consumption habits -- the suspicion of these plus the thought that a year's worth of green living is negated by 2 minutes operation of a coal-powered electricity plant ... you get the picture ... but after my time in the desert of cynicism, I’ve been reminded that every little bit helps, and just because larger forces are at work doesn’t mean we do nothing as individuals—as long as we keep lobbying against the big stuff, like coal-powered electricity plants."

     -- Bruce Irving, Renovation Consultant, former producer of This Old House

Any Thoughts on Quick Crete's Greener Concrete Mix?

After extensive R&D, Quick Crete was able to come up with a house blend of greener concrete called Ecocast.  Ecocast is made of 70% post-consumer and industrial waste.  The blend may help contribute towards LEED credits for your project and contains recycled aggregates and other materials such as pozzolans.  The new formula produces an average compressive strength of 5000 P.S.I. in 28 days and comes in four colors: strata, geo, erosion, and stone.  Ecocast can be used in standard and custom designs, so check it out to see if it's better than what you're currently using.  Anyone have any experience using Ecocast?