The first issue of Solid Surface in 1995 explored the possibility that granite countertops may pose a health risk. Soon, the MIA issued their response, which attacked the credibility of the science involved in the study as well as the fact that the advertisers in the journal included companies that competed with granite countertop manufacturers. But one phrase in the response, a highlighted phrase no less, is troubling: “…actual levels of radon gas emmissions are so low as to be insignificant and generally represent no threat.” As a father, I don’t want to be assured that there is “generally” no threat to my family. I want to know there is no threat. And after BuildClean found that 3 of 95 granite countertops contained harmful amounts of radon, would the MIA consider such a small number to be “generally” no threat? I’m sure the owners of those three countertops are not reassured.

Look around for information on radon in granite and you will find many sites telling you the “truth” or uncovering “myths” about radon. Since many of the statistics cited are the same, it’s clear that much of the information comes from the MIA response linked above or from an updated (though with the same references) MIA PDF. My personal favorite was a site titled “Ask an Expert - 9 Myths about Granite” where they claim that “No one today takes credit for starting the rumor, and certainly no one supports it.” No one? They then make the claim that granite actually has healing properties. Most troubling is the fact that, as experts, they don’t seem to know that “lose” is spelled with only one “o.” The most common argument you’ll find, that radon occurs naturally, really needs to be taken out of their playbook. Just because it’s on the periodic table of the elements doesn’t mean I want it in my house. I’m talking to you, Californium.

In late 2007, the MIA scuffled with Home Safety Systems, which sells radon detectors. Like the fight over the original journal article, this seems to be another example of competing companies arguing science, which doesn’t sit right with me. The current BuildClean study is funded in part by Silestone and Cambria, two competitors of granite countertops. (Ironically, Silestone is a sponsor of the “Ask the Experts” article above - their logo is at the bottom of the page.)

So how do we start trusting that granite is safe? An independent study done by the EPA would be a good start. Leave corporate interests out of it. And don’t give us general findings - tell us exactly what was found. Since radon is found naturally in some parts of the earth, the MIA needs to admit that there is a possibility that some granite will contain radon, and then show how they are making sure such slabs do not make their way into our homes. Are granite countertops screened for radon before reaching the consumer? (Maybe the folks over at Home Safety Systems can help the MIA out with that.) Otherwise, without solid assurances, it won’t be long until consumers reject granite outright.

For information on green alternatives to granite, try Green Counter Culture.

Touchless faucets are also available for kitchens, though consumers will need to do some research to make sure they are getting something that fits their habits.  Kitchen touchless faucets clearly carry the same health and water conservation benefits but most are set at one temperature, which might be inconvenient.  Also, if the faucet does not have an override switch, the homeowner will have to hold his or her hand over the sensor while filling a pot or doing dishes, though perhaps running water while doing dishes is a habit we should reconsider.

Touchless faucets are powered either by a battery or with a/c power, so there is a built in energy cost, but the minds over at TOTO have come up with a way to fix even that problem.  Their EcoPower sensor faucets contain batteries that are recharged by the passage of water through the faucet.  How cool is that?  Granted, to remain fully charged the faucet must be used ten times a day, so it might not be a good idea for very low traffic bathrooms or kitchens.  Check out the EcoPower technology and other sustainable ideas at TOTO’s new TOTOLOGY website. 

 For more ideas on saving water, check out these articles on tub sizes, tankless water heaters, and Elements of Building: Water.

Photo by Vlad Iorga

It’s a hard statistic to nail down, but a person uses between fifty and seventy gallons of water each time he or she takes a bath. This number includes water wasted waiting for the desired temperature as well as hot water used to return the cooling water to the desired temperature. Compare that number to a five minute shower, which uses around twenty five gallons of water, possibly half that if the shower uses a flow restrictor. Clearly, if water conservation is the main goal, a quick shower is the answer, but let’s not throw out the bathtub with the bathwater just yet.

Many people don’t limit themselves to a five minute shower, and without a flow restrictor, it won’t take long for a shower to cross the fifty gallon mark. Plus, many people really like a nice, long, relaxing bath. As green has come to incorporate the mood and feel of a house, a nice place to take a bath fits in well in a green house. There are a few things we as consumers can do to make our baths more conserving. But we’re going to also need some help from bathtub manufacturers. One idea that’s gaining traction is a whirlpool bath with an in-line heater, so water that’s being moved around gets heated in the process. I can’t speak to how much energy this uses as opposed to heating the water with a water heater, but it will lead to less water wasted in the reheat process. When filling the tub, don’t let all that cold water at the beginning be wasted - you can either close the drain and let the hot water balance it out or get a pitcher and use that water for something else, like watering that plant you’ve been neglecting. Manufacturers can start to design the tubs with conservation in mind. Clearly they can’t make a human-sized mold for a bathtub because we’re all different sizes, but I don’t need all that extra space for my rubber duckies. I can see some sit-down bathtubs gaining popularity both for their efficient use of space and their potential for water conservation.

Go ahead and do a search for luxury bathtubs and you’ll see the disturbing trend of massive tubs. There are tubs with a water capacity of 200 gallons! That number is a little misleading because 200 gallons would fill up the entire tub, which shouldn’t be possible with spillover valves. Sometimes companies use the term “operating capacity,” which means how many gallons are necessary to get just over the jets to be able to operate a whirlpool tub. For most baths, a tub filled to operating capacity wouldn’t cover half a human. So even if that 200 gallon tub is only filled half way, that’s a ridiculous amount of water to use on a bath (unless there’s several of you in there, and then all bets are off.)

Here’s my challenge: Find or design the most water efficient bathtub while maintaining the comfort and appeal of a nice, long, relaxing bath. Post your findings here and the winner will get the thanks of concerned environmentalists. And I’ll post your picture - I promise.

For more water saving ideas, click here.

Photo by Jyn Meyer

Fittingly, the film begins with a group of incredulous workers in hard hats listening to a project manager describe what a green building is. It turns out he doesn’t exactly know himself. “What does it give you?,” “what’s the point?” they ask. “I can’t answer that exactly,” he responds. But the skeptical laborers make jokes, dismissing the whole idea. After the manager explains that the condos will have “double flush” toilets, one man jokes, “I use that a lot - that system. One never seems to do the job.”

The film makers succeed by not explaining to us what green building is. Instead, they ask different people involved with the project to explain it, resulting in wildly different accounts of what it means to be green. One will focus on the location of the project, across the street from public transportation. One will speak of the regional materials used on the project. Another believes that everything in the building is made from recycled materials (not true - though many renewable materials were used and 90% of material hauled off the site will be recycled.) When asked why a tree was being taken up to the roof, one man guessed, “for good luck?”

What comes across quite clear in the film is the disdain many people involved, including the project owner/developer, have for greenies. Laborers huff about what a waste of time and money building green is. The owner/developer says that the building is not green in the sense of “eating simple cheeses or eating plain meats or something weird like that,” a comment that I had to rewind to make sure I heard correctly. A member of the waste management team says “I viewed green as dorky,” but then by the end of the project has a tattoo of a roll-off truck on her “bum,” which she shows off. I didn’t rewind that one.

The true star of the film is Wayne Phillips, a laborer who at first is skeptical but intrigued. But as he tries to explain his work with the Macallan building to his children he can’t hide his pride, and when his daughter continues to show interest in it - even asking if they can buy a condo there, he responds with a comment more profound than he intended: “I always tell you a good education will get you anything you want in life.” Green building, it seems, is viewed as a luxury for the wealthy, and even the local bar owner fears that buildings like the Macallan will price him and others (and perhaps the south Boston culture) out of the neighborhood. The class conflict in the film is subtle but well done.

The film shows the green successes of the building, rainwater collection tanks, FSC wood decking, energy saving windows, to name a few, as well as the failures. The bamboo flooring buckled, perhaps due to the new VOC free glues, and 72 floors had to be ripped up and replaced. The wheatboard cabinets swelled, causing installation headaches, but none, it seemed, had to be replaced. The green roof represented the largest disconnect between idea and installation, as every slow step had to be done by hand. The installers didn’t hold back their displeasure. And then all the plants died.

By the end, many of those working on the building come around to the advantages of green building, and even the man who joked earlier about “double flush” toilets argues the merits of green building. Others say that they will tell their grandchildren one day that they built the first green building in Boston. Mr. Phillips takes his daughter on a tour of the completed building. She says it makes her want to join a club at school on being green.

“The Greening of Southie” will air at 9:30 eastern and pacific.

For articles on other Sundance Channel “The Green” features, click below:
TV Review: Sundance Channel’s Big Ideas For A Small Planet - Wear Episode
Eco-Libris: A New Film from the Creators of “King Corn”
Sundance Channel Launches Season Two of “The Green” with “Garbage Warrior”

Water saving innovators Kohler and TOTO made green the focus of their booths, proudly displaying the Watersense stickers on their high efficiency toilets. TOTO, who recycles 100% of their china, has developed a universal toilet bowl whose tank can be interchanged from a 1.6 gallon per flush to a 1.28 gpf e-tank.

Countertop manufacturers like Silestone and Cambria showed off their Greenguard certification while new, funky recycled material countertops like Alkemi, with its aluminum shavings in a clear resin, or Vetrazzo, with its large chunks of recycled glass in concrete, caught my attention.

The appliance section featured the best in ENERGY STAR appliance manufacturers like ASKO, LG, and Bosch, to name a few.

The area that I was most interested in was cabinets. There were a couple of small bamboo cabinet makers (though one I discovered was simply a laminate product) as well as several major cabinet makers showing off their KCMA-ESP certification of green manufacturing practices. I spoke to many cabinet companies who continue to struggle to adapt to low formaldehyde level requirements like California’s upcoming CARB requirements, which are pushing manufacturers to lower emissions. The company that caught my eye was Executive Kitchens, who use a water-based, non-VOC stain and/or paint on all of their cabinets, and offer anything from their catalog in a formaldehyde-free plywood.

What this influx of green into KBIS means for those products that are clearly not green remains to be seen, but I couldn’t help but notice the juxtaposition of the low flow toilets only a couple of booths away from bathtubs that would require three water heaters to fill with warm water - or the showers with six showerheads sharing a booth with efficient bathroom fixtures. This only highlights that it is consumer demand that determines product offerings, so if you want green products, demand them!

Through the use of REGREEN case studies, interior designers can find how to make their current project more green. ASID does point out that the case studies are not to be used as a list of what materials and practices a designer should use, but rather a guideline of what has been used in the past. These case studies, along with a green product checklist and public comments, will provide interior designers with plenty of resources and strategies to tackle their own green remodel.

Though the case studies were done before the creation of REGREEN, it is clear that they were influenced by LEED for Homes. They tackle all of the areas of green, including energy and water conservation, interior air quality, and sustainable materials. Four of the case studies were done in California. The rest were from areas as diverse as Colorado, Texas, New York, Michigan, Georgia, and Florida.

Included in the program are in-depth strategies on, to name a few, how to “ensure durability,” “manage noise,” “employ universal design,” “design to support connection with nature,” “minimize site disturbance,” “make use of trees and landscaping to reduce cooling loads,” “landscape to minimize chemical use,” “provide rainwater collection system,” and “install on-demand hot water recirculation systems.” A read through the manual will show that the program offers specific answers to many green remodeling questions while leaving designers free to use the best materials for their remodel.

If you are looking for more resources on green remodeling or interior design, here is one on modern green living as well as a humorous one on New Levels of LEED.

If you have some experience with REGREEN, please leave your own thoughts. I’m interested in some feedback on the program.

Link: REGREEN

Of the ten homes in Patrician Place, one will be certified LEED-H platinum, one will be certified gold in the NAHB’s Model Green Building Guidelines, and seven will be ENERGY STAR rated homes with slight variations, such as with or without SIPs, or foam insulation as opposed to spray fiberglass, to name a couple. The tenth will be the control house, built to standard, non-green building practices. The layouts of the homes will be identical. Click here for the spreadsheet of materials used in the different houses.

In addition to testing energy used with the help of local utilities companies, project coordinators will survey home owners to factor in their family size and energy practices. I will update here if and when the results of the Patrician Place study are made public.

Photo: Nick Jackson

If you attended the Greenbuild conference in Chicago last November, you would have been hard pressed to find a green cabinet manufacturer among the exhibitors - but you couldn’t turn around without bumping into a new type of green countertop. They nearly outnumbered the waterless urinals. Over the past couple of decades, countertops have evolved from tried-and-true laminate to bold new materials and colors of every taste and budget. It’s not surprising to see the creativity of new countertops go hand-in-hand with the emergence of green products. Below are several types of green countertops, from least expensive to most. Feel free to give any feedback you have on any of these products.

Laminate - Easily the least expensive green countertop, laminate countertops made with recycled wood particle board (like SkyBlend) and non-VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) adhesives are ideal for building projects that are seeking green certification at the lowest cost. It may take a while to track down a local fabricator offering green laminate countertops, but they shouldn’t cost more than a few dollars more a square foot than regular laminate tops.

Stainless Steel - Made from one of the most recycled materials, stainless steel objects today consist of, on average, 60% recycled material. If the particle board or MDF substrate is made from recycled material and glued with a non-VOC adhesive, a stainless steel countertop can be an inexpensive green option.

Recycled Paper - Manufactured from recycled paper, countertops like Richlite and PaperStone are durable and give off low to no VOCs. PaperStone, which Starbucks has been using both as a counter and as a rainscreen, offers colors in both 50% and 100% post-consumer recycled paper. EcoTop is a new paper based countertop from Joel Klippert, one of the innovators of PaperStone.

Greenguard Certified - Some countertops that may not be made up of recycled materials can be considered green because they emit low to no harmful emissions. Many solid surface countertops, like Silestone, Cambria, and Corian, are Greenguard certified. Greenguard, which certifies many types of products, is to emissions what ENERGY STAR is to energy usage.

Terrazzo - Where art meets sustainability. Easily some of the most beautiful countertops available, terrazzo is a concrete based countertop highlighted with chips of material, usually glass, to give it a marble-like look. IceStone and Vetrazzo are both stunning recycled glass and concrete countertops. EnviroGLAS offers EnvirSLAB, a countertop made of recycled glass and porcelain in an epoxy resin. IceStone has been awarded the prestigious Cradle to Cradle Certification for their environmental efforts at every stage of production.

Wood - Craft-Art offers wood countertops made from either Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified wood or reclaimed wood. They can be butcher block, stained wood, or a beautiful distressed rustic look.

It won’t be long until house listings start to include the phrases “IceStone countertops” or “Craft-Art countertops” instead of the usual “granite countertops.”

Though Raleigh mayor Charles Meeker claims that garbage disposals waste about 500,000 gallons of water a day, the environmental effects of garbage disposals have been studied and debated for decades, due much in part to New York’s twenty year ban on garbage disposals, which was lifted in 1997. Garbage disposals are rare in Europe because of their  alleged negative impact on water treatment plants.  Proponents of garbage disposals say they divert the impact of garbage from landfills and incinerators, and a study done by the University of Wisconsin concluded that disposing of food waste through a garbage disposal is more environmentally friendly than throwing it in the garbage.  InSinkErator, who sells the majority of garbage disposals across the country, used such studies to push New York officials to drop their ban and hope to do the same in North Carolina.

So many factors go into the green-ness of garbage disposals that it’s hard to determine if they are helping or harming the environment.  They use water and power.  They make it easy for people to throw things down the drain that they shouldn’t.  And does all that ground up food really affect water treatment plants?  Do they really help cut down on landfills?  Are the bacteria in the food better off down the drain than in the landfills, as the Wisconsin study claims?  All these factors weave into a green gordian knot that can be easily cut through one practice: composting.

The Raleigh city council has probably already achieved its goal in implementing this ban, getting residents to think about what they throw down their drains.  Perhaps the next step, if residents succeed in overturning the ban, is consumer awareness of the benefits of composting.  If the city is truly concerned about the water usage of garbage disposals, and residents are truly concerned about landfills, then a community composting plan should be put into effect, much like the one currently in place in Brooklyn.  Urban composting bins are becoming more popular, with city-dwellers using them in community gardens if they don’t have their own.  Click here for a link to a DIY urban composting bin article. 

Please give us your thoughts on the garbage disposal ban and perhaps what steps you think the city council should take to fix their sewage issues.

A very efficient clothes washer saves both water and energy. Water Factor (WF) measures the number of gallons per cycle per cubic foot that the washer uses. In order to qualify as a very efficient clothes washer, it must have a WF of less than 5.5. To put that number into perspective, washers that have a WF of 8, the maximum for an ENERGY STAR labeled clothes washer, use up to 10,000 gallons of water a year. One of Asko’s UltraCare clothes washers boasts of a WF of 3.4, using under 3,000 gallons of water a year. Granted, at 1.9 cubic feet the Asko model is quite small, but if water efficiency is the goal, Asko sets the standard.

The Modified Energy Factor (MEF) measures not only the amount of energy used by the washer but also the amount of energy saved by the dryer due to the washer’s water efficiency. A MEF of 1.8 is the minimum to qualify as a very efficient clothes washer. Some manufacturers, like Bosch, Kenmore, LG, Maytag, Samsung, and Whirlpool (pictured above,) offer clothes washers with a MEF of at least 2.5, saving over twice the energy of the federal standard 1.26 MEF.

Remember, to qualify for the very efficient clothes washer credits, the washer must have a WF of less than 5.5 and a MEF of greater than 1.8. While they do not yet have a list of very efficient clothes washers, the ENERGY STAR site does have a list of qualifying ENERGY STAR clothes washers. Look under the WF and MEF columns for qualifying, very efficient clothes washers.

Please post any feedback you have on these products.

Scanning the requirements for various green building programs, you seem to have two choices. First, you can try to find cabinets made with Forest Stewardship Council certified wood from companies like Neil Kelly Cabinets. But if the company is not local, the packaging and shipping of these products may cut into their green-ness. Or you could try out agrifiber based cabinets, like Humabuilt Wheatcore Cabinets, which have arisen due to the demand for green cabinets.

Unfortunately, when faced with these choices, many before you have given up on the idea of green cabinets and gone for possibly cheaper, more convenient plain old wood cabinets from their nearby kitchen and bath dealer. If you find yourself in the same boat, chances are there’s a lesser known green option waiting for you there. Many large cabinet manufacturers across the country are certified as members of an extensive green program called KCMA-ESP.

The Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association developed their Environmental Stewardship Program in 2006 to encourage cabinet makers to be more energy efficient and environmentally friendly in their manufacturing process. Included in the program are requirements to increase air quality by lowering the presence of formaldehyde, increasing energy efficiency in the manufacturing process, following recycling practices, and furthering community relations through local programs and charities.

Nearly 100 companies have jumped at the opportunity to join other green-minded companies in the KCMA-ESP program, like Quality Cabinets, which has turned its cabinet manufacturing into a zero-waste process. Quality Cabinets converted 50,000 tons of wood byproduct into fuel for facilities, eliminating 5,000 waste containers and decreasing their reliance on coal and natural gas. Every year, 16,000 tons of sawdust are converted into filler for pet bedding. Most impressively, they’ve reduced CO₂ emissions by 350 tons a year, the equivalent of removing 58 cars from the freeways.

Despite the efforts of companies like Quality, members of the KCMA-ESP often find themselves on the outside looking in when it comes to green building programs. Although they are made from wood, the original renewable resource, the cabinets themselves are not considered green. Green building programs like LEED can only recognize final products, not the process of creating them, as green. Until major cabinet manufacturers remove all added urea-formaldehyde from their cabinets - something that Quality Cabinets has been researching and testing - they will not qualify for LEED credits.

If your goal is to build or remodel green, a cabinet in which the manufacturing process was held to strict green standards may be as important to you as one that is made from recycled materials. These are green cabinets that you don’t need to look very far to find.

What has been your experience with green cabinets or KCMA-ESP?

Photo by Lynn Davis

(Disclosure: Joel is the director of RSI Green for RSI Kitchen & Bath in St. Louis, MO, which sells the above mentioned Humabuilt Wheatcore Cabinets and Quality Cabinets.)