Eco Vocabulary and Facts

 An eco-Vocabulary

 
  • Renewable – materials that are fast growing and easily renewable
 
  • Responsibly Grown - wood from a socially and environmentally managed forests
 
  • Reusable – recycled
 
  • Biodegradable – the ability to return to the soil
 
  • Durability – well built…long lasting
 
  • No Off-Gassing – materials and finishes that do not pollute the air inside the home.
 
  • Eco-Manufacturing – social and environmentally responsible design, production, distribution and after market practices
 
  • Energy Star – A government program lets consumers know which products meet the EPA and Department of Energy criteria for efficiency.
 
  • Non-VOC – Paints or Finishes that do not contain “Volatile Organic Compounds”
 
  • FCS – Wood products certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, which insures that timbers are harvested using land and habitat friendly methods.
 
  • Daylighting – Locating workspaces near windows to take advantage of natural daylight.
 
eco - FACTS + FIGURES
 
Wood Products:
  • Nearly 50% of the Earth’s original forests have been cut down…with 40 million acres vanishing annually.
 
    • Choose wood products certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FCS)
 
    • Which for formaldehyde, common in most glues + finishes.
 
 
Fabrics:
  • In the US, 25% of all soil contamination comes from insecticides used to grow cotton. In addition, wool is processed with toxic solvents and detergents.
 
    • Look for new fabrics using fibers from hemp and bamboo…which are hardy enough to grow without using pesticides. 
 
    • When looking for color…seek natural dyes…commercial colorants contain heavy metals.
 
 
Floor Coverings:
 
  • In the US alone, 4.7 billion pounds of carpet are dumped annually, rather than recycled due to synthetic compounds. In your home, these rugs and floor covering can release harmful fumes into the air weeks, months and sometimes years after installation.
 
    • Seek rugs and floor coverings made of untreated 100% natural materials like wool, cotton, sisal and hemp.
 
    • Unbacked natural rugs or those affixed with low-VOC glue are the best.
 
  • CORK
    • The bark of the Cork Oak is shaved off and harvested without damaging the health or lifespan of the tree.
 
  • LINOLEUM
    • The true “come-back kid”…this mainstay of the 50’s kitchen has always been eco by its very nature…made using linseed oil and recycling discarded wood flour and limestone dust.
 
  • BAMBOO
    • A super-sustainable grass that grows back after cutting, unlike trees.  
 
  • TILE
 
    • Creating ceramic tile is energy intensive…Raw materials have to be mined and can take as much as 500 pounds of raw material to create 100 sqft of tile.
 
    • Conventional glazes leach heavy-metals which can stay in the home for years.
 
    • Look for tile that uses recycled materials and low-VOC glazes.
 
  
 
DESIGN FOR REDUCED RESOURCE USE:
 
Whether your aesthetic is modern or traditional, there are green materials and design strategies to match. Reducing energy and water use will yield the biggest improvement in your kitchen's environmental soundness. We recommend replacing older major appliances with the most resource-efficient models you can afford, making sure they are only as large as you need. Refrigerators and dishwashers that are more than 10 years old and stoves that are more than 20 years old typically are inefficient and polluting.
 
Refrigerators
 
Refrigerators use 14 percent of a home’s electricity, according to the US Department of Energy. Today’s most efficient 20-cubic-foot refrigerators use 47 percent less electricity than 1993 models. Beware of these resource hogs:
    • side-by-side refrigerator/freezers use 10 percent more electricity than freezer-on-top models;
    • through-the-door water and ice dispensers and automatic icemakers can increase electricity use by up to 20 percent; and
    • automatic defrost models can use up to 40 percent more energy than manual defrost models.
Dishwashers
 
Dishwashers use up to 80 percent of their electricity to heat water. Today's more efficient models use less than half the water and one-quarter the electricity of 10-year-old models. 
 
Lighting
 
Lighting accounts for 5 to 10 percent of total electricity used in U.S. homes. The best way to reduce your power use is to locate workspaces near windows or install more windows or a skylight so that you can take advantage of daylight (a strategy known as daylighting).
 
Where you need extra light, use individually controlled task lighting so you won’t waste electricity illuminating more space than you need, and install fluorescent bulbs. Fluorescent lighting saves enough electricity to pay for its extra cost in a matter of years, depending on your electricity price.
 
 
 
DESIGN FOR IMPROVED INDOOR ENVIRONMENT:
 
Air quality and ventilation are the most important health issues in your kitchen. Consider design strategies such as creating cross breezes through your kitchen and locating workspaces near windows.
 
Exhaust Hood
 
Install an energy-efficient exhaust hood above the stove that vents to the outside to remove fumes and increase fresh air. A fan that can move 100 cubic feet of air per minute is appropriate for an average kitchen, but your needs will depend on your stove and the size on your kitchen.
 
Stoves
 
Gas stoves emit nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and other harmful compounds directly into your kitchen, requiring more energy for ventilation and for heating or cooling to condition replacement air.
 
Electric stoves do not directly pollute your kitchen, but their electricity use creates more total global pollution.
 
Gas and electric stoves have roughly similar energy efficiencies when electricity transmission losses are considered.
 
New electric stoves are getting more energy-efficient (convection ovens and induction-element ranges are the most efficient), and electricity sources may get cleaner. Gas stoves cost about half as much to operate, depending on energy prices. Given
 
Flooring
 
Carpeting in the kitchen is a bad idea; smooth, hard surfaces like linoleum and wood are recommended. flooring materials, which include bamboo, cork and tiles made from reclaimed or recycled materials.
 
Countertops
 
Countertops take a lot of hard use in the kitchen, and are a specialty of their own. In contrast to appliances, the majority of a countertop's environmental impact occurs during the raw material extraction and manufacturing processes. Because of these early impacts, reclaimed materials are environmentally preferable to their new counterparts. In addition, reclaimed materials have usually finished off-gassing long ago.

 

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