Submitted
by:
Meghan Woodcock, EDAC
SCAD Professor, Interior Design
IIDA Sustainability Forum Director
SCAD Professor, Interior Design
IIDA Sustainability Forum Director
Written
by:
Nancy Suitt Bennett. IIDA Industry Representative
Nancy Suitt Bennett. IIDA Industry Representative
Principal
Main Solutions
Main Solutions
Fortunately, the world of furniture and textiles has
embraced the need to produce products that are more environmentally
friendly. Many manufacturers have been
proponents of environmental practices for years, but certainly with designers
and architects reaching to achieve LEED certification the focus on better
products and practices has come to the forefront.
Carnegie just introduced the first high-performance interior
textile in the world with a majority of plant based content. Carnegie is a company that has been focusing
on environmentally friendly policies even when it was not a buzzword. The newest introduction by Carnegie has been
7 years in the making, achieving the first Gold Cradle to Cradle Certification
wallcovering with their new introduction of BIOBASED XOREL.
Carnegie has had a commitment to the environment since the
1980’s when they chose not to introduce vinyl into the collection based on
vinyl’s negative environmental impact. Xorel
was developed in 1981 as an alternate to vinyl wallcovering that was not only
beautiful, but also achieved high performance at a cost effective price
point. Furthermore, XOREL can be used
for wallcovering, panels, and upholstery.
Bio based XOREL
is plant based and contains between 60-85% bio content. (US government guidelines require products to
have 25% bio content to be labeled a Biobased product) It has a significantly reduced carbon
footprint over petroleum based products.
So what the heck is this biobased renewable resource? The bioelectricity is generated through
sugar cane waste. (Now as we know in the South…sugarcane today
….KUDZU tomorrow!) Sugar cane has a lower carbon emission rate compared with
some of the other biobased materials. For
each ton of sugar cane used in production, 2.5 tons of carbon is captured. Very technical! The take away is Carnegie is committed to
creating a beautiful product that works for you and the environment.
Biobased XOREL, though challenging to produce, looks, costs,
and performs the same as XOREL. The
first introduction offers 6 designs in 91 colorways. CARNEGIE also has the “responsible return
program” where all XOREL products can be returned to Carnegie at the end of
their useful life for proper reuse.
Another manufacturer that rocks the environmental world of
table bases is FALCON. Recycled engine
blocks have fueled the content of their bases for years. Who knows…maybe you are sitting at a table
and the base is made out of the first car you ever drove…or your parent’s
car. You know the car you were told to
drive with tender loving care and you immediately threw care to the wind as
soon as you left the drive!
For 35 years Falcon has recycled more than 150,000 tons of
car parts to create their table bases.
The bases are 100% recyclable.
Each recycled ton of car parts is equal to about 100 table bases. Also, Falcon uses an electric induction
furnace that emits minimal air pollutants versus a blast furnace and smoke
stack.
As they say at FALCON…”turn up the base”!
