As the Earth gets warmer and DOE get more expensive , " high - efficiency , " in all its forms , is the august denomination of the 21st century . Cars , appliances and now entire homes have made the jump into the " unripened " realm , and eco - life does n’t stop with solar panels , tankless weewee heaters and treble - paned Methedrine . Aesthetics are going green , too .
We ’re not spill about voguish sculptures made of trash . We ’re blab out about counters and article of furniture made of trash – or at least what would ’ve been trash . We ’re tattle natural walls , fumeless paints and light medulla oblongata that last practically forever .
Environmental stewardship meets the pursuit of lulu in the novel – or the newly rediscover – light-green design fabric . Here , 10 of the swelled drift in eco - friendly Interior Department , begin with a surprisingly renewable stalk you could use in every elbow room of the house .
respectable as new
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1. Bamboo
woodwind , at least as far as floor hold up , is not a particularly renewable material . It takes centuries for a woodland to regrow – it might as well take forever , for all the damage done to Earth through harmful harvesting methods and deforestation .
Bamboo , on the other hand , grows like a Mary Jane – at eight time the rate of hardwood , to be accurate . It ’s extremely renewable , not just because of the growth speed , but also because when bamboo is harvested , the flora does n’t go . It just get back , and quickly , make it an excellent green choice for floors .
It ’s at least as gruelling and stable as most hardwood , often more so , and it typically does n’t indent as easily as hardwood storey . Pricewise , they ’re pretty like .
Floors are just one area for bamboo . It also makes a outstanding countertop , butcher block and cabinet material . Bamboo carpet are big . Artists use it in furniture , too .
2. Concrete
Concrete is used around the human beings to make sturdy , scummy - maintenance structures that defy time and the element . Now , concrete is coming at bottom , and you ’d barely recognize it in its wide array of custom colour and invention that twist countertop and flooring into artistic endeavors .
The greenness of the cloth is a controversial topic . On the one hand , it ’s extremely energy effective and can scale down force uptake . It produces trivial wastefulness because it ’s custom - made for each project , and it ’s a zero - offgassing cloth , mean it contains no toxic chemical substance that disappear under normal conditions . And producing concrete uses wing ash , a byproduct of the ember - cut manufacture that otherwise would just take up space .
On the other manus , producing traditional concrete make a spate of CO2 - - about 7 percent of the world ’s CO2emissions amount from the process [ rootage : Kriscenski ] . Some company , however , are now using a dissimilar character of cementum in the process that reduces the CO2contribution dramatically – that concrete cost a stack more , but it ’s a truly gullible material [ source : CNC ] .
The industry as a whole is instituting changes in fabrication that should make it a more eco - friendly process in the future , so standard concrete could become a significantly green cloth going onwards .
3. Cork
It may seem like an odd material for storey – the gentle , squishy thing you pull out of a wine bottle or cling notes on or find on the bottom of springtime shoes . But this ultra - green substance is growing in popularity as an interior staple .
Many cork floors are in reality made entirely of recycled vino conversation stopper . Its characteristic are quite different as a story , of trend . It ’s manufactured hard , for one thing – it feels like hardwood . Cork is by nature water - impermeable , too , making it a natural choice for a floor .
Speaking of instinctive , cork story contain no PVC or methanal ring-binder . It ’s a bark , harvested from exist cork oak , leave the tree alive and growing so it ’s unbelievably renewable .
Since cork is course antimicrobial , it also makes sense in the kitchen and is growing in popularity as a countertop material .
4. LED Lighting
It uses practically no energy at all compare to an incandescent bulb and is more efficient than a fluorescent fixture while create a warmer tone of light than a CFL . It can last 20 years , so you may only change your light bulb a few metre during the course of your spirit .
The LED is a marvel of energy - efficiency and longevity , consuming about 80 percent less Energy Department than a traditional light medulla and about 5 percent less than a CFL ; if you currently apply incandescents , switching to light-emitting diode can reduce your carbon footprint by century of pounds per light fixture [ source : Layton ] .
On the downside , an light-emitting diode bulb can be from $ 30 all the room up to $ 100 . It ’ll save money in the long run , but it ’s a prominent expenditure , so it ’s currently mostly a commercial lighting choice . Prices are coming down , though , so ultra - green LED lighting could soon become a feasible green choice at plate .
5. Nontoxic Paint
intend breathing the air during the morning commute is gravelly on your health ? adjudicate breathe inside your home after a fresh coat of paint .
It ’s the volatile organic compound , or VOCs , in the paint that are toxic both to humans and the environment . They eat out the ozone bed and contaminate groundwater .
In the last tenner , though , fresh key formulation have come out that are lower in VOCs . There are even no - VOC options . These greener paints are now mainstream , offered by most big paint manufacturers , and they do n’t be much more than the veritable , high - polluting stuff .
You might make up the money , too , when you go to dispose of the supererogatory paint – low- and no - VOC paint is n’t considered hazardous waste , so there ’s no extra garbage disposal charge [ generator : EarthEasy ] .
6. Natural Plaster
Most wall surfaces are drywall breed by toxic paint . Some are fancier , sporting traditional poultice that ’s textured – " script - troweled " – for a rustic feeling or commix with pigment for a Venetian or Maroc flavor .
They ’re custom , high - end finish that add real interest and value to a home . The job , from an environmental linear perspective , is that these sticking plaster are typically gypsum - based , and manufacturing them has a in high spirits carbon paper step . Plus , some of the brighter pigments can contain fickle organic compound .
A relatively new mathematical product has solved the biggest of plaster ’s unripe issues . innate cataplasm , or " Earth plaster , " avoids the gypsum , allowing it to be manufactured at depressed temperature . This decreases the CO2emissions associate with the process .
The most ground - well-disposed ( and fume - free ) Earth plaster is unpigmented , move on in natural Earth tones and often textured for an constituent look . If pigments are used , VOCs can still be a job , so ensure you ( or your contractor ) go with non-poisonous coloring agents . Earth clay also comes in paint form , which is zero - VOC .
7. Reclaimed Wood
Most wood floors come from trees harvest for that intention – they ’re trend down with beautiful flooring in mind . And when a homeowner pulls up honest-to-goodness , beat - up Mrs. Henry Wood floors during a remodel , that former Grant Wood is typically considered trash and is discarded accordingly .
Two types of wood storey take a more eco - friendly approach . There ’s reclaimed wood , which apply re - ruined , old wood floor and other building elements ( old beams , for instance ) to make raw wood floors that have a rustic looking . These are demode wood floors . Reclaimed wood can be used for other pattern chemical element , like staircase , trusses , counters or mantelpiece .
Another green pick is recover wood . This type use trees that have been cut down for other purpose , typically in clear land for construction purposes . In this case , recovered tree diagram that were being killed anyway are used to create mark - new Grant Wood floors .
One thing to look out for in both of these lawsuit is the process used to prepare and cease the wood . Some companies that use reclaimed or reclaim forest use environmentally damaging method of grow that woodwind into your flooring . enquire questions about the finish process to ensure the green wood stays green .
8. Recycled Glass
Bet you never thought those wine feeding bottle you recycled would end up back in your kitchen .
Recycled - glass countertops take the glass you drop in the recycling bin and turn it into a unparalleled kitchen surface . The trash pieces can be any size and color – recycled windshields produce clear glass , wine-coloured bottles light-green or brownish glass , dinner plates can mean any color in the spectrum .
The glassful is broken into small piece and throw together with concrete . The end effect is a lustrous , dotted look . It ’s typically custom - made in molds , so there ’s very little barren , and it consumes a merchandise that would probably otherwise cease up in a landfill , will middling much never biodegrade and drive a spate of vigor to recycle .
you could notice recycled glass piece of furniture out there , too . check out outEarth911 : Designer Uses 100 percentage Recycled Glass in Furniture .
9. Recycled Aluminum
Aluminum is all over – sodium carbonate cans , fixture , industrial scrap alloy , for a starting signal . Would n’t it be prissy if it could be turn into something useful after it has outlived its original exercise , without have to expend a short ton of Energy Department breaking it down in the recycling mental process ?
Companies are now recycle Al in a much less vigour - intensive summons than we typically consider of when we ideate " recycling . " They ’re cutting all that methamphetamine hydrochloride metal into piece and deform it into countertop and backsplashes in the kitchen , and tiles for bathroom wall and floors .
Recycled alloy is n’t just for useable design , either . It ’s popping up in fine art , too , everything from garden carving to wall hangings , accent furniture and handbags . And while we ’re on the topic , even the medals in the 2010 Olympics stop some recycle metal .
10. Recycled Paper
Even with e - mail , PDF and texting , paper is a huge part of our lives . newspaper publisher , brochures , printable coupons , direct mail , stack and stacks of printer paper , and loose leaf and sound inkpad – trees are giving their lives every day so we have stuff to write on .
Recycling paper to make more paper is one direction to help save tree . reuse report to make countertops is an even bigger step . It ’s bigger , more profitable and even trendy than eco - composition and publicity .
counterpunch are formed of contract , toilsome block of used report covered in a nontoxic rosin to make it water - resistant , heat - tolerant and stain - resistant . There ’s no petroleum or methanal involved in the process .
The material is used for toilet parry , dining board , floors and cosmetic wall panel , too .
