There are many options for sustainable flooring on the market right now. All these locations provide “reclaimed wood” meaning that they do not cut down trees but rather purchase or take used wood and refurbish it. Earth Source offers a wide variety of woods and is based in the Bay Area. Green Waste Recycle Yard is also a Bay Area company which allows you to recycle your own tree and shrub and use credit to buy their recycled products such as lumber or mulch. One main attraction of the reclaimed wood is its age and durability. Other companies such as Restoration Timber, North Cal. Wood Products, and Wood Anchor, offer a variety of woods some of which are restored in an exotic way for various purposes. One company, Timber Tech, not only reclaims the wood, but also transports it and restores it through environmentally friendly methods. Some companies such as East Teak Fine Hardwoods and The Reclaimer focus on specific woods such as teak wood and Douglas fir, respectively. Because of its old age and slow growth the wood gains different colors and better stability.
Other products for sustainable flooring indoors include Showercork, which is made from 100% renewable raw materials, and organic carpet made by Corniche Carpet Mills by only using jute and latex.
If outdoors, products such as Airostone Corp, GraniteCrete, and TerraPave, each offer different types of sustainable pathways for small or large scale purposes. Each have different designs and are compressed to last a long time.
One under-publicized but relatively simple approaches to combating climate change through building principles are white roofs. I agree with the basic logic behind white roofs, specifically that they can help keep buildings cooler by reflecting sunlight; it reduces the “heat island effect” associated with urban development; and by reflecting the sun’s rays it can help to cool the atmosphere. Think of your ice chest, the one you keep your beer in. What color is its top? Yeah, white. Same idea, just with houses.
Here are some shots from the top of one of my buildings in San Francisco:
Standard Tar and Gravel roof, very old school. And let me tell you, if you are up there on a sunny day, it is flippen hot. Here are my neighbors:
Lots of different roof types and colors, the first looks like a silvery modified bitumen type, light colored but not white. The next is a black and then brown but still dark roofing material, and its the color alone that matters. Multiply those roofs over the whole city and that is some serious heat being trapped. According to many media outlets,so lets pick the LA Times, globally roofs account for 25% of the surface of most cities, and asphalt another 35%. “If all were switched to reflective material in 100 major urban areas, it would offset 44 metric gigatons of greenhouse gases” LA Times Sept 2008. Full science behind the claim can be found from the 2008 Edition of the Journal Climate Change.
This is in general well known stuff, pretty common sense, (see Ice Chest example above) and in general still not well appreciated. There are those who argue for really space aged approaches to climate change, like the Geoengineers who sound really cool with plans to do things like “mimicking the effect of large volcanoes by spraying sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere to diminish solar radiation”. But for me, I prefer practical things that can be done right now.
Well, it won’t save a gigaton, maybe a few hundred pounds over the next 20 years, but my contribution on the eve of Copenhagen is a new white roof. It was a necessary repair, the roof was leaking, and it has real environmental value too. When the time comes, I will whiten up my tar and gravel roof above as well. And that is how it should be. If you own older buildings like I do, or an older home, eventually you will need to put on a new roof. When you do, do your part, make it white.
Why develop the same old cookie cutter community crap that everyone else does? Aside from the fact that McMansions built out of Styrofoam and formaldehyde suck ass I mean. It is not for lack of good examples.
Michael Reynolds, architect, developer, visionary of the Earthship Biotecture may be a bit hippy dippy at first, but his point is damn well taken: housing can be constructed to have a no resource footprint. His communities are true models for long term sustainable living. Thinking about our future, housing must be built this way; we cannot consume at our current level, the global changes already underway are catastrophic enough without us continuing to dig the hole deeper.
The following piece will give you a taste of his vision, and if you want more watch the documentary Garbage Warrior – it will give you that kick in the ass you need.
I know what I would like to do – make one of these in the middle of San Francisco. Now all I need to do is figure out how.
Chris Prelitz delivered the Earth Day keynote address to the Orange County USGBC & AIA. This excerpt challenges builders to think beyond the confines of LEED or Green Points and consider the larger question of what the hell Sustainable means in your own neighborhood.
Lots of different roof types and colors, the first looks like a silvery modified bitumen type, light colored but not white. The next is a black and then brown but still dark roofing material, and its the color alone that matters. Multiply those roofs over the whole city and that is some serious heat being trapped. According to many media outlets,so lets pick the 
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