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Kyle’s Kitchen

Apartment owners and property managers average at least two kitchen remodels in their buildings each year.  With one of our own kitchen remodels, we brought what recently rented for $1,200 up to $2,000 a month, while including many “green” features.  While these renovations focus on increasing the value and appeal of the property in the shortest time possible, it is an important added bonus to incorporate the sustainability of such projects into the renovation.  Sustainable development balances the economic, equitable, and environmental considerations of all involved, which ensures long-lasting usefulness into the future.

This report focuses on property managers in the San Francisco Bay Area, and highlights retailers, products, and rebates that are specific for this area.  This report is by no means a final word on this topic.  The objective here is to create a guide and begin a forum for discussing how the environment can be included in the apartment context.

Sustainability Scale of Products
Remodel Case Study

 

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I’ve been researching kitchen cabinets for my sustainable apartment kitchen project here at Sustainable Schmidt, and stumbled upon the main “green” certification for the kitchen cabinet industry: KCMA‘s Environmental Stewardship Program (ESP).  KCMA, the Kitchen Cabinets Manufactures Association, is an industry-based group with over 400 members that began in 1955.  It started it’s ESP certification program in 2006 “to help cabinet manufacturers demonstrate their commitment to environmental sustainability and help consumers easily identify environmentally-friendly products.” Cabinet companies that seek certification have to go through the ESP’s point-based certification process, that involves collaboration with a sustainable forestry program and compliance with the formaldehyde emission level of the California Air Resources Compwood ATCM.

While this stewardship program seems relatively strict, I found it curious that this certification process for the cabinet industry is sponsored by its industry-based organization.  When you consider the fact that KCMA was “founded with the goal of promoting growth for the entire cabinet industry and strengthening individual members,” it’s hard to see how the ESP can objectively evaluate this industry.  One wonders if this “certified green” stamp that manufacturers can label their products with is less informative and more a form of greenwashing.  The ESP does receive a third-party consensus from the American National Standards Institute, which somewhat alleviates my worries.  However, ANSI’s mission statement is to “empower its members and constituents to strengthen the U.S. marketplace position in the global economy,” so economic factors still have a louder voice than environmental ones.

It might be informative to compare the ESP to what many consider to be a truly rigorous and objective third-party

certification system, Cradle to Cradle Certification.  Brainchild of William McDonough, whose book I featured in my last post, Cradle to Cradle Certification “is a multi-attribute eco-label that assesses a product’s safety to humans and the environment and design for future life cycles.” The multi-tiered format of the C2C certification system, from Platinum down to Gold, Silver, and Basic, already demonstrates a big difference in the legitimacy between this and KCMA’s ESP, which lacks any sort of differential standards.  In fact, C2C’s highest Platinum certification is so rigorous that no products have yet achieved this award.  On the other hand, because their is only one standard certification within the ESP, their lacks any incentive for cabinet manufacturers to upgrade their processes above the required minimum, and fails to reward those that take extra steps in their processes to be more sustainable.

Unlike Cradle to Cradle’s required standards for each tier of certification, the ESP certification process follows a point-based system where not all possible points have to be undertaken to receive certification.  Thus, manufacturers can skimp out on accomplishing certain aspects of it’s resource processes or product management completely unchecked without and consequences.  Furthermore, applicants for the ESP only need to “self-certify” that they’ve achieved certain tasks by filling out various forms.  C2C appoints their own project manager to each applicant who is trying to receive certification.  Strange enough, in this article manufacturers have reported little to no added cost for compliance with ESP, which adds to the perception that this certification process might be too light on manufacturers, who barely need to change their processes to comply.

All these points strongly call to question the true sustainability of KCMA’s Environmental Stewardship Program.  Something doesn’t sit right with industry-groups regulating industry-groups.  This voluntary certification’s stamp can be misleading to customer’s who are looking for environmentally friendly products for their homes.  Greenwashing or not, in 2007 KCMA gathered that its manufacturers sold a total of $10 billion in certified products.  The monetary incentive to be “green” is there, and industries are finding ways to take advantage of that fact without having to change their processes and actually strive for environmental stewardship.  Not surprisingly, there are yet to be any Cradle to Cradle Certified kitchen cabinet products, even on the Basic level.

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In addition to my internship here with Sustainable Schmidt, I’ve been spending some time interning with San Mateo County government for their Energy Upgrade program.  This statewide incentive program provides rebates for homeowners who want to increase the energy efficiency of their homes.  This program is unique in that it helps you to “upgrade” the comfort and efficiency of  the home as a whole – not just single products like PG&E’s rebates.  Each county in the Bay Area has their respective branches to this program.  Rebate amount goes from $1000-$4000, depending on how much you improve your efficiency by.  My goal by the end of the summer is to convince my dad to retrofit our home with this program.  With any luck, we’ll be able to combine them with other rebates and tax credits.  If you’re looking for a comprehensive list of all the different rebates in your area, check out the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency.

Ever really thought about what that tree in front of your house does for you? The Colorado Tree Coalition has written a comprehensive list of the Benefits of Trees in Urban Areas.  I understood the obvious benefits of urban forests like carbon sequestration and reduced run-off, but had never considered how trees in neighborhoods would strengthen its community, or helps slow traffic.

I’m halfway through Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough & Michael Braungart.  These two authors introduce an interesting concept for product life-cycle that draws inspiration from nature itself.  Rather than creating products that create unusable waste and degrade the natural environment, a product design that encourages integration of its life with the rest its environment.  For example, whereas conventional roofing degrades, overheats, and eventually has to be thrown away, green roofs covered in plants “maintain the roof at a stable temperature, providing free evaporative cooling in hot weather and insulation in cold weather, and shields it from the sun destructive rays, making it last longer.” William McDonough gave a good lecture on TED Talks of this design concept:

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Kyle’s Kitchen: PCBC

by Sustainable Kyle on June 24, 2011 · 0 comments

in Miscellaneous Schmidt

On Wednesday I got the opportunity to check out the Pacific Coast Builders Conference, PCBC, for the first time.  The Moscone Center was jam-packed with an impressive variety of tradespeople advertising their product.  Despite this, Sir Helmut was tripping pretty hard about how few people there were (and sober, no less!).  Apparently, PCBC has been struggling with attendance for the past couple years since the economy went south.  The numbers aren’t out for this year’s conference, but this article discusses past attendance issues the conference has had in previous years.  Nevertheless, I was introduced to a lot of new, innovative products at PCBC that I’d like to share with you:

  • Cabinets: Executive Cabinetry has come out with a line of cabinets, “EcoFriendly.”  This product is certified to the highest GreenGaurd standard: Children & Schools.  The cabinet is made with FSC certified wood, and finished with water-based products that emit zero Formaldehyde.
  • Insulation: Owens Corning has released a new insulation product that is also GreenGaurd Children & Schools certified.  Their pink EcoTouch insulation also helps prevent indoor air pollution by being Formaldehyde free.
  • Solar water hearing: The Velux solar water heater was something I found particularly innovative.  This is an Energy Star qualified system that should drop energy consumption for heating your water by 50-80%.  I really liked this system because it could be installed in conjunction to a skylight you could use for your bathroom.
  • Roofing: I’ve never really thought to use recycled rubber and plastic to roof a home, but EcoStar has provided us this service of sustainable roofing with a line of tiles made out of 80% post-industrial recycled materials.  I saw for myself at PCBC that these products look almost exactly like the tiles or wood shake they emulate.  This roofing is warrantied to last 50 years.  This product is recyclable, so once that time is up just toss them in the blue bin.
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I’ve been busy at the office researching/googling a host of different aspects to green building–in the hopes of gathering research for my sustainable apartment kitchen project.  I have stumbled across a good amount of interesting websites and articles, and thought it would be a good idea to share it with you all.  My first “green building bucket list” goes as follows:

  • GreenPoint Rated: If you think you own a “green” home or are considering building one, try putting that “green”-ness to the test with the systemized rating system from The Green Building Council.  This GreenPoint Rated system certifies that the property you own or plan to build is more comfortable and healthier, while simultaneously lessening your impact on the environment.
  • PG&E sham(?): An interesting article from SFGate exposed a PG&E carbon offset program to be more marketing sham than sustainable function.  This “ClimateSmart program highlights the complex and murky relationships among big business, state regulators and conservation groups working on climate change – a relatively new and untested system in which a huge amount of money is traded without much public scrutiny.”
  • Noise Abatement: If you are looking for some way to muffle your neighbor’s noise next door, Keene Building has a line of products called Quiet Qurl that are made out of 40% recycled content and are designed to absorb sound in apartment or dormitory complexes.  This polymer matrix that you apply between walls or under flooring in conjunction with gypsum concrete can also help if you are looking for LEED certification.
  • Alternative Countertops: On the subject of kitchen countertops, few consider using butcher block.  “Butcher block countertops are natural, beautiful, practical, renewable, economical, and, contrary to popular belief, one of the safest, most sanitary kitchen work surfaces available.” Helmut has also noted other cool alternative countertops to the traditional laminate or granite.

That is all I got for now. More soon.

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