Green Furniture Report PDF

7/28/2019 Green Furniture Report PDF

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GREEN FURNITURE GUIDELINESYale University Kroon Building

January 25, 2007

Atelier Ten Consulting Environmental Designers 45 East 20th Street 4th Floor New York NY 10003 p: 212.254.4500 f: 212.254.1259 www.atelierten.com

Eames Chairs by Herman Miller


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2 Kroon Building - Green Furniture

INTRODUCTION

Furniture is one of the most visible parts of afinished building, and therefore presents anopportunity to demonstrate the project'scommitment to green design. In response to

the growing demand for green furniture,

manufacturers ranging from designers tomajor companies are increasing their offeringsof sustainable products.

To assist in the selection of green furniture,this report establishes guidelines for greenfurniture and a list of recommendedmanufacturers.

There are two compliance paths to earn aLEED innovation point for green furniture. Thefirst is to purchase furniture that is GreenguardIndoor Air Quaity Certified. The secondapproach is to track the furniture composition

using fourteen sustainable criteria that aredescribed in this report. There also exists a

third compliance path which requiresindependent VOC emission testing by anindependent laboratory for each furnituresystem. This path is not recommended for

this project.

Furniture included in this context includesfuniture that has been manufactured,refurbished or refinished within one year prior

to occupancy. This specifically includesworkstation desks and panels, free standingshelves, filing cabinets, hang-on components,

task and guest chairs. Furniture excluded fromthis credit is salvaged and used furniture olderthan one year.

Mirra Chair by Herman Miller


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GREEN FURNITURE GUIDELINES -

COMPLIANCE PATH #1

By purchasing Greenguard Indoor Air QualityCertified furniture, the project will be eligiblefor an innovation credit. The certification mustinclude a document stating the manufacturer

and product line, item description, period ofmanufacture, form of compliance and theperiod for which the item is Greenguard AirQuailty Certified. This period must cover themanufacturing period of the actual productbeing used. Additional information can befound at the Greenguard website:www.greenguard.org.

The Greenguard Environmental Institute basisfor certification is published on the websitelisted above. The GREENGUARD 2005Indoor Air Quality Guide states that, TheGREENGUARD Environmental Institute (GEI)

has established performance-based, field-validated standards to define products andmaterials with low chemical and particleemissions for use indoors. The standardsestablish certification procedures, including

test methods, allowable emissions levels,product sample collection and handling,

testing type and frequency, and programapplication processes and acceptance.


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GREEN FURNITURE GUIDELINES

GREEN FURNITURE GUIDELINES -

COMPLIANCE PATH #2

Atelier Ten established fourteen sustainablecriteria to consider in the selection of greenfurniture. Of these, five should be considered

"prerequisites" and the remaining nine criteriashould be maximized whenever possible. Toearn an innovation credit towards LEEDcertification, or simply to assist in theselection of furniture, we recommend meeting

the five prerequisites and at least five of theother criteria (all of which are weightedequally). The prerequisites and other criteriashould be calculated for the project's furniturepackage as a whole.

Althoug Atelier Ten formulted these furnitureguidelines they are loosely based on theLEEDs approach to construction material

selection.

In general, the selection of furniture is similarto the selection of construction materials.However, because furniture is sold as afinished product, there may be lessopportunity to maximize all sustainablecharacteristics. In addition, depending on theselection of wood, metal, or plastic basedfurniture, the ability to meet targets forrecycled content, renewable content, etc willvary. These guidelines are intended tobalance these concerns while providing aframework for decision making on furniture

purchases.

The table to the left summarizes theprerequisites and criteria in the furnitureguidelines. Each is described in more detailbelow.Manufacturing Waste, Monitoring and

Reduction

Intent: Encourage company-wide sustainablemanufacturing by monitoring the amount ofmanufacturing waste and implementingmeasures to reduce such waste. Recycling ofoffice waste such as paper and beveragecontainers is commendable but is notsufficient for this prerequisite.Target: Company must have a plan in placefor monitoring and reduction of manufacturingwaste, including documentation.


Prerequisites

Manufacturing Waste, Monitoring and ReductionManufacturing Water Use, Monitoring and ReductionManufacturing Energy Use, Monitoring and Reduction Monitoring and Reduction

Recyclability or Take-back

Remaining Criteria

Recycled ContentLocal Content, ManufactureLocal Content, Raw MaterialsRapidly Renewable ContentCertified WoodVOC ContentUrea-formaldehyde ContentOzone Depleting SubstancesPackaging Reduction

Kroon Building - Green Furniture


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Manufacturing Water Use, Monitoring and

Reduction

Intent: Encourage company-wide sustainablemanufacturing by monitoring the amount ofwater used in manufacturing processes, andimplementing measures to reduce such water

use.Target: Company must have a plan in placefor monitoring and reduction of process water,including documentation.

Manufacturing Energy Use, Monitoring and

Reduction

Intent: Encourage company-wide sustainablemanufacturing by monitoring the amount ofenergy used in manufacturing facilities andimplementing measures to reduce energy use.This includes energy used in operation of themanufacturing facilities as well as energy usedin the manufacturing process.

Target: Company must have a plan in placefor monitoring and reduction of energy use,including documentation.

Toxins Used/Produced In Manufacture,

Monitoring and Reduction

Intent: Encourage company-wide sustainablemanufacturing by monitoring the amount of

toxins used and produced in manufacturingand implementing measures to reduce such

toxins. This includes, but is not limited to,VOCs, nitrous oxides, particulates,phosphates, hazardous solid waste, and otherchemical emissions.

Target: Company must have a plan in placefor monitoring and reduction of toxins usedand produced in manufacture, includingdocumentation.

Recyclability or Take-Back

Intent: Require manufactures to designproducts with end-of-life disposal in mind.Target: Companies must either have a take-back program for 50% of the purchasedfurniture (to be refurbished, donated, resold,or disassembled and recycled), or design theproduct so that at least 50% can be easilydisassembled and recycled by the end user.Calculations should be made by weight.

Recycled Content

Intent: Encourage manufacturers to close therecycling loop by using recycled materials in

their products.Target: The furniture package must contain atleast 10% recycled materials by weight.


Ballet Tables by Steelcase

Meridian Storage by Herman Miller

Avive Tables by Herman Miller


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reducing the VOC content of furniture.Target: All furniture should be Greenguardcertified, or show that the Greenguard VOClevels have been met.

Urea-Formaldehyde Content

Intent: Reduce the use of added urea-formaldehyde.Target: All furniture should be Greenguardcertified, or show that the Greenguard urea-formaldehyde levels have been met.

Ozone Depleting Substances

Intent: Reduce the use of ozone depletingsubstances (as defined by the EPA to includeCFCs, HCFCs, halons, methyl bromide, carbon

tetrachloride, and methyl chloroform) in themanufacturing process.Target: No ozone depleting substances shouldbe used in the manufacture of any furniture

products used in the project.

Packaging Reduction

Intent: Reduce the amount of packagingassociated with furniture, including thepackaging of component parts duringmanufacture as well as the final product.Target: All companies must have a plan inplace to reduce the use of packagingassociated with their furniture products,including documentation. This can include theuse of reusable containers, blanket-wrapping,etc.Comments: Reusable shipping containers are

preferable to simply reducing the amountdisposable packaging.


Local Content, Manufacture

Intent: Reduce transportation energy andsupport local industry by purchasing productsmanufactured locally.Target: 20% of the furniture package (definedby the location of the last stage of

manufacture for each product) must bemanufactured within a 500-mile radius of theproject. Calculations should be made byweight.

Local Content, Raw Materials

Intent: Encourage manufacturers to reducetransportation energy and support localindustry by purchasing raw materialsextracted/harvested/synthesized locally. Rawmaterials to consider include wood, metals,plastics, textile materials (e.g., wool), agrifiber,etc.Target: Of the locally manufactured products

above, 20% of the raw materials used in thefurniture products must come from sourceslocated within 500-miles of the location offinal manufacture. Calculations should bemade by weight.

Rapidly Renewable Content

Intent: Use rapidly renewable materials (with alifespan of 10 years or less) instead ofmaterials with a longer regeneration time.Examples of rapidly renewable products areagrifiber, bamboo, and wool.Target: 5% of the material content of thefurniture package should consist of rapidly

renewable materials. Calculations should bemade by weight.

Certified Wood

Intent: Use wood products that come fromsustainably managed forests. Sustainablymanaged forests provide better habitat forwildlife, prevent erosion and preserve cleanwaterways, and avoid the use of old growth

trees.Target: 50% of all wood used in the furniturepackage should come from sustainablymanaged forests. Third-party, non-industrycertification is preferred (such as FSC orSCS). If such certi fication is not available,other claims for sustainably produced woodcan be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.The manufacturer must be able document anyclaim that their wood sources are sustainablymanaged.

VOC Content

Intent: Improve indoor air quality, both in theproject and at manufacturing facilities, by


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RECOMMENDED MANUFACTURERS

Most sustainable initiatives for manufacturingprocesses are met at a company levelconsequently it is important to note whichcompanies have the best environmentalrecord. Also, for categories of products

where sustainable information is scarce, theenvironmental standing of the company as awhole can be used in lieu of individual productstatistics.

To establish a ranking of large contractfurniture manufacturers, each company iscompared based on the fourteen categoriesdescribed in the furniture guidelines. Themanufacturing process itself is considered(waste, water, energy, toxins, ozone depletingsubstances). Each company was alsoevaluated based on the range of sustainablecriteria met by their products (certified wood,

recycled content, etc.). When no informationis available for a given company, it isassumed that the company performed poorly.If more information on sustainable practicesbecomes available, the rank of somecompanies may change.Based on the above research, we recommend

the companies in the following order:

1. Herman Miller Company2. Steelcase Company3. Allsteel Company4. Metro5. Knoll Company

Kimball International, Vecta, Gunlocke,Krueger International (KI), Humanscale, andHarter lack substantive information forassesment.

It is important to note that subsidiaries do notnecessarily follow the sustainable practices of

their parent companies.

PET Lounge Chair by Steelcase

Caper Chairs by Herman Miller

Arcata bench by Landscape Forms

Green Furniture Report PDF

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