Kitchen & Bath Sustainable

The title says it all. Just received some new photography from Kirei (the carbonized bamboo doors at right with Kirei board inserts) and thought some pretty sustainability would be good for this Friday afternoon!

Kirei makes a collection of products: Kirei Board, Kirei Bamboo, Kirei Coco Tiles and Kirei Wheatboard. Manufactured from renewable and reclaimed agricultural fiber and low-or no-added-formaldehyde adhesives, the company is “dedicated to a new palette of beautiful, natural materials for interior designers to create elegant, sustainable and innovative kitchen and bath designs.”

It’s a versatile material; the company touts it as suitable for wall coverings, millwork, cabinetry and architectural accents, among other things.

TreeHugger covers Kirei used in furniture–see here.  And Vivavi’s showing a mod Kirei coffeetable here.

Ah, the things they’re doing with sorghum these days!

LED luminaires are the next big thing; clean light that beats the pants off compact fluorescents for longevity.  GE, the company that made the soon-to-be-outlawed incandescent what it is today, is innovating as fast as it can and is garnering some serious recognition for its efforts.

Everything you ever wanted to know about GE’s advancements in the world of light emitting diodes, after the jump.

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1. TreeHugger’s International Contemporary Furniture Fair coverage reports that the office of the future will be ruled by sobriety (that’s good news), Google and fewer resources utilized.
2. Greener By Design also happened this week in San Francisco and entrepreneurs, inventors, investors and regular Joes from around the globe gathered to talk about why so much design is bad design and how to make it good and, well, green. Of course, William McDonough was there.
3. GreenSource has photos of Austin’s Urban Reserve up and wow is it cool (because of geothermal air conditioning–ba-dum-ching!)

Anything great and green happening in your ‘hood?  Leave it in the comments!

Were you aware that May is remodeling month?

It’s OK if you missed most of it–let’s borrow of a phrase from the Earth Day folks and say “Every month is remodeling month!”  Here’s to the remodelers, who turn the fixer-uppers into the dream homes of tomorrow, who take a coffin-like galley builder’s kitchen and bust out the walls to make it the fabulous open-plan hot spot of the house.

Remodeling can be spun green, too, especially with this year’s tax incentives to encourage folks (your clients) to increase their home’s energy efficiency.  With more people than ever deciding to stay put (leading to the rise of the Staycation and other silly marketing spins on the word “Stay”) , the government’s push for remodeling comes at a very good time.

Steve Gray Renovations, a smart building company based in Indianapolis, has some ideas about how you and your business can capitalize on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and market these developments effectively to your benefit. (N.B. — There are some other reasons to visit his site–Steve Gray is a master of promotion and marketing; the company’s Web site alone shows that much off immediately. KBDN covered Gray’s business model in an Industry Profile last year, that you can read here.)  The page is geared toward consumers; his clients know about it from a monthly eNewsletter Gray sends out to direct them to new content on his site.  Check it out here.

HGTV is practically required viewing for us scribes here at KBDN.  Nobody loves a good floorplan like we do.

But apart from its fix-it shows and the remodeling disaster diaries, HGTV has stepped up to the plate for green and really hit it out of the sustainably managed park, so to speak.  From groundbreaking programming to sponsoring an annual Green Home, the network is doing a lot of legwork for the sustainable design cause.

So that’s why I was particularly thrilled to see that the network’s Green Home earn some Brownie points and recognition from the powers-that-be at the Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA announced this week that the 2009 Green Home in Port St. Lucie, FL  has earned both the Indoor AirPlus and Energy Star labels.  Doesn’t hurt that it’s pretty, either–protects viewers from visual pollution!

For more about the 2009 Green Home including product, process and professionals involved, visit HGTV’s Green Home Web site here.

Read the release after the jump, and let me know what you think of the photos in the comments.

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The California Air Resource Board regs routinely send shivers up the spines of the manufacturing world, so it’s encouraging to see a company proactively beating deadlines the way Timber Products announced this week.

The company has gotten CARB certification for several of its mills in advance of the January 1, 2010 deadline for compliance.

(If you’re on Twitter, and you want to keep up with TP’s latest product and manufacturing news tweets, you can find the company at @TimberProducts.)

Timber Products’ Medford, OR mill is now CARB 2 compliant.

Read the release after the jump.

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We interrupt the beginning of day three to bring you this neat product:

In TOTO’s own words:

“With over 1,500 Research and Design Engineers on staff in its global network, TOTO is constantly innovating new products, materials, and technologies to enhance its customers’ experience in, and the serene beauty of, their bath space.   “Continual innovation is an important aspect of our commitment to excellence,” said Lenora Campos, a company spokesperson.  “Our goal is to anticipate the needs of the consumer before those needs become apparent.  Each of these new innovations is ahead of its time.” 

TOTO’s new Luminist is a hybrid epoxy resin that combines the translucence of glass with exceptional impact-, heat-, and stain-resistance of a marble surface.  These qualities enable TOTO to craft from it bathtubs and lavatories that are not only beautiful and durable, but also can also be lit from below, opening up myriad design possibilities for subtle, ambient effects to influence the atmosphere of the bath.  This blend of qualities – beauty, lucidity, and durability – makes Luminist a designer’s fantasy material come to reality.  Luminist belongs to a family of materials – epoxy resins – that is more commonly found in airplane wings than the high-end bath.  This hybrid epoxy resin can withstand temperatures of up to an industry-high of 680°F — not to mention its ability to withstand scratching and high impact.  Its excellent machining properties make it versatile to use and easy to repair, and, as a toxin-free epoxy resin, no volatile organic compounds are released during its production, which benefits the environment.”

Pretty neat stuff.  More to come!

 We interrupt this regularly scheduled K/BIS to update a story I hope you’ve been following as much as I have.

 Remember Greensburg, KS?  Remember how an F5 tornado 1.7 miles wide flattened 90% of the structures in town on Friday, May 5, 2007?  With virtually nothing left standing in Greensburg but the grain elevator, the New York Times reported on May 7, 2007 that the town of approximately 1,500 would have to be completely rebuilt. 

 Seven days later, there was already talk of rebuilding, and the town leaders were beginning to envision emerging from the tragedy.

 July brought the exciting news that Greensburg was literally going to become a Green burg, and the sustainable building folks rejoiced.  The goal: LEED Platinum, the first-ever city to aim for the rating. Zero-energy commercial buildings, houses and schools. Wind power, solar power, energy efficient everything. mong some donors to the reemerging town are names familiar to us in the k&b world like Caroma, Evolve and on the architectural/building side, companies such as Dryvit and PF Waterworks.

 And after one year had passed, the Discovery’s Planet Green channel announced that a new reality program called simply ‘Greensburg’, which had been in planning stages shortly after the LEED announcement, would follow the town’s journey from grisly scene to lean and green.

 Now, it’s the two-year anniversary of the tornado, the bustling town is well into its restructuring and is holding their annual celebration to mark the event.  Not only that, Planet Green renewed the town’s series for a second season; the season premiere is this Monday, May 4… it’s worth a look, for sure.  Check out details and local air times at Planet Green.

 Important themes here for green building and design in general, and a landmark achievement all around for everyone involved; it’s the making of lemonade from organic lemons, to be sure. I’ll be back with more K/BIS coverage later today.

 Stay green, America!

(To see the New York Times’ extensive coverage of the tornado and the rebuilding of Greensburg, click here).

The show floor opens in about 15 minutes, so here’s a quick update of some news and notes from the floor:

• Moen’s IO Digital shower system is making waves–pun very much intended–and was all the buzz at the company’s media event last night.  Two great features include a “pause” function for those times when you’re in the shower (women: think when you’re shaving your legs) and you need to temporarily halt the stream–which has a convenience benefit coupled with a definite water-savings benefit.  This is also good if you’re the type to check your Blackberry while showering, too. The unit also has a funky little remote control.  You can set it to your favorite temperature then, in the morning, reach for the remote to turn on the shower before you even get out of bed, and the unit will tell you when the water’s at your preferred temperature so you can hop right in.
• Brizo’s making a bold, green statement with their “Green Is Beautiful” campaign: the company is touting its WaterSense compliance as well as its Diamond Seal Technology which acts to maintain the quality of the water that passes through the faucetry that contains it, and is tested to last, according to Brizo, to five million uses, or ten times the industry standard.  Brizo has also gone transparent with its environmentally sensitive processes including water recycling, brass recycling, chemical-free metal cleaning and other neat green features.  For more, click here to go to Brizo’s Web site.

Photos and other news to come!  Stay tuned!

For months there’s been speculation that this year’s K/BIS was going to pale in comparison with shows in years passed.  Rumors dispelled!  It may not be the heyday of a few years ago, but the showfloors are populated, booths are crowded and reps are wheelin’ and dealin’.

Former Governor Mike Huckabee spoke to that very point at the opening keynote address this morning when he said, “No recession lasts forever,” and current NKBA president Suzie Williford agreed, thanking those in attendance (a near-capacity crowd in the GWCC’s auditorium) for having “the courage to invest in the industry and in your business’ future.”

OK, OK, enough cheerleading.  Here’s the skinny on the good, green products which are (happily) everywhere.

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