Tuesday February 9th, 2010
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Green Kitchen Remodeling
Posted by Philip Higgs on April 24, 2007 - 8:21am.
I like it when you guys ask the questions; it helps my procrastination immensely. (Speaking of, anybody catch Oprah’s “Green 101” show the other day?) The more I read up on green apartments, the less time spent obsessing over my to-do list. We’ll get back to my projects shortly, but first let’s take a look at a couple of yours. Service, service, service!
In addition to Jeddadiah's inquiry last week, I had another apartment-dwelling friend ask me about kitchen remodels. Kitchens are a big energy sink – you’ve got five or six appliances sucking electricity, plus hot water and heavy lighting demands – so remodeling one can chop your energy needs considerably if you do it well. A brief checklist:
- Easy targets are those appliances: Buy Energy Star qualified models. An Energy Star fridge made this year uses 40 percent less electricity than a standard model sold just five years ago. (Don’t forget to recycle your old one.) Energy Star dishwashers, as Lime lifers will remember, are similarly superb.
- If you’re reconfiguring the layout, consider putting the sink and food-prep area near a window – natural daylighting for eyeball-intensive tasks like potato-scrubbing and garlic peeling will reduce electrical demands. (Just make sure any south-facing windows have overhangs or awnings so you won’t overheat in summer.) And keep the fridge, which is trying to keep things cool, away from the oven and stove, which are trying to heat things up. Thermal transfer’s a pain like that.
- Skip the granite countertop – stone is a finite resource, and mining ain’t exactly green – and instead consider recycled glass, recycled marble, recycled tiles, or even waterproof, machinable recycled paper panels. (This stuff is rad – makes your kitchen look like a high school chem lab.)
- Floors. Despite the hype, you should forget the bamboo floors. Now, here’s where I expect to get a little grief, but I’m going to say it anyway. Bamboo flooring is machined and treated in giant factories by pregnant, bamboo-dust-inhaling teenagers in China, then shipped halfway across the planet to your kitchen floor. Alright, maybe it’s not quite that bad, but the thing is, there’s no certification process for bamboo products. I was talking to a green materials sales guy a while back; he told me he refused to carry bamboo because there was no way to be sure of its history. Was it created under safe working conditions? Was it sustainably farmed? While bamboo in itself is “green” – it grows incredibly quickly; it can be multiply harvested without replanting –the way it’s grown ain’t necessarily so. It can monoculture and reduce biodiversity, and unprofitable forests are often razed to make way for bamboo plantations. (Check this PDF report from Dovetail Partners if you don’t believe me.) Personally, I like recycled cork floors. I think they’re better looking, they dampen sound, they’re softer to stand on – like say when you’re preparing dinner for 12 – and, unlike their bamboo brethren, they don’t dent like a golf ball under high heels. And you know I like my high heels.
Of course, you don’t have to pick up a new fridge to make your kitchen greener – the quickest fix is to buy locally grown organic food. No (toxic) pesticides, no (petro-based) fertilizers, less fuel burned from farm to table – and certainly less stressful than picking out a new paint scheme.
This stuff is doubly rad: http://www.richlite.com/
It's a paper composite (only partially recycled) originally designed for skate ramps, and still available for that purpose. It seems to be pretty similar to the paper panels you link above, kinda like the chemistry lab bench at school.
I saw a kitchen made with it and it looks and feels just like soapstone. But apparently it doesn't stand up to blades too well (aesthetically speaking), so you can't cut directly on it without scratching. Nor should you probably ollie on it.
No LEEDness yet, looks like.
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I wonder whether this stuff would be better encased in some kind of resin. De-greens it a bit, of course, but at least then it'd be better under knives.
And just FYI, I finally learned how to ollie the other night, after years of trying. I'm headed off to case the trannie with the groms now.
Thanks for the tips, Phil. Very helpful. Q about the Bamboo--I assume that the sourcing/slave-labor problem applies to all similar products, like that nifty bamboo "butcher block" that people sub in for the standard variety in hopes of supporting sustainable forestry. True? Another question, beyond energystar, is gas or electric? Is there a rule of thumb as to which types of appliances are more efficient?
That's a good question; I would imagine you're right.
I was just looking at some bamboo cutting boards the other day and could find no indication of their source. Not even a "Made in [blank]" sticker.
As for gas vs. electric: I seem to recall a chart done up by one of the local energy-nerd kings, Larry Kinney, that showed coal-fired electricity as being the least efficient power source currently available. I'm not 100 percent sure of that recollection, so I'll check it out and get back to you.
Another consideration, though is that I doubt you can't always just switch from one to the other. If you don't already have gas line in your apartment/house/geodesic dome, you're more or less limited to electric. Maybe thisoldbuilder can confirm that. Ron?
I think spewing toxins is key to any profitable enterprise; hiring children is just frosting on the cake. The cake of money.
As for domestic production of bamboo, I would imagine that until is really takes off as a building material -- that is, until it moves out of the niche market -- there are much more profitable uses of land.
"Linoleum" is sometimes used to describe vinyl-based flooring -- make sure you're using the real thing.
Linoleum layouts can be cool -- lots of potential for clever geometrics.
Thanks for the information about bamboo; I keep reading about it as a green option but wasn't really clear on how & why. If you're cutting down trees to make way for your sustainable bamboo, not so much...
(We planted some in our back yard recently to create a barrier between ourselves and the redneck neighbor. I have a bit of a sense of forboding about it, as we are repeatedly warned of its invasiveness. Perhaps we were too confident in our ability to keep it in check. This variety can grow to be like, 30 feet tall...)
So, the hubby and I are getting ready to remodel the kitchen this summer, and we were on track to use the same type of tile we have in the bathroom.
Forgive my ignorance. Porcelain = bad?
How bad is aespestis (did I spell that right)? I have two layers of prior flooring on and the local home depot won't pull it up because of the chemical. Now I have to hire a local firm to come in and do it for me or could I do it myself if I use a mask? I don't want to take any chances with some getting in the air, espcially with my children around.
Any ideas for countertops?
Ouch. I wouldn't want to mess with it, personally. I'd suck it up and pay whoever has the expertise.
As for countertops, check out the above post. There are links for recycles materials. Another option, while less green than some of the above, is poured concrete.
Hi there. Would you mind responding to my question above?
Much appreciated!
I'm not sure I understood your question. You want to use porcelain for a kitchen countertop? Porcelain tiles?
And you want to know how green or not-green that is?
For starters, where are the tiles made? Dubai? Uzbekistan? The further you have to ship them, the less green they become. (Shipping = fossil fuels used by trucks, trains, boats, etc.)
Is it a matter of matching new tiles to old?
The question was meant to be about porcelain tiles for the floor.
Yes, I should try to find out where they are from. What other questions should I be asking? Is whatever process used to produce them (mining?) inherently destructive?
It is not a matter of matching them. We just like them. If we had a better understanding of any ecological problems they present, that could change.
Personally, I like clay saltillo tiles. They're a pain to install, but I deeply dig they way they look and feel.
I don't think there's anything inherently bad about porcelain tiles. At least, I can't find anything bad. But I did find some "green-certified" tiles. Check these out.
Thanks for the perspective on bamboo flooring. It's really sad to hear about the working conditions in China, and I dont' think many people really give it much thought. So I'm lad that you've brought it out in the light. Definitely something to consider when making a purchase.
Elle,
http://www.builddirect.com/Bamboo-Flooring.aspx
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