It’s Easy Being Green
Posted by DécorDrama on March 26, 2007
It’s easy being green: Little things can add up to a more eco-friendly home lifestyle
By SAMANTHA STILES
Monday, March 26, 2007
You can be green in western Colorado without buying a zippy hybrid car, leveling your 100-year-old downtown home or stinking up your apartment’s balcony with a compost pile.
It’s as simple as evaluating what you may be doing that’s detrimental to the environment and developing a strategy to conserve natural resources. Anybody can make their home green.
“There are hundreds of small things you can do every day to live for the future health of our environment,” said Randa Morgan, a designer at Interiors Etc. “Small changes add up. Designing with an environmental focus does not mean a sacrifice, it means designing and building smarter.”
WHAT IS ‘GREEN’?
An energy-efficient, healthy home that incorporates sustainable resources is a green home. The ultimate green homes are green from the beginning, starting with the orientation of the home to obtain the most natural light. They’re properly insulated and are built from recycled materials or with lumber that has been harvested using sustainable logging practices. Living green doesn’t have to be so drastic.
Morgan is an allied member of the American Society of Interior Design who is also studying for her Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design credentials. LEED sets guidelines on how to design and build green buildings. A building can achieve a LEED rating based on credits and can rate up to a platinum level.
“Green can be achieved in a lot of different ways in a lot of different aspects,” she said.
Morgan said qualities often found in green products are that they contain natural, nontoxic materials, they are durable and need little maintenance. Green products are locally manufactured or salvaged from another project for re-use, such as wood that can be made into furniture or accents in the home. The products are free of ozone-depleting materials or volatile organic compounds (commonly found in paint). Also, the environmental cost of extracting, manufacturing and transporting the items is minimal.
An obstacle green building seems to face is the stigma that it’s not for the everyday person.
“I feel like it’s designing smart,” Morgan said. “Not designing hippie-ish, it’s smart. It just makes sense.”
GREEN IN YOUR POCKETS
Living green means following some of the advice learned in third-grade informational videos hosted by cartoon lightning bugs, such as turning off unnecessary lights and electronics when they’re not needed. Then you can step it up a notch.
The Colorado Environmental Coalition suggests purchasing more energy efficient appliances that are U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Energy Star-rated, using compact fluorescent light bulbs and setting the thermostat lower at night.
“Taking the time to find cheap and practical methods of increased energy efficiency and water use can save homeowners a significant amount on yearly bills,” said Joe Neuhof, Western Slope field director for the environmental coalition. “And at the same time allow them to take part in a national push.”
Matt Garrington, field director for Environment Colorado, said making an investment in energy efficiency is the number one thing people can do to not only help Colorado’s energy resources, but to save money in the long run.
GREEN IN THE AREA
A green home, although it may be made from unusual materials, does not necessarily look unusual.
Rebecca Chariton who is in charge of marketing for Chamberlin Architects in Grand Junction, said that when she first starting working in their building on Main Street, she had no idea that the flooring downstairs was bamboo. She said it looked at first glance like regular hardwood floors.
Some of the creative products being used in green building are old tires, recycled plastic bags, clay, hemp, cork and bamboo. Harvesting bamboo instead of trees can help preserve forest areas. It grows faster and can be just as durable. Bamboo can be used to make everything from kitchen utensils to cloth.
“We as architects are at the leading edge of making buildings more sustainable,” said Ed Chamberlin of Chamberlin Architects. “We think it’s the right thing to do.”
Interior designers Casey Sievila and Amy Lentz actively incorporate some green products into local buildings that they design. Chamberlin Architects and partners were involved in the redesigns of the city’s Central Library and St. Mary’s Hospital. They purchase some of their flooring from Abbey Carpet & Flooring in Grand Junction and Sustainable Flooring in Boulder.
“It’s as easy as asking vendors how much of this carpet is recycled,” Lentz said.
Recycled carpet is ground up, mixed with other materials and melted down to create new carpet.
Carol Allee, a design and color consultant with Abbey Carpet, said if a customer has questions about green flooring, store representatives are happy to “help you through it.” She said they have environmentally friendly flooring such as bamboo and cork on display.
Chamberlin Architects used Kwal’s paints with low volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the hospital and library remodels to maintain the air quality and reduce the effects of the fumes on patients and patrons. Sherwin Williams and Benjamin Moore have their own low-VOC paints as well. Other paint options are clay-based or water-based.
Ultimately, when designing a home, the best thing you can do is purchase quality products that are neutral, classic and timeless so they won’t have to be replaced frequently, Sievila said.
Samantha Stiles can be reached via e-mail at sstiles@gjds.com.
QUICK TIPS
The Colorado Environmental Coalition has put together a fact sheet on energy conservation with quick, affordable tips:
Use available energy-saving settings on dishwashers, washing machines and refrigerators.
Close drapes at night to prevent heat loss to the outdoors.
Install a low-flow shower head.
Replace your most frequently used incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs.
Plug obvious air leaks to the outside around doors and window frames.
Install a programmable thermostat.
Other tips with more upront costs, but that might pay for themselves quickly are:
When major appliances wear out, seek the most energy-efficient replacements. Check for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star-rated appliance.
Upgrade to better windows, especially if you have older single-pane windows.
Get a full energy audit of your home and follow through with the recommendations.
