Sustainable Carpet Standard

The first multi-attribute American National Standards Institute (ANSI)-approved Standard — NSF 140-2007, Sustainable Carpet Assessment Standard for environmentally preferable building materials, was introduced at Greenbuild. The unified standard for sustainable carpet is voluntary, inclusive, based on life-cycle assessment (LCA) principles, and offers three levels of achievement for attaining various levels of reduced environmental impact (silver, gold and platinum). The standard includes a rating system with established performance requirements and quantifiable metrics throughout the supply chain for Public Health and Environment; Energy and Energy Efficiency; Bio-Based, Recycled Content Materials, or Environmentally Preferable Materials; Manufacturing; and, Reclamation and End of Life Management. A joint committee under the guidance of NSF International, developed the new standard through a documented consensus process. The standard was open for public comment and voting, and approved by ANSI in October 2007.

“California is planning to transition 100 percent of its state carpet purchases to the NSF 140-2007 Platinum level over the next 12-18 months, eventually completely transitioning from its currently mandated California Gold Standard,” said Dan Burgoyne, sustainability manager for the State of California’s Department of General Services.

The first carpet products certified to the approved NSF 140-2007 Standard are expected to be available in the marketplace by the second quarter of 2008. For more information, visit www.nsf.org/info/carpet.

Living Building Competition

The Cascadia Region Green Building Council (Cascadia) and the USGBC announced the winners of the Greenbuild 2007 Living Building Competition, which was based on the performance metrics of the Living Building Challenge.

GBD Architects’ OHSU Center for Health and Healing project in Portland, Ore., received the Living Building Competition Stepping Stone Award for the Water Petal, as well as acknowledgement of the team’s Integrated Design process. This year’s On the Boards Award went to BNIM Architects for the Omega Center for Sustainable Living in Rhinebeck, N.Y. Winning projects are featured at www.cascadiagbc.org.

Green Building Products Database

Scientific Certification Systems (SCS) launched the SCS Certified Products Database, available online at www.scscertified.com/ecoproducts/products/. The database allows users to search for certified products by manufacturer, product category, product sub-category, product type, brand name, and certification number. Users also can conduct searches by the relevant SCS certification program and by conformance program or standard such as the ANSI/BIFMA furniture emissions standards or LEED.

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Free Life-Cycle Assessment Tool

The ATHENA Institute showcased the new ATHENA EcoCalculator for Assemblies, which provides instant LCA results for more than 400 common building assemblies — including exterior walls, roofs, intermediate floors, interior walls, windows, and columns and beams. The results embedded in the tool are based on detailed assessments completed with the ATHENA Impact Estimator for Buildings, which in turn uses ATHENA’s own datasets and the U.S. Life Cycle Inventory Database (www.nrel.gov/lci). The ATHENA EcoCalculator for Assemblies is available at wwww.athenasmi.ca.

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New Hardsurface Flooring With Rapidly Renewable Resources

Armstrong Commercial Flooring announced a new category of flooring — BioBased Tile (BBT) with Biostride — made with rapidly renewable resources. Migrations, the first collection of BioBased Tile, incorporates rapidly renewable resources and reduces dependency on limited resources such as petroleum and fossil fuels. Migrations also contains 10 percent pre-consumer recycled content and meets low-VOC emissions in compliance with California 01350. Visit www.armstrong.com.

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Certified Surfaces

The LG HI-MACS’ Eden Collection features six surfaces created from at least 12 percent pre-consumer recycled material and inspired by garden botanicals. All surfaces within the Eden line are GREENGUARD Indoor Air Quality certified and certified for recycled content by the Scientific Certification Systems. Visit www.lgeden.com .

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Recycled Content Resilient Flooring

LG Floors also exhibited at Greenbuild and highlighted the company’s commitment to the environment. LG has developed a way of incorporating post-industrial and post-consumer content into its product. Visit www.lgfloors-usa.com/lifes_green.asp

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Gallery of 3-D Home Model

Whirlpool Corporation introduced the Green Home Collection, featuring 3-D models of sustainable homes drawn in Google SketchUp by prominent architects and building designers. Visit www.insideadvantage.com .

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Recycled-Content Nylon Carpet

Bentley Prince Street launched ViVA LA, a collection of three carpet patterns (broadloom and limited carpet tiles) designed in collaboration with Los Angeles-based artist Andre Miripolsky. All patterns feature 50 percent or greater high recycled content nylon.

This product is available certified to the new standard as an SCS Sustainable Choice Gold/Environmentally Preferable Product under the new Sustainable Carpet Assessment Draft Standard, NSF-140. Visit www.bentleyprincestreet.com .

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White Paper on Polished Concrete

L&M Construction Chemicals has released a white paper that details the sustainable attributes and potential LEED points available with an FGS/PermaShine Polished Concrete Floor System. For more information on “Polished Concrete & LEED Certification,” visit www.lmcc.com or www.fgs-permashine.com .

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Water-Efficient Showerhead

Delta Faucet Co. announced the Water-Efficient Showerhead with H2Okinetic Technology that reportedly uses only 1.6 gallons of water per minute. Visit www.deltafaucet.com .

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Data Reveals Life Cycle Benefits of Wall System

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released a full life-cycle assessment (LCA) of the Dryvit Outsulation Plus cladding system, providing data that shows the Dryvit system contributes fewer environmental toxins and greenhouse gases to the atmosphere than any other NIST-analyzed building cladding material, the company announced. Visit www.dryvit.com/green.

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