This CE Center article is no longer eligible for receiving credits.
What is Sustainability?
Sustainability—chances are good that most of us use this term in reference to work practices without being able to confidently define it. We know that just about every sector now strives for sustainable practices, and that the building industry in particular aims for sustainable designs constructed with sustainable materials. But what do we actually mean when we talk about sustainability? And how do we know that we’re all talking about the same thing?
All photos courtesy of Bentley Mills
Sustainability and the philosophy that drives it is intended to preserve our natural resources and create an environment that can be healthful and productive for generations to come.
One of the reasons this is such a difficult task is that the term “sustainability” is often defined and used in many different ways, depending on its intended use. For example, one frequently quoted definition is from the Brundtland Report (also known as Our Common Future): “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”1 When defined in relation to agriculture, sustainability often refers to the ability of a farm to flourish economically while treating its workers fairly, and by ensuring the health of the environment. You’ll find similar definitions for manufacturing and business practices in a growing list of sectors. For the purpose of this course, however, we’re going to stick to a basic definition as provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA):
Manufacturing options have opened up many new opportunities for the architect to specify projects in a more sustainable fashion.
“Sustainability is based on a simple principle: Everything we need for our survival and well-being depends, either directly or indirectly, on our natural environment. To pursue sustainability is to create and maintain the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony to support present and future generations.”2
In the context of architecture, design, and construction, much of this definition applies to materials and product selection, but it also concerns building practices and the eventual occupant experience. Projects that are constructed with sustainable materials and finished with products from companies known for their sustainable business practices carry a significant weight in everything from LEED certification to tax credits. And sustainably designed and constructed buildings can help occupants reduce energy and water use, all while providing a healthy indoor environment.
A Brief History of Sustainability
A brief history of sustainability is useful to help show how and why certain regulations and practices are now in place, and why sustainable building practices are so important. In the United States, the environmental movement was sparked in reaction to four main things: increased industrialization, population growth, pollution, and exploited natural resources. That is, evidence of unsustainable growth.
After World War II, many government projects were initiated to spur economic development, and while they did that, many also had unintended consequences on the environment. In the 1950s, for example, the government sponsored projects that helped create the infrastructure in the United States, such as dams used to generate energy, systems to control flooding, and new highways to connect cities and in turn set the stage for car culture. While all of these advances helped the country grow, many of them negatively impacted the environment and in turn human health; unfortunately, those impacts would take decades to be fully understood.3
People could physically see the impact of this rapid growth, both through pollution and through the destruction of the natural environment—and they could see this for decades. It took a while, but eventually scientists began to piece together the more invisible side effects of industrialization and pollution, namely the impact on human health and the environment.
In 1962, Rachel Carson published Silent Spring; her book outlined the potential cumulative health impacts of pesticide use not only in wildlife but also in humans. Silent Spring helped the general public become more aware that the pollution was causing people to become sick, whether through poor air quality or by recreational activities such as swimming in polluted rivers, or eating fish from lakes and rivers that were contaminated with industrial pollutants.
While the United States government had some basic environmental laws in place during the 1950s and 1960s to address air and water quality, it wasn’t until 1970 that the EPA was created. This new government agency combined in one place federal research and monitoring, and sought to establish new standards that could be enforced by law to protect the environment and create a healthier environment for Americans. Newly overhauled laws required permits and set limits for industries to help control air and water pollution and to improve the quality of both. The laws also addressed issues of solid and hazardous waste disposal as a way to limit human exposure to the waste. In many cases, the federal government set the standards, but the states were required to implement and enforce them.3
The United State Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created as a place for federal research and monitoring, and sought to establish new standards that could be enforced by law to protect the environment and create a healthier environment for Americans.
The changes that were set in motion by the EPA are only one part of the sustainability equation. Another aspect began after the end of World War II, with international agreements revolving around peace and security as human rights. These concepts concerned both economic and social development, and aimed to help ensure that with economic growth, humans still experienced a good quality of life, and that living standards would improve not only in the United States but worldwide. These concepts helped inform later developments that integrated conservation and development with the 1980 World Conservation Strategy: Living Resources Conservation for Sustainable Development, published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
In short, these movements all set in motion a system of setting measurable goals for sustainable development, and for attempting to manage how humans use natural resources in a way that addresses the needs of both present and future generations. Since 1980, there have been many different national and international efforts to encourage—and in some cases mandate—sustainability and sustainable development. As far as the United States is concerned, the focus has been on environmental, economic, and human health issues. And, while many advances have been made over the decades, there is much more that the United States can still do to advance sustainability practices.
In the context of architecture, design, and the building industries, sustainability focuses on the impact decisions have on people, materials, and construction practices, and on the buildings themselves. Before we dig into that, though, let’s look at something completely different to highlight how deliberate, thoughtful changes in environmental regulation and product design can gradually improve different and related aspects of society and the quality of human life.
Changes in the Automotive Industry
The automotive industry provides an excellent example of how technology can result in unintended consequences that affect society, the environment, and economics. More importantly, however, this example shows how thoughtful changes and focused government regulations can aim to turn those unintended consequences around. The two main areas where the automotive industry shifted its practices are in fuel consumption and vehicle design.
From the 1950s to 1970s, fuel standards and consumption changed quite a bit. During the 1950s and 1960s, cars became a fixed part of the American culture. With the rise of suburbia and the national highway system in the 1950s, car ownership increased, and as a consequence, urban public transit systems decreased. So, there were more cars on the road, and people were driving more often and longer distances both for work and leisure activities.
The impact of the increased number of cars and overall use was that car emissions were suddenly seen to be a problem. This was especially true in dense, car-centric cities such as Los Angeles. The problem, of course, was a new phenomenon known as “smog.” When car emissions, which contain carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen oxides—among other compounds—are exposed to sunlight, they turn into a visible pollutant, or smog. During the 1970s in Los Angeles, the smog problem became so bad that it was seen to cause respiratory problems in local citizens as well as those in the surrounding mountains. These impacts were measurable, and so the goals to alleviate them could be as well.4
The automotive industry provides an excellent example of how technology can result in unintended consequences that affect society, the environment, and economics.
One of the changes already being put into place in the late 1960s was that all new vehicles were required to have catalytic converters installed. Federal and state laws included other changes aimed at restricting the pollutants emitted from car exhausts. As more cars with catalytic converters replaced older vehicles, air quality began to improve to some degree, but auto use was still increasing, and so more improvements were necessary. One area for change was in the type of fuel used, ideally shifting to petroleum that had lower sulfur levels.
Another factor that impacted changes in the auto industry was that oil prices increased dramatically near the end of the 1960s and into the early 1970s, peaking with the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo, which lasted from 1973 to 1974. In response to the embargo—and to the impact it had on United States drivers—Congress began to set in place new means of making the country more energy independent. This included many initiatives to encourage energy conservation overall, and it marked the starting point for research into electric and hybrid vehicles with the Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Research, Development, and Demonstration Act of 1976.5
While hybrid and electric vehicles were still in the research phase, other conservation initiatives were set in place. For example, a new law set 55 mph as a national maximum speed limit. This limit was set both as an attempt to help people conserve fuel while driving and to reduce fatalities due to car accidents. The rationale behind the speed limit was that traffic would now flow in a more uniform manner, which would be safer and more fuel efficient. The Department of Transportation claims that this change saved approximately 18,000 lives between 1974 and 1979. In the late 1980s, however, states were allowed to increase the speed limit on certain highways, which is why you now see limits of 65 mph or 75 mph, depending on the physical location of the roadway. Later, fuel economy standards were imposed.4
In the following decades, the automotive industry sought ways to redesign vehicles to be smaller and lighter, and to get better mileage. The government also initiated programs to increase the sales of more efficient vehicles. One program, for example, was the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS), known to most people as “cash for clunkers,” which ran for a brief time in 2009. This federal program aimed to provide people with economic incentives to scrap their older cars and use the money toward purchasing newer, more fuel-efficient vehicles. The program had several goals, including economic stimulus through new auto sales, as well as increasing the number of more fuel-efficient vehicles on the country’s roads. These new vehicles were also designed to be safer and cleaner in terms of emissions. The program itself was so popular that the original $1 billion allotted by Congress had been used up, and the additionally approved $2 billion ran out two months ahead of schedule.
Hybrid and electric vehicles were still years away from being competitive. Through the early 1990s, the technology lingered in the research realm, with the cars themselves losing over gas-powered cars in every performance category, from speed to range. At that time, many electric cars couldn’t go faster than 45 mph, and they only had a range of around 40 miles. The 1990 Clean Air Act Amendment and the 1992 Energy Policy Act, as well as new transportation emissions regulations in California, however, meant that car manufacturers looked at electric vehicle technology again.
To jump ahead, from the late 1990s until today, the auto industry has been working to optimize the hybrid and electric car. In 1997, Toyota released the Prius, followed in 2000 with a worldwide release of the car. In 2006, Tesla Motors entered the industry. In 2010, Chevy released the Volt. These sustainable vehicles will significantly reduce the fuel consumption that, among other things, can lower vehicle emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG), which are now known to be a key component in climate change.5
The progression of changes within the automotive industry shows how, when individuals and industries thoughtfully consider ways to change unintentionally harmful practices, they also can produce beneficial outcomes. Choices to reduce fuel consumption while maintaining vehicle effectiveness, safety, and comfort will eventually mean that new, more sustainable designs can become affordable, mainstream options.
What is Sustainability?
Sustainability—chances are good that most of us use this term in reference to work practices without being able to confidently define it. We know that just about every sector now strives for sustainable practices, and that the building industry in particular aims for sustainable designs constructed with sustainable materials. But what do we actually mean when we talk about sustainability? And how do we know that we’re all talking about the same thing?
All photos courtesy of Bentley Mills
Sustainability and the philosophy that drives it is intended to preserve our natural resources and create an environment that can be healthful and productive for generations to come.
One of the reasons this is such a difficult task is that the term “sustainability” is often defined and used in many different ways, depending on its intended use. For example, one frequently quoted definition is from the Brundtland Report (also known as Our Common Future): “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”1 When defined in relation to agriculture, sustainability often refers to the ability of a farm to flourish economically while treating its workers fairly, and by ensuring the health of the environment. You’ll find similar definitions for manufacturing and business practices in a growing list of sectors. For the purpose of this course, however, we’re going to stick to a basic definition as provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA):
Manufacturing options have opened up many new opportunities for the architect to specify projects in a more sustainable fashion.
“Sustainability is based on a simple principle: Everything we need for our survival and well-being depends, either directly or indirectly, on our natural environment. To pursue sustainability is to create and maintain the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony to support present and future generations.”2
In the context of architecture, design, and construction, much of this definition applies to materials and product selection, but it also concerns building practices and the eventual occupant experience. Projects that are constructed with sustainable materials and finished with products from companies known for their sustainable business practices carry a significant weight in everything from LEED certification to tax credits. And sustainably designed and constructed buildings can help occupants reduce energy and water use, all while providing a healthy indoor environment.
A Brief History of Sustainability
A brief history of sustainability is useful to help show how and why certain regulations and practices are now in place, and why sustainable building practices are so important. In the United States, the environmental movement was sparked in reaction to four main things: increased industrialization, population growth, pollution, and exploited natural resources. That is, evidence of unsustainable growth.
After World War II, many government projects were initiated to spur economic development, and while they did that, many also had unintended consequences on the environment. In the 1950s, for example, the government sponsored projects that helped create the infrastructure in the United States, such as dams used to generate energy, systems to control flooding, and new highways to connect cities and in turn set the stage for car culture. While all of these advances helped the country grow, many of them negatively impacted the environment and in turn human health; unfortunately, those impacts would take decades to be fully understood.3
People could physically see the impact of this rapid growth, both through pollution and through the destruction of the natural environment—and they could see this for decades. It took a while, but eventually scientists began to piece together the more invisible side effects of industrialization and pollution, namely the impact on human health and the environment.
In 1962, Rachel Carson published Silent Spring; her book outlined the potential cumulative health impacts of pesticide use not only in wildlife but also in humans. Silent Spring helped the general public become more aware that the pollution was causing people to become sick, whether through poor air quality or by recreational activities such as swimming in polluted rivers, or eating fish from lakes and rivers that were contaminated with industrial pollutants.
While the United States government had some basic environmental laws in place during the 1950s and 1960s to address air and water quality, it wasn’t until 1970 that the EPA was created. This new government agency combined in one place federal research and monitoring, and sought to establish new standards that could be enforced by law to protect the environment and create a healthier environment for Americans. Newly overhauled laws required permits and set limits for industries to help control air and water pollution and to improve the quality of both. The laws also addressed issues of solid and hazardous waste disposal as a way to limit human exposure to the waste. In many cases, the federal government set the standards, but the states were required to implement and enforce them.3
The United State Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created as a place for federal research and monitoring, and sought to establish new standards that could be enforced by law to protect the environment and create a healthier environment for Americans.
The changes that were set in motion by the EPA are only one part of the sustainability equation. Another aspect began after the end of World War II, with international agreements revolving around peace and security as human rights. These concepts concerned both economic and social development, and aimed to help ensure that with economic growth, humans still experienced a good quality of life, and that living standards would improve not only in the United States but worldwide. These concepts helped inform later developments that integrated conservation and development with the 1980 World Conservation Strategy: Living Resources Conservation for Sustainable Development, published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
In short, these movements all set in motion a system of setting measurable goals for sustainable development, and for attempting to manage how humans use natural resources in a way that addresses the needs of both present and future generations. Since 1980, there have been many different national and international efforts to encourage—and in some cases mandate—sustainability and sustainable development. As far as the United States is concerned, the focus has been on environmental, economic, and human health issues. And, while many advances have been made over the decades, there is much more that the United States can still do to advance sustainability practices.
In the context of architecture, design, and the building industries, sustainability focuses on the impact decisions have on people, materials, and construction practices, and on the buildings themselves. Before we dig into that, though, let’s look at something completely different to highlight how deliberate, thoughtful changes in environmental regulation and product design can gradually improve different and related aspects of society and the quality of human life.
Changes in the Automotive Industry
The automotive industry provides an excellent example of how technology can result in unintended consequences that affect society, the environment, and economics. More importantly, however, this example shows how thoughtful changes and focused government regulations can aim to turn those unintended consequences around. The two main areas where the automotive industry shifted its practices are in fuel consumption and vehicle design.
From the 1950s to 1970s, fuel standards and consumption changed quite a bit. During the 1950s and 1960s, cars became a fixed part of the American culture. With the rise of suburbia and the national highway system in the 1950s, car ownership increased, and as a consequence, urban public transit systems decreased. So, there were more cars on the road, and people were driving more often and longer distances both for work and leisure activities.
The impact of the increased number of cars and overall use was that car emissions were suddenly seen to be a problem. This was especially true in dense, car-centric cities such as Los Angeles. The problem, of course, was a new phenomenon known as “smog.” When car emissions, which contain carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen oxides—among other compounds—are exposed to sunlight, they turn into a visible pollutant, or smog. During the 1970s in Los Angeles, the smog problem became so bad that it was seen to cause respiratory problems in local citizens as well as those in the surrounding mountains. These impacts were measurable, and so the goals to alleviate them could be as well.4
The automotive industry provides an excellent example of how technology can result in unintended consequences that affect society, the environment, and economics.
One of the changes already being put into place in the late 1960s was that all new vehicles were required to have catalytic converters installed. Federal and state laws included other changes aimed at restricting the pollutants emitted from car exhausts. As more cars with catalytic converters replaced older vehicles, air quality began to improve to some degree, but auto use was still increasing, and so more improvements were necessary. One area for change was in the type of fuel used, ideally shifting to petroleum that had lower sulfur levels.
Another factor that impacted changes in the auto industry was that oil prices increased dramatically near the end of the 1960s and into the early 1970s, peaking with the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo, which lasted from 1973 to 1974. In response to the embargo—and to the impact it had on United States drivers—Congress began to set in place new means of making the country more energy independent. This included many initiatives to encourage energy conservation overall, and it marked the starting point for research into electric and hybrid vehicles with the Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Research, Development, and Demonstration Act of 1976.5
While hybrid and electric vehicles were still in the research phase, other conservation initiatives were set in place. For example, a new law set 55 mph as a national maximum speed limit. This limit was set both as an attempt to help people conserve fuel while driving and to reduce fatalities due to car accidents. The rationale behind the speed limit was that traffic would now flow in a more uniform manner, which would be safer and more fuel efficient. The Department of Transportation claims that this change saved approximately 18,000 lives between 1974 and 1979. In the late 1980s, however, states were allowed to increase the speed limit on certain highways, which is why you now see limits of 65 mph or 75 mph, depending on the physical location of the roadway. Later, fuel economy standards were imposed.4
In the following decades, the automotive industry sought ways to redesign vehicles to be smaller and lighter, and to get better mileage. The government also initiated programs to increase the sales of more efficient vehicles. One program, for example, was the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS), known to most people as “cash for clunkers,” which ran for a brief time in 2009. This federal program aimed to provide people with economic incentives to scrap their older cars and use the money toward purchasing newer, more fuel-efficient vehicles. The program had several goals, including economic stimulus through new auto sales, as well as increasing the number of more fuel-efficient vehicles on the country’s roads. These new vehicles were also designed to be safer and cleaner in terms of emissions. The program itself was so popular that the original $1 billion allotted by Congress had been used up, and the additionally approved $2 billion ran out two months ahead of schedule.
Hybrid and electric vehicles were still years away from being competitive. Through the early 1990s, the technology lingered in the research realm, with the cars themselves losing over gas-powered cars in every performance category, from speed to range. At that time, many electric cars couldn’t go faster than 45 mph, and they only had a range of around 40 miles. The 1990 Clean Air Act Amendment and the 1992 Energy Policy Act, as well as new transportation emissions regulations in California, however, meant that car manufacturers looked at electric vehicle technology again.
To jump ahead, from the late 1990s until today, the auto industry has been working to optimize the hybrid and electric car. In 1997, Toyota released the Prius, followed in 2000 with a worldwide release of the car. In 2006, Tesla Motors entered the industry. In 2010, Chevy released the Volt. These sustainable vehicles will significantly reduce the fuel consumption that, among other things, can lower vehicle emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG), which are now known to be a key component in climate change.5
The progression of changes within the automotive industry shows how, when individuals and industries thoughtfully consider ways to change unintentionally harmful practices, they also can produce beneficial outcomes. Choices to reduce fuel consumption while maintaining vehicle effectiveness, safety, and comfort will eventually mean that new, more sustainable designs can become affordable, mainstream options.
How Sustainability Impacts the Architect, Builder, Manufacturer, and Occupant
Anyone in the building industry knows that sustainability has shifted over the past decade or two from being a novel approach to almost being the norm, with projects designed to earn LEED credits and with new materials designed to improve the health of the building occupants. Recently, green building has grown considerably, and sustainability is at the core of that movement. Decisions that impact a project’s sustainability are part of every phase, from design to product and material specification, and those decisions can impact many different stakeholders. This section focuses on how sustainable decisions impact the major project stakeholders, including architects, builders, manufacturers, and occupants.
How Sustainability Impacts the Architect and Interior Designer
The sustainability movement has slowly but significantly impacted the profession of architecture. Over the past 10 to 15 years, architecture, a traditionally conservative profession, has become more innovative when it comes to sustainable design. Where older buildings may have been designed and constructed more to meet aesthetic ideals, architects now routinely include sustainability and energy efficiency as design goals.
The drive to design for sustainability impacts the architect both in terms of design goals and project outcomes.
Among other things, this shift toward sustainable architectural design is linked to the impact that this profession can make in energy use. The built environment is extremely energy intensive; in 2016, about 40 percent of total United States energy consumption was from residential and commercial sectors. And this built environment is growing. This growth trend means that architects are now in a position to design more energy-efficient, sustainable, resilient structures.
According to the American Institute of Architects, sustainability is a “key element to the architecture profession’s approach to design in the 21st century as it tackles the compounding global challenges of resource availability, water quality, and increasing pollution. It is part of an architect’s approach to protecting the health, safety, and welfare of the public. Community sustainability goals are fulfilled in large part by an architect’s ability to create practical solutions to the challenges posed by climate change, population growth, and the pursuit of more connected, healthier communities.”6
In short, sustainability impacts the architect both in terms of design goals and project outcomes. New buildings need to take current energy models into account and be constructed with products and materials that improve the overall sustainable elements of the finished project. Moreover, the local environment needs to be considered in the design, whether to improve the community or to plan for future features, such as solar panels or a green roof installation.
How Sustainability Impacts the Builder
As with architecture, the building profession has seen sustainability shift from being a complex set of new requirements over the past couple decades to commonplace construction practice. In fact, most clients, whether individual consumers, developers, or cities, expect that new construction will meet certain minimum sustainability levels. That minimum may be a lot higher in some states, where green building is seen as priority. California, for example, has implemented CAL Green, which is a sustainable building code. This movement has helped make the local construction industry more sustainable than it has ever been.7
For builders, sustainability practices have traditionally focused on making the building more energy efficient and reducing material waste. Practices such as using house wrap and foam spray insulation or custom-cut prefabricated materials have become standard and are helping produce more sustainable buildings.
More recent impacts have been practices that include making sure buildings are healthy places—both for the builders and for the eventual occupants. For example, an increased awareness of the impact of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) has meant that builders now need to focus on things like indoor air quality.
How Sustainability Impacts the Manufacturer
Sustainable manufacturing refers to the practice of processing resources into products with minimal negative impact. These processes may include innovative ways to decrease or prevent greenhouse gases (GHGs), conserve raw natural resources, and minimize energy use. In addition, sustainable manufacturing aims to employ processes and products that are safe for employees, consumers, and communities. In doing so, many industries have found that they made a difference in three key ways: financial benefits, environmental benefits, and increased transparency about materials and product ingredients.8
With green building practices becoming more commonplace—and with their potential to be required by building code, as in California—manufacturers have an incredible opportunity to go above and beyond new building regulations for material sustainability. For example, they can increase operational efficiency and innovate with materials and processes to create superior products that go beyond compliance, often by working with stakeholders such as architects, builders, and consumers. In doing so, there is a huge opportunity for financial benefit and competitive advantage over other companies.9
Durability is returning as a key characteristic in manufactured goods, with the focus on having products last a long time with less-frequent replacement. Moreover, industries are working toward ways to reduce the amount of materials used or wasted with their products and also ways to reuse or recycle products at the end of their life cycle. While these tactics may not follow the “buy another when it breaks” approach, it means that companies can produce higher-quality goods that consumers can buy with confidence. Moreover, consumers can know that the materials will be designed to minimize environmental damage and ideally be made with low-emitting materials.
Environmental Benefits
As sustainability has become more commonplace, many manufacturers in all industries have had to shift how they think about the environmental impact of their processes and products in relation to profits and business growth. There is a strong argument to be made that designing for sustainability is just another manufacturing approach, much like lean manufacturing or other methodologies. In this case, though, the manufacturer needs to reframe what “value” means and how it is created throughout the manufacturing process.
One of the best ways for companies to make this shift is through careful life-cycle assessment (LCA) studies of processes and products. By studying the environmental impact at every stage of a product’s development, companies often find inefficiencies in the manufacturing process. Such data can be used to improve manufacturing processes—for example, ways to save water or energy use during a step in the process. The data also can prompt innovation, which can help companies create quality products that in turn present more market opportunities. These new opportunities can improve profit margins and show some tangible financial impacts on the company, all while improving the environmental performance of a product or process.
Transparency
Sustainable products and building materials have become commonplace in new residential and commercial building projects. A recent Underwriters Laboratories (UL) survey of architects, builders, and contractors reports that green building projects with clear sustainability goals make up a significant percentage of new-build work.10 This trend is driven in part by the public interest in minimizing environmental impact of building products, and by architects and builders working to accommodate—and often embrace—that interest.
This sustainability trend impacts manufacturers not only in a shift to create more environmentally conscious products but also to be more transparent about product ingredients and safety.
This sustainability trend impacts manufacturers not only in a shift to create more environmentally conscious products but also to be more transparent about product ingredients and safety. On the one hand, it’s a good thing that buyers have many different options when it comes to green building products. On the other hand, such selection can make it difficult to compare product profiles, especially in terms of life cycle and environmental impact. Consumers need help understanding the differences between eco-product certifications, and manufacturers can help with that by being transparent about their product performance and safety. Manufacturers also need to know the best way to bring green products to the market in a cost-effective and efficient manner.
The three most commonly used tools to help manufacturers be transparent with their products are life-cycle assessments (LCAs), environmental product declarations (EPDs), and health product declarations (HPDs). We have already touched on life-cycle assessments, or LCAs, which are a method for assessing potential environmental impact. They follow what is known as a cradle-to-grave analysis of production systems by collecting and analyzing inputs and outputs of a product or process. EPDs are globally accepted, “independently verified and registered documents that communicate transparent and comparable information about the life-cycle impact of products.”11 The information in EPDs is primarily used to help consumers make informed environmentally based choices about similar products. HPDs, on the other hand, list every ingredient in a finished product. This standardized method of reporting the contents of building products and the health impacts associated with the materials complements information consumers can access from EPDs and LCAs.
Together these tools provide important information about a product’s environmental impact and performance, and that information helps manufacturers improve their transparency while helping consumers compare similar products in an informed manner.
How Sustainability Impacts the Occupant
Sustainability impacts building occupants in several ways, namely through economic, social, and health benefits. These benefits come from the materials used for framing to how the house is insulated and ventilated, and even to how the building is constructed to make use of natural light.
From an economic standpoint, sustainable design can sometimes seem like a higher capital cost. In comparison to some materials, newer, more sustainable products may carry a higher price. But green products are typically designed to be durable and to improve energy efficiency—contributing to lower life-cycle costs over time, all while reducing the demand on natural resources.
Another major impact sustainable design has on building occupants is through improved insulation standards and materials. Where several decades ago drafty buildings were the norm to help the structure “breathe,” a new understanding of building design focuses on a tighter building envelope that incorporates ventilation for improved indoor air quality (IAQ). This tight building envelope benefits building occupants in a financial sense by making the building more energy efficient, but also in a health sense through better ventilation and humidity and temperature control. Good indoor air quality is being shown to improve occupant productivity in offices and overall well-being in homes.
The sustainable shift of designing buildings to include more natural light has been shown to positively impact building occupants’ mental well-being and productivity, all while reducing energy costs. Similarly, new biophilic designs—design that seeks to satisfy our innate need to affiliate with nature—have been shown to improve occupant happiness and health.
Finally, building occupants are impacted by sustainability with new approaches to resilient design. While this broad description can mean anything from a home designed to be naturally energy efficient to a structure being able to withstand high winds from storms, resilient buildings can help the occupants be healthier and safer inside the structure. The economic impact can also help, whether through reduced or more consistent energy costs, or simply by having a structure designed to survive natural disasters or climate change.
How Thoughtful Design and Material Specification Can Promote Sustainability
A key concept in sustainability is cradle-to-cradle (C2C) design. C2C is a product design approach modeled on nature’s processes.12 That is, in nature, living things are created, and then work through a life cycle that ends in nurturing new growth. In manufacturing, this approach lends itself to sustainability in the sense that production considers future generations. An underlying premise of this approach is that producing less—and thus disposing of less—is an excellent way to reduce the overall environmental impact of a venture. This way of thinking can be used in various aspects of design and material specification, including resource conservation during construction, resource conservation during occupation, and extended durability for longer life cycles.
Resource Conservation During Construction
Building professionals can promote sustainability during the construction phase of a project in different ways. For example, they can use recovered materials or specify green products from the start of the project. Waste materials also can be reused on site or recycled rather than disposed of. This tactic helps prevent pollution through an organized job site and ensure that waste is turned into something useful.13
Depending on the project, architects and builders can design and specify for sustainability by either reusing or recycling materials from other projects, whether through recovered bricks, windows, doors, or decorative trim. By deconstructing and reusing existing materials, architects can keep project cost down while making positive environmental and social impacts.
In cases where new materials are required, building professionals can go green. This may mean any number of things, from sourcing materials made with recycled content to materials known to have minimal toxic materials. Building materials, such as plastic lumber products or roofing material made from recycled materials, can be used to replace traditional materials, as can siding made from recycled content. Products made from recycled content are also excellent for interiors, whether that includes salvaged wood floors and trim, or carpets and cushioning made from recycled or eco-friendly materials.
Through the construction process, contractors deliberately can design a system to reduce and recycle material waste. For example, designated on-site bins for recyclable materials and non-recyclable materials can be set up ahead of time and sorted throughout the construction process. While this step may at first seem to be just one extra thing to deal with on a job site, it can make an impact on resource conservation.
Resource Conservation During Occupation
Building occupants also can play a role in sustainability through resource conservation, both through reduced energy consumption and reduced water consumption. Both can be achieved through thoughtful building design but also through effective operational practices within the building. For example, residential and commercial occupants can benefit from smart meters, which track energy use and help occupants become more aware of their energy consumption during peak hours.
Buildings that are deliberately designed for energy efficiency may include more windows for daylighting, which can provide occupants with more access to natural light in place of artificial light. Other strategies such as building and window orientation can help naturally heat and cool the building during different times of the year. Choices in siding also can insulate the building from hot and cold extremes, thus normalizing energy use in the course of the year.
Occupants can reduce water consumption by choosing products that limit water use, such as energy saving showerheads and low-water use appliances. Smart-meter devices also can help with energy conservation.
Extended Durability for Longer Life Cycles
When thoughtful design and material specifications are part of the building process, the result can be projects that are durable and that have relatively long life cycles, all while providing a comfortable, healthy, and affordable option for occupants. Projects that are designed with sustainability in mind often have an underlying goal of using materials that can be repaired or upgraded rather than replaced. This tactic may require the manufacturer to shift their thinking and priorities about product design and use. For example, if we look at something like commercial carpet used in an office building, there inevitably will be sections that get worn out more quickly than others, such as in higher traffic areas. An unsustainable product carpet design may include large, continuous pieces of carpet that need to be replaced in five to seven years after being installed, all because 20 percent of the material has been worn out. If the carpet goes into the landfill, that means that roughly 80 percent of good material is thrown away.9
Two more sustainable options could be to use modular carpet tiles in place of larger wall-to-wall carpeting, and to use carpets made from material that either can be recycled or is biodegradable. If modular carpets are used, the sections worn away in high-traffic areas can easily be replaced without removing the entire carpet. And when reusable, recyclable, or biodegradable materials are used, the negative environmental end-of-life impact can be minimized.
Manufacturers can benefit considerably from planning for a product’s end of life and from looking at how certain production decisions can impact energy use, the environment, and even a building’s lifetime energy consumption.
How Textile and Carpet Specification Can Be an Important Part of Creating a Sustainable Project
Textiles are one of the most widely used materials in the world, and the industry is one of the most important economic sectors. Whether used for clothing, vehicle interiors, dwellings, or interior design, textiles can be found in many different forms. When used for interior design, such as carpeting, they can impact the mood of a space both visually and acoustically and even help insulate the interior space.
The textile industry can significantly impact sustainable goals because of the wide range of resources used and new materials now available.
As with architecture and other sectors, the textile and carpet industry has shifted to become more sustainable. Manufacturers who embrace sustainability have implemented strategies that aim not only to conserve resources and improve energy efficiency during manufacturing, but they have worked to help make sure the materials used in the carpets easily can be recycled or reused, and do not off-gas VOCs or toxic chemicals while in use or after disposal. As it is, the issue of carpet disposal is a tricky one. Not only are carpets heavy and bulky, but synthetic carpets are not biodegradable, so when they end up in landfills, the material stays around for a long time. Consequently, new sustainable design strategies are increasingly becoming a priority in the carpet and textile industry.
Because of the extensive nature of the textile supply chain—and the many places where the environment may be impacted—there are countless ways that manufacturers can help textiles and carpet be more sustainably developed. For example, some companies focus on processes that minimize the impact of the dyes on the local environment, while others focus on using materials that easily can be repurposed or recycled. These and other tactics help make overall projects more sustainable. Thoughtful textile selection also helps projects earn LEED v4 credits. Credits may be earned for resource reuse, low-emitting materials for systems furniture and seating, and other methods.14
If we take cotton fiber production as an example, we get a better sense of just how extensive the environmental impact can be. It’s estimated that cotton makes up half of the fiber used for clothing and other textiles worldwide. According to the World Wildlife Federation (WWF), roughly 20 million tons of cotton are produced annually in about 90 different countries. While a full life-cycle assessment is beyond the scope of this course, it’s useful to recognize just how many stages go into cotton production: cultivation, harvesting, spinning, weaving/knitting, designing, dying, finishing, packaging, and distribution. More importantly, each phase of the process requires natural resources, such as water and fossil fuels, for power, not to mention human labor. For perspective on water use alone, the WWF estimates that it can take 20,000 liters of water to produce just one kilogram of cotton—that’s the cotton needed for a T-shirt and pair of jeans.15 Moreover, each phase of the process generates waste materials, whether in the form of fiber dust or wastewater disposal.
Water conservation, recycling, and keeping toxins out of free-flowing streams is a significant part of sustainability.
Organic and more sustainable cotton production can help reduce waste at every phase of the process and significantly reduce pesticide use during the growing phase. This alone can help reduce water use and greatly improve the sustainable nature of cotton production.
Synthetic fiber production has its own set of challenges stemming primarily from both natural and fossil fuel-based resources. It relies heavily on manmade processing, and thus it requires more energy and generates more carbon dioxide emissions. For example, estimates show that producing polyester fiber can be as high as 125 megajoules per kilogram of fiber (MJ/kg), nearly two and a quarter times the energy needed to produce conventional cotton (55 MJ/kg) and just over eight times the energy needed to produce organic cotton (15 MJ/kg). Moreover, polyester creates VOCs, which can be carcinogenic and impact climate change.14
There’s no question that it’s a challenge to figure out which materials have a lower or possibly even “less bad” environmental impact. The tools we discussed earlier, such as life-cycle assessments (LCAs), can help tremendously since the goal of an LCA is to look at everything from raw materials and production to end-of-life disposal. LCAs can measure the inputs and outputs of different fiber types and provide metrics that can inform customers about the eventual products. LCAs also can allow designers to better understand which stage of the process has the greatest environmental impact so that they make more informed decisions about products. For example, a certain color dye may have a large negative impact with wastewater, and that may end up limiting choices for colors.
Designers end up with constraints that they need to manage—and they need to think about product life cycle from manufacturing to end of product life. Designers should pay attention to key issues such as how a product is produced, how durable it is, and whether it can be reused or recycled.
Some tactics that designers can use are to design for certain environmentally friendly goals, such as for durability or recyclability. Through these steps, designers help educate customers on the complexities of sustainability in general and give them a different framework to think about product selection.
And textile manufacturers can help, especially those who are investing in and using the best available technology to reduce cost and improve quality. While there may be high capital costs, the production efficiencies, not to mention the improvements in product quality, can be substantial. For example, new machinery is often more efficient and effective than outdated systems, and can require less maintenance, thus reducing time lost during production. If a manufacturer is interested in improving the company’s overall sustainability, newer machinery often can help in that area too. For example, newer technology may use less energy and produce lower emissions, or it may be able to carefully measure and control water use. Other systems or processes even may be able to use a closed loop system that reuses water. Changes such as these can help improve the overall sustainability of a company, and in turn increase the quality and sustainability of its products.14
Conclusion
Sustainability has become an increasingly important aspect of architecture and design, and it can be addressed in just about every aspect of the built environment. As a growing trend, sustainability is slowly shifting from a reactive response to a set of government regulations to a proactive approach for growing a changing business through more efficient operations, reduced resource use, and overall reduced costs. In some cases, it may even spark innovation that results in new sustainable products.
With resource-intensive industries such as textile manufacturing, a sustainable approach to business practices can make a huge difference at every stage of the process. Whether a company uses a life-cycle assessment to help reduce water use during manufacturing or optimize a product for recyclability instead of landfill disposal, the opportunities to improve the sustainable nature of the industry are increasing every day.
References
1“Sustainable Development.” International Institute for Sustainable Development. Web. November 2017.
2“Learn About Sustainability.” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Web. November 2017.
3Sustainability and the U.S. EPA (2011). The National Academies Press. Web. November 2017.
4The History of the Automobile and the Impact on Society. Project by New Vista High School students. Web. November 2017.
5Matulka, Rebecca. “The History of the Electric Car.” U.S. Department of Energy.15 Sept. 2014. Web. November 2017.
6"Sustainability." American Institute of Architects. Web. November 2017.
7Kasden, Benjamin. “Wellness Design, The Next Sustainable Strategy." Professional Builder. 18 Feb. 2016. Web. November 2017.
8“Manufacturing.” Environmental Leader. Web. November 2017.
9Martin, Shelly. “Design for Sustainability.” Textile World. 15 Feb. 2016. Web. November 2017.
10Driving Performance and Transparency in Green Building Products and Materials. Underwriters Laboratories. Web. November 2017.
11“What is an EPD?” The International EPD System. Web. November 2017.
12“Cradle-to-cradle design.” Wikipedia. Web. November 2017.
13RCRA in Focus: Construction, Demolition, and Renovation. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. September 2004. Web. November 2017.
14Fathy, A. “Sustainable textile materials in interiors”. Web. November 2017.
15“Cotton Farming – Cotton: a water wasting crop." World Wildlife Federation. Web. November 2017.
16"AB 1158 (Chu): California Carpet Stewardship Act." Web. November 2017.
Rebecca A. Pinkus is an independent communication consultant, writer, and editor focusing on the intersection of technology, environment, and human health. She has contributed to more than 35 continuing education courses and publications through Confluence Communications. www.confluencec.com
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For more than 30 years, Bentley Mills Inc. has defined design, color, quality, and customer service in the commercial carpet industry. Our California-based brand manufactures and markets award-winning broadloom, carpet tile, and area rug products for interiors across the globe. www.bentleymills.com
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