Top Green Building Products
With so many new building products now on the market, it’s hard to see through the hype. Thankfully, BuildingGreen, the award- winning publisher of the monthly, advertisement-free newsletter Environmental Building News, is here to help. The company publishes thousands of product reviews in directories and on its Web site. (Full access requires a subscription.) Here are EBN’s recent picks of top green building products.
ECO I Paver
ECO I Paver from E.P. Henry Corp. is an interlocking concrete-grid paver designed for porous paving applications. The pavers include protrusions (or lugs) on the sides to ensure separation between them for rainwater infiltration. Contact: E.P. Henry Corp.; www.ephenry.com
TimberSIL Nontoxic Pressure-Treated Wood
TimberSIL is a sodium silicate-based pressure-treatment system for wood that relies on a mineralization process rather than toxins to prevent infestations and decay. Standard TimberSIL-treated wood carries a 40-year warranty for interior use and up to one year for outdoor exposure; TimberSIL Plus carries a 40-year warranty for outdoor applications. Contact: Timber Treatment Technologies; www.timbersil.com
Potlatch Sustainable Framing Lumber, Plywood and Cedar
Potlatch Corp. produces chain-of-custody, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified hem fir and Douglas fir-larch framing lumber, inland red cedar decking and siding, and Douglas fir and white fir plywood from three mills in Idaho. In 2004, Potlatch became the first publicly traded U.S. timber company to certify timberland according to FSC standards. Contact: Potlatch Corp.; www.potlatchcorp.com
Ethos Carpet-Cushion Backing
Ethos carpet-cushion backing sold by C&A Floorcoverings is made from nonchlorinated polyvinyl butyral (PVB) collected when automotive windows and other safety-glass panes are recycled. This material is 96-percent post-consumer recycled, resulting in carpet products with a total recycled content of 40 percent to 62 percent. Contact: Tandus C&A Floorcoverings; www.tandus.com
Photovol Glass PV window Glazing
Photovol glass is a semitransparent, building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) window glazing that allows visible light transmission while generating electricity. The roughly 1-square-meter glazing panels are available in three transmissivity and electrical output options: 10-percent transmittance with nominal 44 watts of power output, 5-percent transmittance with 50-watt output and 1-percent transmittance with 55-watt output. The power output is guaranteed at 80 percent of the rated output for 20 years. Contact: Darshan Schmitz, International Sales, MSK Corp.; darshan@msk.ne.jp; www.msk.ne.jp/english/index.shtml
Winston Series CPC Solar Collectors
The Winston Series CPC collector is a solar water-heating system composed of 12 small compound parabolic collectors (CPC) that focus sunlight onto absorber tubes through which heat-transfer fluid is piped. Contact: Solargenix Energy; www.solargenix.com
FlushMate IV Pressure-Assist Toilets
These pressure-assist toilets have an inner airtight flushometer tank that is pressurized after the flush as the tank refills (air is compressed at the top of the tank).uring the flush operation, air pressure flushes the toilet with increased velocity, improving flush performance. The Sloan Valve Co.’s 1-gallon-per-flush (gpf) FlushMate IV mechanism for pressure-assist toilets still produces a distinctive “whoosh” during the flush, but is quieter than the higher-volume flushometer-tank toilets. The Sloan FlushMate IV flushometer is currently used in toilets manufactured by Mansfield, Capizzi, Mancesa, St. Thomas Creations (Vitromex) and Vortens, with other manufacturers expected to introduce FlushMate IV products in 2005. Contact: Sloan Valve Co.; www.sloanvalve.com
Nyle Special Products Cold-Climate Heat Pump
This multiple-stage, cold-climate air-source heat pump rivals many ground-source (geothermal) heat pumps in performance, achieving an average coefficient of performance (COP) of 2.7. The system takes full advantage of the non-ozone-depleting refrigerant R-410a, which can withstand up to 70-percent higher pressure and has a 40-percent better cooling capacity than R-22 (which depletes ozone and is scheduled to be phased out starting in 2010). Contact: Nyle Special Products; www.nyletherm.com
