FORMALDEHYDE-FREE CABINETS MANUFACTURER: GREENLINE CABINETS
T
hese eco-friendly cabinets are made with recycled wheat straw fi ber cores, not wood. Exterior veneers are made from high pres- sure laminates, melamines, and certifi ed sustainable-yield hardwood veneers, that are bonded to the cores with formaldehyde- free resins. The product is greener than most off -the-shelf brands not only from an indoor air quality perspective, but also because of the care the company takes in choosing hardware manufacturers, backings, drawer components, and other glues.
www.gogreenline.com
HOW DOES STRAWBOARD STACK UP? TEST
GREENLINE WITH WOODSTALK
Average Density Internal Bond MOR MOE
Hardness
Linear Expansion Screw Hold
Average 24 Hour Swell Thickness Tolerance—Panel Thickness Tolerance—Within Formaldehyde Emissions
40 lbs. 90 psi
2,700 psi
500,000 psi 600 lbs 0.2%
STANDARD PARTICLEBOARD (ANSI M-3)
± 40 lbs 80 psi
2,393 psi
398,900 psi 500 lbs 0.35%
—
± .008 in. ± .004 in. 0.3 ppm
MEDIUM DENSITY FIBERBOARD (ANSI MDF)
± 48 lbs 80 psi
3,500 psi
350,000 psi — —
Face 250 lbs / Edge 230 Lbs Face 247 lbs / Edge 225 lbs Face 300 lbs / Edge 225 lbs ±..008 in. ± .004 in. None
—
± .005 in. ± .005 in. .03 ppm
As this chart shows, Greenline’s strawboard material shares most performance qualities with particleboard and MDF, which tend to contain higher levels of VOCs and/or formaldehyde.
RECYCLED COUNTERTOPS MANUFACTURER: CURAVA
M
ade with a concrete slurry mix that includes seashells and recycled glass, Curava countertops off er an environmental alterna- tive to imported granite. Slabs can be custom ordered with specifi c textures or glass colors, and patterns. The company website off ers many examples of colors and textures, but we’d like to see a lot more technical information about installation, performance,
and regional availability.
www.curava.com
WHAT’S WRONG WITH GRANITE? Material
Imported Dimension Granite Local Dimension Granite Cement
Glass (virgin) PVC
Kiln Dried Sawn Softwood Clay Brick
Acrylic Paint
13.9 5.9 5.6
12.7 80 3.5 2.5
61.5 Source:
http://www.yourhome.gov.au/technical/fs52.html
The more processed a material is, the higher its embodied energy tends to be (Comparative figures are by weight.) How much “greener” is a concrete countertop than a granite top? That’s a question that alternative product manufacturers should attempt to answer, based on exactly what’s in their products and how far the material has to travel.
Per Embodied Energy MJ/kg
40
GreenBuilder September 2010
www.greenbuildermag.com
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