Here at Aeris, our goal is to actively embrace the need for sustainable building practices and unceasingly look for new ways to improve. Currently, we have attempted to become more sustainable with both big and small changes.
All plywood is a Columbia Forest Purebond product. Purebond has no added urea formaldehyde components and is assembled with zero formaldehyde adhesives. Formaldehyde will off gas from plywood into your home for 1-5 years. Formaldehyde can cause irritation of the upper and lower respiratory tract, the mucous membranes, eyes, ears, and nose, even at very low levels (.05 ppm). Higher levels of exposure can cause much more severe problems and formaldehyde is also suspected to cause cancer.
Additionally, the plywood comes from plants in North Carolina and Virginia. The cores are made from materials within a 200 mile radius of the mill.
For finishing, we are primarily using ML Campbell Agualente and offering natural oil finishes. Agualente is a water-borne lacquer that has been GreenGuard indoor air quality certified. Along with being a durable mar and scratch resistant product, Agualente is totally Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) free, low in Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) (under 100 grams per liter), and is formaldehyde free.
We are encouraging the use of locally harvested and reclaimed lumber where applicable. Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified products are available, but only for larger-sized jobs due to the supplier's large minimum order requirements.
Being mindful of the accumulative impacts of small actions, we make a habit of making an extra effort to reduce our impact.
Here are some of the little things we do to reduce our impact:
- Reusing or recycling all packaging materials that are shipped to us
- Recycling metals, plastics and paper products
- Properly disposing of hazardous materials
- Buying local
- Turning off all the lights and equipment
- Avoiding single purpose trips with vehicles
- Donating wood scraps and wood waste
What is green?
Even though we're all working towards a common goal, the working definition for green building is different from shop to shop. There are 3 main causes for this inconsistency: regional, construction methods, and ideology.
Regional
Some parts of the country, such as California, are being pushed towards green building by new standards. This not only forces shops to change but also forces the suppliers to make green materials readily available. While in other areas of the country the impetus for green building is more grass roots, not well known, not supported by the market, and those new green materials just aren't as available.
Construction Methods
Every shop builds cabinets differently. The differences come from the machines used, the materials used, the joinery systems employed, the customer's needs, and the list goes on. Each shop has their own good reasons for the way they build cabinets and run their business. Moving towards more sustainable practices isn't always easy or cheap. Small shops often can't afford to go through the FSC certification process, which allows them to stamp their product with the FSC logo. Those same small shops might have FSC products available to them, and can use them, but the minimum purchase amounts are beyond their needs and budget. It makes no sense to become the world's greenest shop on earth if it's going to put you out of business.
Ideology
Simply put, our ideas of what it means to build green vary. For example, one shop may point out that they are using a variety of eco-friendly materials, such as FSC certified particleboard and fiberboard made of annually renewable wheat straw. While another shop refuses to use those products because they think they're not durable, and will need to be replaced in half the time as his cabinets. What's greener here? Cabinets that last or cabinets that are made from eco-friendly materials? Or how about the company that offers bamboo, a fast growing sustainable product that is marketed as green. Versus the company that uses only locally harvested materials and claims that bamboo has a huge carbon footprint from shipping it halfway across the world. Again what's greener here? Our ideologies are just different and at this point in time there is no standard of "green" that we all agree on. So, caveat emptor!
