Materials and Products

Interior Design
and Global Impacts
2006

ONE OF FIVE PAPERS ON TOPICS IN SUSTAINABLE DESIGN

Other papers in the series

Indoor Air Quality
Selling Green
Beyond Interior Design
Reference Guide

Research/Writing Team
Kirsten Childs, ASID, LEED AP
Cris Argeles, 7 group
Holley Henderson, H2 Ecodesign, LLC
Scot Horst, 7 group
Nadav Malin, BuildingGreen, Inc.
Editors
Tristan Roberts and Allyson Wendt, BuildingGreen, Inc.
Design and Layout
Julia Jandrisits, BuildingGreen, Inc.
Graciously sponsored by
Lightolier
Steelcase
TOTO
Tricycle
VISTA
Wilsonart Laminate

 2006 American Society of Interior Designers

608 Massachusetts Ave., NE
Washington, DC 20002-6006
www.asid.org
All rights reserved. This publication, or parts thereof, may
not be reproduced in any form without written permission
of the American Society of Interior Designers.
Printed in the United States of America.

Table of Contents
1 INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW OF KEY CONCEPTS ............3
2 MATERIALS/PRODUCTS AND SUSTAINABLE DESIGN ......... 4
Using Life-cycle Assessment .................................................. 4
Holistic Strategies ...................................................................7
Attributes of Materials ......................................................... 10
Selection of Materials ........................................................... 17
Finding Reliable Information ................................................18
Creating a Green Library .......................................................19
3 INTEGRATED OPPORTUNITIES AND DESIGN PROCESS .... 20
4 MATERIALS/PRODUCTS AND
GREEN BUILDING RATING SYSTEMS .................................. 20
ENDNOTES ....................................................................................21
APPENDIX: QUESTIONNAIRE .....................................................22

INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW OF KEY CONCEPTS

1 Introduction and Overview of Key Concepts

We depend on building materials to create and condition the spaces in which
we live, work and do business. From structures of wood, steel and concrete, to
surface nishes and furniture, a complete list of materials used in any building
would go on for many pages, yet most people give those materials very little
thought. Even when selecting materials, designers and consumers both usually
are more aware of aesthetic and cost considerations than what a material contains or where it came from.
What if that same list of materials could be laid out in
raw physical form before uspiles of Portland cement for
concrete, silica for windows, timber for wood products, and
so on? And what if we could add to that pile of building
materials essential material inputs, such as barrels of oil
or mountains of coal used for energy in manufacturing and
transportation, and chemicals used in the factory? What if
we also included the mountains of byproducts, such as mine
tailings from iron ore production, that are discarded during
production? What if we could see before us, in addition to
this mammoth pile, the entire physical impact of materials
extraction, such as massive open copper mine pits or clearcut forests?
Building materials choices take on more signicance when
we consider all of those factors that we dont normally see
while sitting at our desks or dining room tables. The gigantic
scale of this exercise also takes on more meaning for human
health and the life of the planet if we consider, in addition,
the actual environmental and human health eects of production, installation and use of these building materials.
While many have researched and written about these potentially mind-boggling considerations, the goal of this paper is
to make the most common environmental and human health
considerations about building materials accessible for the
designer who wants to make informed choices that meet
project goals for sustainability.

Economic growth over the past century led to dramatic growth

in materials consumption in the United States, punctuated by
economic downturns and world wars. Note that construction
materials refers to stone, sand and gravelother materials
used in construction are included within the other categories.
Source: Consumption of Materials in the United States, 1900-1995 by
Grecia Matos and Lorie Wagner, U.S. Geological Survey; Annual Reviews of
Energy and the Environment, 23, 107-122, 1998.

A practical, sustainable approach to materials choices can improve the environmental performance of each and every project, from a kids playroom to a major
oce tower, no matter what the chosen aesthetic or style. Through a better
understanding of the use of environmentally sustainable materials, all interior
designers can bring added value and long-term benets to their projects, while
enhancing their own professional practice.
Consumers are often asked to make decisions based on a vague or incomplete
understanding of a products features and how they compare with those of other
products. The interior designer who shops for materials based on environmental and human health concerns is in this same situation. While there is a tendency in sustainable design to view materials as green or not green, this kind
of view is usually limited. Should a manufacturers claims always be taken at
face value? Should a product that uses renewable resources be used if it has to
be shipped over a long distance, thereby increasing air pollution?
As with many other complex topics, a set of common assumptions or preferences
has arisen to make the environmental aspects of certain materials, products and

MATERIALS AND PRODUCTS INTERIOR DESIGN AND GLOBAL IMPACTS

Whether it is explicit or
implicit, every approach that
considers materials from an
environmental perspective uses
some form of life-cycle analysis
or life-cycle assessment (LCA).1

processes more accessible. For example, because waste is a tangible concern,

specifying products with recycled content has become a common environmental choice. While making such single-issue choices is often better than ignoring
environmental concerns, incorporating a variety of attributes when comparing
products can result in a much more nuanced understanding of choices and a
much more robust environmental benet.
Life-cycle Assessment is an analytic method that incorporates a wide range of
considerations into the decision-making process, making it much more comprehensive than simple single-issue assessment. Discussed in greater detail below,
LCA has been used for many years and oers an exciting tool for designers. It is a
young eld, however, so both the science itself and the tools available to designers for applying this science are evolving quickly.
In addition to selection of materials using LCA, the designer can employ a
variety of strategies for mitigating the environmental and health eects of
building, including choosing appropriate materials for the specic needs of
a space, using various strategies to reduce the amount of materials required,
pursuing a design strategy that accounts for the changing needs of occupants,
and choosing materials based on their environmental performance at the end
of their useful lives.
This paper will consider all of these strategies in greater detail, and will also examine various specic environmental and health attributes that a designer may
want to consider when selecting materials, including recycled content, salvaged
or refurbished content, use of rapidly renewable materials, location of extraction
and manufacture, green certication of materials, and toxic content and exposure risk.
From there, we will look at how designers can choose materials, from setting
project goals to researching various alternatives to nding reliable information
from manufacturers and other sources.

2 Materials/Products and Sustainable Design

LCA is dened by the
International Organization of
Standardization (ISO) as a
compilation and evaluation
of the inputs, outputs and
the potential environmental
impacts of a product system
throughout its life cycle.2

Using Life-cycle Assessment

Life-cycle assessment is a holistic method for assessing the performance of products and processes across a broad spectrum of environmental considerations,
and for establishing and understanding trade-os among dierent environmental
impacts. Although interpretation of LCA results can be highly dependent on the
goals of a project, LCA itself is a scientic methodology with established international standards and growing use worldwide.

MATERIALS/PRODUCTS AND SUSTAINABLE DESIGN

LCA depends on the accurate collection of data about a material throughout its
lifecycle, from its unprocessed or virgin state to its potential disposal or reuse
at the end of its useful life. This tracking process is known as life cycle inventory
(LCI). LCI data quanties the energy and material inputs and outputs associated
with a specic material or process.
The life cycle of building materials is typically segmented into four stages.
1. Cradle to gate. This stage includes all of the impacts of the harvesting or extraction of raw materials, such as iron ore for steel, bauxite for aluminum, timber
for wood products, or recycled or recovered materials from other production
processes up to the point when the nished material or product leaves a manufacturing facility. Assessment analysis considers a wide variety of impacts, including energy use from harvesting, extraction, transportation and manufacturing;
contamination of air, water and soil; use of deleterious chemicals and processes
that aect human health and well-being; and disruptions to the earth, such as
strip-mining or clear-cutting.
2. Construction. This stage covers the material from when it leaves its manufacturing facility to when it is installed in a building, ready for the occupant to
enjoy. Potential impacts include transportation, installation costs of the material,
emissions from the material during construction, and emissions or other impacts
of construction processes used to install the material.
3. Use. Impacts that occur during the use of the material or product itself are
monitored in this stage. Impacts can include o-gassing or other emissions from
the material, and energy expended and emissions generated by cleaners and
systems used to maintain the material or product.
4. End of life. This stage tracks the impacts that occur when the material or
product reaches the end of its usable life, whether it is recycled for remanufacturing, salvaged for reuse, or disposed of in a landll or through incineration.
Through each life-cycle stage, the impact of a material or product is characterized using a set of impact categories, such as those identied by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in its Tools for the Reduction and Assessment of Chemical and Other Environmental Impacts (TRACI).
Ozone depletion
Global warming
Acidication
Eutrophication
Photochemical smog
Human Health Cancer
Human Health Noncancer
Ecotoxicity
Fossil fuel use
Land use
Water use

Eutrophication
The process by which bodies of
water are choked and starved of
oxygen and light by algae and other
plants, due to excessive concentrations of nutrients, such as nitrogen
and phosphorous. Typical sources
include fertilizer runo and poorly
managed wastewater treatment
systems, frequently including home
septic systems.

Ecotoxicity
Generally, harmful eects produced
in the environment by chemical
residues, leachate or volatile gases
during production or degradation of
manufactured materials. Specically,
the measured levels at which toxins
cause harm to organisms.

MATERIALS AND PRODUCTS INTERIOR DESIGN AND GLOBAL IMPACTS

LCA analysis tools, such as TRACI, typically crunch numbers to arrive at their
conclusions. With some data, such as fossil fuel use, this approach can be
straightforward and transparent. But some information, such as land use, is not
so easily quantiable for several reasons. Data may be incomplete, it may not
accurately reect the complexities of the impact or it may assign somewhat arbitrary numerical values in order to compare two distinct impacts. Therefore, LCA
tools can be used successfully to represent complexities of material impacts in
relationship to the environment, but they should not provide nal answers.

LCA in Practice
Dierent LCA tools emphasize dierent aspects of the design process. Manufacturers use sophisticated LCA software, such as GaBi and SimaPro, to improve
their products. Potential changes to a product or process, such as substituting a
dierent raw material, can be modeled so that a manufacturer can identify potential environmental costs or benets of a change in design. Interior designers
are not likely to use this software but they benet from its use by manufacturers.
A second type of LCA tool, found in two software programs with embedded LCI
data, can be used by designers to select building materials. These two tools are
the Athena Environmental Impact Estimator (EIE) and Building for Environmental
and Economic Sustainability (BEES).

Athena Environmental Impact Estimator

For more information about
EIE, visit the Athena Institutes
Web site: www.athenasmi.ca/.

The Environmental Impact Estimator, developed by the Athena Institute, is

designed primarily to evaluate the impacts of structural and envelope building materials and is unlikely to be used by interior designers except when the
client is interested in understanding the life-cycle impacts of the whole building.
EIE allows an engineer to model and alter aspects of the building design and to
evaluate the environmental impacts of dierent materials.

BEES
Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability, developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), is an LCA tool for evaluating
and comparing common products, including those used by interior designers.
Product categories covered in BEES include oor coverings, partitions, and interior and exterior nishes. The impact categories and methodologies used in BEES
are based on those used by TRACI, as shown on page 5, and BEES also incorporates an economic component.
BEES allows a designer to set parameters for comparing product attributes
and to choose weights for each impact category. The model then provides a score
for a product and chosen alternatives. Scores can be viewed in a number of ways,
including by impact category and by ow, with a lower score signifying better
environmental performance.
In the following example, two types of carpet are compared: a nylon broadloom
carpet with low-VOC adhesive and a wool broadloom carpet with low-VOC adhesive. All impact categories are given equal weight.
With all the impact categories equally weighted, the wool carpet shows a lower
overall environmental impact compared to the nylon carpet. Dierences between
the two products in specic impact categories may be greater or smaller. In this
example the dierence in eutrophication is especially large, while the band for

MATERIALS/PRODUCTS AND SUSTAINABLE DESIGN

You can download a free copy

of BEES at www.bfrl.nist.gov/
oae/software/bees.html.

global warming shows higher impacts for the wool carpet in that one category.
This example illustrates the trade-os in material decisions that go beyond mere
number crunching. If instead of giving all categories equal weight, global warming was considered on its own, then nylon carpet becomes the better choice.
In the gure below, the scores are broken down by life cycle stage rather than
impact category. As for many materials, for both of these carpet types, the raw
materials acquisition portion of the lifecycle has the greatest environmental
impact. By using BEES in this way, a designer has more information to make an
informed product choice.

Limitations of LCA
There remain a number of limitations of using LCA to make materials decisions,
including limitations within the science itself, as well as limitations on the availability of data in usable forms for the design community. As the examples demonstrate, LCA tools can be extremely valuable in some cases. In others, the process
does not yet incorporate enough true measurements of real environmental impacts to be useful. However, any interior designer can take from LCA the concept
of life-cycle thinking, a critically important approach to selecting materials for an
environmentally informed project.

Holistic Strategies
The innovative designer can incorporate life-cycle thinking into material selection
in a number of ways that go beyond the use of LCA tools. All of these concepts ap-

MATERIALS AND PRODUCTS INTERIOR DESIGN AND GLOBAL IMPACTS

ply to a small home design project, as well as to a large commercial interior.

Many sustainable design considerations are simply common sense. For example,
many families move every few years, or even more often, and a new resident is
likely to replace the carpet or paint the walls. No matter how new or little worn a
carpet may be, it is often replaced prior to the end of its useful life. Especially for
buildings with frequent changes of owner or tenant, increasing the use of more
permanent ooring materials, such as hardwood or quarry tile that only need
to be renished from time to time, may be a more sustainable choice, reducing
unnecessary waste.

Specifying a polished concrete

oor, like this one at the Benjamin
Franklin Elementary School in
Kirkland, Wash., helps reduce the
use of materials.
Photo: RetroPlate

The designer may also consider how materials are matched to the way a space
actually is used. For instance, a harder, more cleanable surface makes sense in
an entryway area that is subject to heavy foot trac and mud, water and detritus
from the outdoors. In some cases, a designer may consider combining surfaces
for increased sustainability and durability. For example, ceramic tile may have
a greater environmental impact than an alternative surface, such as linoleum,
and yet tile may be a more durable and cleanable surface for a certain space,
such as around a kitchen sink. The designer may consider using the tile only in
the specic area where it is needed, and surrounding it with linoleum or another
low-impact material. In this way, sustainable thinking can provide a greater
vocabulary in terms of both design and materials for the designer or client who
wants to lessen their environmental impact.

Material Use Reduction

To paraphrase an adage from the sustainable buildings eld, the greenest
material is the one that is never installed, and designers can greatly reduce the
environmental impact of an installation by simply using fewer materials.
At the level of the whole building, material use reduction can be accomplished
by recycling existing structures rather than undertaking new constructionan
approach that may create exciting opportunities for the innovative designer. In
general, when modifying an existing interior, the designer can attempt to save
portions of the existing interior installation, such as walls, ceilings and hard ooring materials, minimize the use of nishing materials, and simply reuse materials,
including furniture and furnishings.
Reducing the use of materials
Reduce layers in ooring consider using polished concrete where acoustics
are not of concern, or renishing a residential wood oor rather than covering
or replacing it.
In commercial projects, consider leaving ceilings unnished in non-critical
spaces, rather than installing drywall or acoustical ceiling tile. This strategy
can be successfully paired with building design approaches, such as using
daylight and access oors.
Consider incorporating visible portions of the buildings structure into the
interior space as design elements, rather than covering them with additional
materials.
Sheet materials, such as drywall and plywood, come in standard sizes, usually
4 x 8 feet or 5 x 10 feet. Design the project dimensions to take advantage of
product sizes to reduce material waste.
Maximize materials conservation through partial reuse of the existing instal-

MATERIALS/PRODUCTS AND SUSTAINABLE DESIGN

lation during renovation projects. In addition, encourage owners to reuse

furniture and ooring, or purchase reused or refurbished furniture.
Modular carpeting allows for worn or damaged areas to be changed out without replacing the entire installation.

Long Life/Loose Fit Approach

Designing buildings to be eective over longer periods of time means that new
or additional spaces may not be needed as occupant needs change. In this way,
sustainable design can mean more than conserving materials; it can mean avoiding the replacement of entire buildings. Eective design and division of interior
space becomes a key consideration for sustainable design.

Pennsylvania Department of
Environmental
Protection
Carrying capacity of 1,500
employees
23%30% of oces are recongured annually
n

Cost to move:
$2,500/person

Designing interiors to accommodate future uses

Design multipurpose spaces that allow for adaptability, both for future uses
and for several uses by the same occupants.

1,500 employees
x.25 employees
375 x $2,500 =
$937,500

Use modular design to foster adaptability.

Open space is inherently adaptable; therefore, limit the use of permanent
partitions. However, in situations where noise or privacy may be a factor,
open space can make a space less usable and increase other costs, so always
consider the needs of the client.
If partitions are used, utilize non-load bearing, modular and semi-permanent
partitions so the space can be recongured without major construction.
Use modular or systems furniture, which allows for ongoing reconguration of space without major disruption to the permanent interior layout and
electrical/mechanical distribution systems. Modular furniture also addresses
changing oce needs, or churn, which can aect as much as 60 percent of
a typical corporate sta on an annualized basis. This kind of system can be
even more ecient when used together with an access oor system.

Standard building with

conventional design and
construction

High-performance alternative
with access ooring (power
and data in oor, individual
adjustable HVAC, no demolition or construction)
Cost to move:
$250/person
High performance
1,500 employees
x.25 employees
375 x $250 =
$93,750

Employ a universal design approach, in which designing for handicapped accessibility in a residential or corporate space takes the potential future needs of
an aging population into account.3

Savings of $843,750

End of Life Considerations

(exceeds annual energy cost

for building)

Considering the eventual end of the building or interiors useful life during the
design process and during the selection of materials can result in signicant benets economically and environmentally. Potential environmental benets include
reducing the impacts of resource depletion, manufacture of new materials and
disposal in landlls. Since all these impacts have economic costs, these
benets also can save money, as well as suggest new design possibilities for the
innovative interior designer.
How can the designer incorporate these considerations?
Design assemblies, such as walls and millwork, so that they do not need adhesives and joint compounds and can be disassembled with a screwdriver rather
than a wrecking ball.
Utilize products, such as carpet and ceiling tile, that have manufacturer takeback programs.

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MATERIALS AND PRODUCTS INTERIOR DESIGN AND GLOBAL IMPACTS

Select products that can be salvaged or recongured in the future, such as

component-based furniture systems and moveable partitions.
Select products made with materials that can recycled again and again, such
as steel, aluminum and certain types of carpet bers.
Select biodegradable products, such as certain agriber boards and natural or
vegetable oil-based bers.
Select furniture and other interior components that owners can reuse in a different interior.
Select systems furniture that can be refurbished and repurchased.

Attributes of Materials
Steel scrap is fed into an electric arc
furnace using an overhead hopper
during the recycling process.
Photo: Steel Recycling Institute

Comprehensive and specic environmental information about materials and

products should always be a consideration when selecting materials. Some
attributes, such as recycled content, apply to many dierent materials and can
provide an accessible window into their relative environmental qualities.

Recycled Content
Often the most commonly used indicator of an environmentally preferable characteristic in materials selection, recycled materials are those that, after their
useful life, are reprocessed or remanufactured and either used again in their
original capacity or in a dierent product.
In principle, the most sustainable form of recycling is closed-loop recycling, or
maintaining the quality of the material at its highest and best use, as opposed
to down cycling, or using a material to make a product of decreased value, or
mixing it with other materials so that it cannot be separated again. The benet of
using materials with recycled content is that fewer virgin, or raw materials, are
extracted and fewer used materials are landlled. However, recycling carries its
own environmental impacts that must be considered.
There are two primary types of recycled content: post-consumer and pre-consumer. Post-consumer generally refers to materials diverted from the waste stream
after consumer use, and pre-consumer, or post-industrial, refers to waste generated during a manufacturing process before the material is used by a consumer.
A designer may want to or be asked to establish recycled content guidelines for a
project, and the LEED Rating System, which credits certain levels of recycled
content, provides one such set of guidelines.

The EPAs Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines may also be useful in providing target recycled
content. www.epa.gov/cpg

Many manufacturers publish recycled content information for their products,

but the reliability of such information varies. ISO Standards and Federal Trade
Commission (FTC) guidelines detail how recycled content must be dened and
determined, but not all manufacturers or manufacturers representatives may be
using those guidelines. The designer should use only published or printed data
from the manufacturer. If this data is not available, request a letter of adavit
from the manufacturer, signed by a senior ocer of the company, stating the
amount of each type of recycled content contained in the product in question. The
designer can also rely on recycled content information that is certied by a third
party, such as Scientic Certication Systems.
In some instances, the terms recyclable and recycled content are confused.
The FTC denes a product as recyclable if it can be recovered from the waste
stream through an established recycling program. Not all manufacturers use this

MATERIALS/PRODUCTS AND SUSTAINABLE DESIGN

denition, so there may not be programs in place to recycle products that are
termed recyclable. Furthermore, recyclable products do not necessarily contain
recycled content.
What are examples of common interior products that may contain recycled
content?
Drywall
Ceiling tile
Insulation
Carpet and carpet tile
Resilient ooring
Metal components
Furniture
Fabrics
Tile
Wallcovering
Composite wood-based products. Many are made from sawmill waste,
a pre-consumer recycled material.

One way to reduce material usage is to

specify products with recycled content,
such as the resin-impregnated ber
panels used here in a countertop.
Photo: Stelle Danes

The following questions may be useful to designers seeking information from

manufacturers:
What is the percentage of post-consumer and pre-consumer recycled content
of the product?
How was the recycled content determined?
Is there documentation from a third-party certication organization that veries the recycled content percentages?
Would you be willing to provide a letter of adavit conrming the amounts of
recycled content?
Can the product be recycled at the end of its useful life through established
channels?

Salvaged and Refurbished Materials

Utilizing materials that have been salvaged during building deconstruction or
renovation is another way to reduce the amount of materials going to landll and
to avoid the use of virgin materials. Salvaged materials also reduce the energy
costs and other environmental impacts of recycling and remanufacturing. Salvageable materials can be reused with little or no modication and often can be
reused in a number of ways, including being refurbished for the same application
or being reworked for use in a dierent application. Salvaged materials can also
be used as memorabilia or in a creative/decorative manner. LEED gives credit for
achieving a threshold of salvaged material use.
Common examples of salvaged material for interior applications include

Salvaged materials can often be

used in place of new ones, as with
these salvaged slate countertops.
Photo: Scot Horst

11

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MATERIALS AND PRODUCTS INTERIOR DESIGN AND GLOBAL IMPACTS

Wood-salvaged timber is often reprocessed into ooring and structural timbers.

Brick.
Furniture and built-in casework.
Plumbing and lighting xtures. Older xtures may need to be upgraded for
energy and water eciency, however.
Architectural details, such as millwork, mantles, woodwork, hardware and
staircases.
Products made from salvaged materials, like this staircase constructed
with reclaimed douglas r, help
reduce both the use of new materials
and the creation of waste.
Photo: Solid Wood Products

Rapidly Renewable Materials

Rapidly renewable materials, such as bamboo and wool, can replace themselves
within a 10-year growing cycle through agriculture or forestry. Products made
from rapidly renewable sources are becoming more widely available for many
interior applications, oering the environmental benet of decreasing demands
on non-renewable materials.
Reduction of agricultural waste is a further benet of some renewable materials.
Materials, such as wheatstraw that might commonly be burned or used as animal bedding, are being used for interior products, saving energy and reducing
pollution. LEED awards credit for meeting a threshold of rapidly renewable
material use.
Examples of rapidly renewable resources include
Wheatstraw
Corn stalks
Polylactide (PLA) (made from corn starch)
Cork
Bamboo
Sunower seed hulls
Soybeans
Wool

Bamboo, like that shown here growing in Chinas Zhejiang province,

grows quickly and is considered a
rapidly renewable resource.
Photo: Teragren, LLC

Linen
Silk
Ramie
Linseed oil
Quick-release vegetable oils
These materials are being used in many ways, including
Flooring cork, bamboo, and linoleum made from linseed oil.
Fabrics and carpets made from wool or PLA.
Particleboards and medium-density berboards (MDFs) made with wheatstraw are used in cabinetry, furniture, millwork, case goods and ooring

MATERIALS/PRODUCTS AND SUSTAINABLE DESIGN

underlayment.
Biocomposite panels made with soybeans and sunower seed hulls can be
used for interior nish applications, such as paneling, counters and cabinets.

Material Manufacture and Extraction Location

Using materials that are extracted or harvested and manufactured close to the
project site reduces the energy use and pollution caused by transportation, and
provides economic support to the local community. For example, rather than
using wood species and stone products that are imported, consider using locally
harvested or extracted products. As with other sustainable design practices, the
creative designer can nd inspiration in working with a more local palette of materials. The use of materials that are both manufactured and extracted within 500
miles of a project site can earn points in the LEED Rating System.

Certied Wood
Specication of wood or wood products that originate from sustainably managed
forests minimizes the environmental impact of the use of wood and protects
forest resources. Wood that comes from sustainably managed forests is referred
to as certied wood when it has been certied by an independent third-party
organization. While there are several certication systems in use in the United
States and Canada, the only program currently recognized by the LEED Rating
System is the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). The FSC has established rigorous, international guidelines that support not only sustainable environmental
practices, but also rights of indigenous peoples and labor rights. The FSC accredits independent certiers, including SmartWood and Scientic Certication
Systems, to certify forest operations and chain-of-custody tracking for wood and
other forest products.
Chain-of-custody certication is also necessary to ensure that wood products
being specied are FSC-certied. Manufacturers of FSC-certied wood products,
including furniture makers, must obtain chain-of-custody certication to show
that they have procedures in place to track wood from certied forests and avoid
mixing it with non-certied wood. Useful Web sites for locating certied wood
products are www.certiedwood.org and www.fsc-info.org. FSC-certied wood is
commonly available at retailers, including Home Depot.
As better forestry practices and wider acceptance of FSC and other certication programs improve the availability of certied wood products, the interior
designer has growing options for the integration of certied wood into projects
of all types.

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)

An important consideration for indoor air quality is the chemical content of
materials and their associated installation products. This topic is discussed more
fully in the ASID Indoor Air Quality white paper. The designers goal should be to
reduce the use of harmful chemicals that can aect air quality in interior spaces.
The most common concern for interior materials is the presence of volatile
organic compounds. VOCs are found in many interior materials, including
adhesives and sealants, paints and coatings, carpet, resilient ooring materials,
furniture, wallcoverings and textiles. VOC and other chemical content information can be determined using manufacturers technical data sheets, material
safety data sheets (MSDS) or from manufacturers printed data. The LEED Rating
System references a number of national standards that limit the acceptable VOC

Manufacturers of FSC-certied wood

furniture, like the modular oce
system shown here, must show
that they are able to track the wood
through its chain of custody.
Photo: Knoll, Inc.

13

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MATERIALS AND PRODUCTS INTERIOR DESIGN AND GLOBAL IMPACTS

content and list banned or restricted chemicals that are recognized as having a
potentially negative eect on human health for many common interiors materials
such as paints and coatings.

volatile organic
compounds (VOCs)
Compounds that turn into
vapors at room temperature,
contributing to human health
risks, smog and atmospheric
ozone depletion.

How can VOCs be minimized?

Obtain all relevant manufacturers data and review for harmful chemicals.
Use recognized standards as VOC guidelines for choosing materials. These
guidelines include Green Seal standards for paints, The Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) standards for carpets and carpet adhesives, Greenguard Environmental Institute (GEI) allowable emission levels for furniture, and the South
Coast Air Quality Management District rules, including those for adhesives and
sealants.
Pay special attention to minimizing VOC content in the largest areas of impact:
walls, including paints, coatings and wall coverings; oors, including coatings,
sealers and nish materials; and ceilings, including acoustical ceiling tiles.
Use products within a material class that have the lowest VOC levels. For
example, use low- or no-VOC paint products.
Consider installation strategies that minimize the use of adhesives.
Use composite wood products that do not contain urea-formaldehyde binders.
Minimize use of furnishings, drapery and upholstery that have been exposed to
formaldehyde nishing or other chemical treatments that release VOCs.
Several types of VOCs, including toluene, benzene and xyleneall toxic solvents
in nishes and sealantsand urea formaldehyde, are particularly hazardous and
are treated in more detail below.

Toxicants and Hazardous Ingredients

The following list of chemicals and substances are associated with signicant
human health and environmental problems and should be avoided. Scrutinize
potential alternatives carefully, as there may also be environmental or health issues associated with those products. Trade-os may be necessary at times.
Brominated ame retardants
Flame retardants are widely used to reduce the ammability of plastics, including hard plastics, such as computer casings, and soft or exible plastics, such
as foam cushioning. While there are health concerns with many of these compounds, it should be noted that using the same materials without ame retardants would result in an increase in injuries and fatalities from res.
Brominated ame retardants contain the element bromine in their molecular
structure and come in several types, each with dierent applications and dierent potential health eects. Some of the most toxic forms have been eliminated
over the years, including, since 2000, two types of polybrominated diphenyl
ethers, or PBDEs. Other PBDEs remain on the market, however, and may cause
a range of negative health eects, such as endocrine system disruption and
developmental abnormalities. When burned, they can release highly toxic dioxins
and/or furans, both of which are carcinogenic.
Brominated ame retardants are likely to occur in polyurethane foam cushioning,
synthetic draperies, polyester fabrics, polyethylene casing on wires, and in hard
equipment casings. While it is not yet possible to totally avoid use of these mate-

MATERIALS/PRODUCTS AND SUSTAINABLE DESIGN

rials, the designer has several options for reducing potential exposure, including
selecting oce seating with mesh seats and backs rather than foam cushions,
and researching which companies are using alternative re retardants in their
foam products.
Halogenated plastics
The term halogenated refers to the inclusion of one of the chemical elements
known as halogens, including chlorine, uorine and bromine, in the molecules
of a polymer. By far the most common halogenated plastic is polyvinyl chloride
(PVC). PVC is known commonly as vinyl, although there are also other compounds that are technically vinyls but that are not halogenated. PVC is used in
siding for houses, resilient ooring, carpet tile backing, wallcoverings,
furniture, pipes, windows, wiring and many other applications.
Concerns have been raised about many aspects of PVC, including the potential
for dioxin releases during its manufacture and disposal, the generation of toxic
hydrogen gas during res, and the potential health eects from plasticizers
added to PVC to make it exible, such as phthalates and stabilizers like lead. It is
important to keep in mind, however, that every material has potentially adverse
environmental impacts in its life cycle, so when considering substitutes for PVC
the alternatives should be screened carefully as well.
Fluoropolymers are widely used as sheathing on electrical wire and data cables,
especially those rated for unprotected use in plenums, rather than in metal conduits. While inherently ame retardant, these chemicals can release toxic fumes
during a building re.
An additional concern is the use of peruorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in the manufacture of uoropolymers. PFOA is a persistent synthetic chemical that has recently
been found to be widely dispersed in the environment and in human tissue, and
EPA has called it a likely human carcinogen. Although building occupants are
not likely to be exposed to PFOA, manufacture, and therefore consumption, of
uoropolymers releases PFOA into the environment, leading to long-term environmental concerns.
Bisphenol A
One of the key ingredients used to make polycarbonate, a clear plastic used in
furnishings and consumer products, is bisphenol A. Bisphenol A is one of a number of chemicals suspected of being an endocrine disrupter, or a chemical that
interferes with the function of the endocrine system, the system of glands that
produce hormones regulating development, growth and reproduction in humans
and animals. Bisphenol A has been shown to leach out of polycarbonate over
time at a rate that increases with repeated use.
Heavy metals
Mercury and the associated chemical compound methylmercury are bioaccumulative toxins that aect the nervous and endocrine systems in human beings. Toxic
loads of both mercury and methylmercury are commonly found in both ocean
and freshwater sh, and ingestion causes birth defects and neurological damage.
Mercury was until recently widely used in thermostats and electronic switches,
although most of those applications have been phased out, and alternative
products are readily available in the marketplace. Mercury continues to be used
in uorescent lamps, high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps and mercury vapor
lamps. While the amount of mercury in uorescent lamps has been reduced dramatically (from more than 30 milligrams per lamp in the mid 1990s to less than

Specifying chairs with mesh seats

and backs reduces the use of foam
cushions, thus reducing potential
exposure to brominated ame
retardants.
Photo: Knoll, Inc.

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MATERIALS AND PRODUCTS INTERIOR DESIGN AND GLOBAL IMPACTS

6 milligrams today), all mercury lamps should be handled carefully and recycled
at an appropriate facility licensed to handle this hazardous material.
Mercury is also released into the environment from the burning of coal to make
electricity. Therefore, even though energy-ecient uorescent lamps contain
mercury and can release mercury if improperly disposed of, inecient incandescent lamps ultimately lead to more mercury pollution.
Lead is a neurotoxin that causes dementia, intelligence deciencies, reading and
learning disabilities, impaired hearing and hyperactivity, and causes brain damage in children who commonly ingest it as chips and dust from old paint. It was
used extensively as a paint additive until 1977, when it was banned by the U.S.
Consumer Product Safety Commission. Lead was also used as a solder to join
metal plumbing pipes, as well as for water pipes themselvesin fact, plumbing
is derived from the Latin word for lead, plumbum.

While compact uorescent lamps,

such as these, can contain mercury,
inecient incandescent lamps cause
mercury to be released into the
environment through their use of
coal-fueled electricity.

Lead continues to be used as an alloy with other metals in roong and cladding
materials, although most of these uses are being phased out. However, leadbased paint remains widespread in homes and buildings built before 1978, and
children and adults are still exposed to peeling paint and dust, often resulting in
irreversible brain damage and other health problems. Use of basic maintenance
procedures and taking precautions during remodeling can prevent most of this
exposure, and any contractor or designer working on a building built prior to
1978 should be aware of these techniques, as well as the state and federal safety
regulations that aect public buildings and apartments built before 1978.
Lead is still used in features of everyday life, such as brass keys and brass plumbing xtures. According to federal regulations, up to eight percent of the alloy in a
brass xture can consist of lead while the xture can still be labeled lead-free,
and tests used to determine how much lead might leach from those xtures are
unreliable.4 Lead is also used as a stabilizer in some plastics, including PVC.
Cadmium pigments were once a staple in paints, but most of those applications
have been phased out in architectural coatings. Cadmium may still be found in
architectural alloys and in certain specialty products, such as plating on screws,
however, and should be avoided if possible due to known health eects, such as
lung disease, brittle bones, kidney failure and, according to the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services, possibly cancer.
Toxic solvents in nishes and sealants
A number of solvents used in coatings and nishes are harmful to humans and
other animals. Among the most problematic are toluene, benzene and xylene, all
of which are carcinogenic and irritating. These have been phased out of use in
many products but continue to be used in others. The Paint Standard from Green
Seal (GS-11) includes a list of chemicals that should be avoided in coatings.
Formaldehyde
Formaldehyde was classied in 2005 by the World Health Organization as a
known human carcinogen. It occurs naturally in the ambient air, but its concentration in many buildings is unnaturally high because it is used in many building materials and furnishings and is released, or o-gassed, at ambient air
temperatures. There is no known safe exposure level for formaldehyde.
Formaldehydes most prevalent use is as a bonding agent in panel products that
are widely used in casework, furniture and ooring underlayment, as well as a
biocide or preservative in insulation, fabrics, ceiling tile, foams and other plastics. Urea formaldehyde is used primarily in interior applications, while phenol-

MATERIALS/PRODUCTS AND SUSTAINABLE DESIGN

formaldehyde is used most often in exterior-grade materials and products.

Interior designers need to be particularly aware of urea formaldehyde, a common
binder found in interior plywood, particleboard, chipboard and medium-density
berboard (MDF). Through research, interior designers can nd urea-formaldehyde-free composite woods, and specify furniture that complies with the acceptable formaldehyde emissions levels for furniture as established by Greenguard.
The LEED Rating System provides a point for the total avoidance of added urea
formaldehyde in composite wood products and laminates.

Selection of Materials
The interior designer can face a daunting task simply in developing a pleasing
and functional palette of materials for a project, even without adding environmental considerations. The designer may be faced with conicting choices and
may feel challenged to make informed selections.
A good starting place is to establish the core values and goals for the project
with the clients input and the assistance of the full, integrated design team (see
the ASID Beyond Interior Design white paper for more on this process). These
stated goals can then be used as a lter in developing the design and evaluating
trade-os of dierent materials. Determining the nature of this lter early on will
make subsequent decision making easier and keep sustainable goals in focus.

Formaldehyde-free plywood
reduces the chances of exposure to
urea formaldehyde and can be used
in many applications, including the
cabinets shown here.
Photo: Columbia Forest Products

Possible goals could include reducing all environmental impacts, or focusing on

one aspect of the environment, such as creating a space with the best indoor air
quality (IAQ) possible within project time constraints and budget. Some goals
will involve implicit trade-os, such as making IAQ more important than other
environmental considerations. Even if the goal is to reduce all environmental
impacts over the life cycle, trade-os are necessary because many material alternatives have similar total impacts while having higher or lower impacts within
individual categories.
From choosing a project goal, the designer can move to choosing strategies and
attributes to achieve that goal. If premium IAQ is the primary goal, the focus of
material selection will be environmental performance while the material is in
use. Several approaches could help achieve the goal of premium IAQ. Finding
a low-VOC adhesive or sealant to substitute for a conventional product is one
option, and so is reducing the use of adhesives by substituting materials that
dont require them. Reducing the sheer amount of materials used may lead to a
reduction in potential IAQ contamination, so long as those materials are carefully selected.
An additional consideration is use of the long-life-loose-t model, which has
several IAQ benets. A exible, long-lived design means that frequent renovations, which can contaminate a space with a high level of particulates, become
unnecessary. Using materials with long useful lives also means that new materials containing potential contaminants will not be needed. Also, many materials,
such as carpets, emit VOCs at a higher rate early in their useful life, so extending
that useful life improves IAQ.
Where possible, LCA tools can be used to help make decisions based on project
goals. A software tool like BEES is useful because it allows a designer to compare product options based on a single part of the life cycle or a specic impact
category, such as IAQ, while also allowing the designer to monitor and consider
other environmental impacts.
Recognized sustainable criteria and accepted national standards are useful tools

Moveable walls, such as those

shown here, are one way to design
for long life, loose t.
Photo: Haworth

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MATERIALS AND PRODUCTS INTERIOR DESIGN AND GLOBAL IMPACTS

in establishing a baseline for individual projects. These standards include green

building rating systems such as LEED, the LCA tools such as BEES, as well as standards, rules and guidelines established by organizations such as Green Seal, The
Carpet and Rug Institute, Greenguard Environmental Institute, the South Coast
Air Quality Management District, EPAs Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines
and the Forestry Stewardship Council. Designers should reference these standards to ensure that the materials selected for the project meet or exceed them.
For example, meeting VOC content limits will help ensure that the materials that
are used dont compromise indoor air quality. Standard organizations covering
these materials include SCAQMD Rule 1168 for adhesives and sealants, GEI for
furniture, CRI for carpet and Green Seal for paints and coatings.

Finding Reliable Information

When using information about the environmental benets of materials to make
decisions, the interior designer wants to be sure that the information is reliable
and accurate. Manufacturers environmental claims about products can be inaccurate or misleading. Such misinformation is not typically presented in a deliberate attempt to mislead, but is more often based on a lack of understanding about
the attribute or the process to determine the information. In other cases, vague
claims that enhance a products green image are made in lieu of actual hard
data that would not stand up to scrutiny.
Nothing can substitute for making a practice of being well informed and keeping
up to date on new developments in the eld of sustainable design. Even if a designer cant keep up on the details, he or she can know what to look for and what
questions to ask by understanding the more general concepts and attributes we
have discussed. Certication systems that investigate and conrm the reliability
of environmental claims provide valuable information that can supplement a
designers general knowledge. However, the designer who relies on certication
needs to understand where that information is coming from.
Generally, the three available types of certicationrst party, second party and
third partybecome more independent and more reliable as they are distanced
from the product manufacturer.
First-party certication occurs when a manufacturer indicates that its product
meets specic criteria. Without independent review, the claim is only as good
as that manufacturers word.
In second-party certication, industry groups or trade associations develop
standards that are certied by the developing body or an independent certier.
This type of certication may be useful as a preliminary review process, but
the interior designer should be wary of accepting unsubstantiated results from
such a review.
Third-party certication is a process by which products, processes or services
are reviewed, tested and labeled by an independent third party, certied to
verify that criteria, claims or standards are being met.
Below are some organizations that oer well-respected third-party certication systems, many of which are recognized by LEED for use during selection
of materials.
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international non-prot organization that establishes standards and accredits independent certiers to certify

MATERIALS/PRODUCTS AND SUSTAINABLE DESIGN

forest operations and chain-of-custody tracking for wood and other forest
products. Independent certiers using the FSC system include SmartWood and
Scientic Certication Systems (SCS). www.fsc.org
Greenguard Environmental Institute (GEI) is a non-prot organization that has
developed laboratory test protocols for the measurement of targeted emissions,
including particulates, VOCs and formaldehyde. Manufacturers submit their
products for Greenguard certication, through tests by an aliated laboratory.
Certied products include adhesives and paints, as well as assemblies, such as
furniture, furniture systems and carpet assemblies. The program calls for retesting on a regular basis to ensure that compliant products continue to meet the
established emissions levels. www.greenguard.org
Green Seal, Inc., is a non-prot corporation that develops standards that
indicate maximum allowable VOC content levels and also lists banned and/or
restricted chemicals. Green Seal certies products that meet these standards.
Green Seals standards for paints and cleaning products are referenced in
LEED Rating Systems. www.greenseal.org
Scientic Certication Systems (SCS) has certication programs, including
indoor air emission and a Material Content Environmental Certication Program, for numerous industries. This program certies percentage-based claims
for materials that have post-consumer, pre-consumer, salvaged, agricultural
waste, organic ber, bio-based or rapidly renewable content, among others.
www.scscertied.com

Other Testing Systems

The Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI), the national trade association representing
the carpet and rug industry, has developed Green Label and Green Label
Plus IAQ testing and labeling programs for carpet, carpet adhesives and cushion materials emissions. Although not technically a third-party certication
program, all testing is done by an independent laboratory.
The FloorScore program was developed by the Resilient Floor Covering Institute (RFCI) in conjunction with Scientic Certication Systems (SCS). The
program provides third-party certication of ooring products, including vinyl,
linoleum, laminate ooring, wood ooring, ceramic ooring and rubber ooring, for compliance with IAQ emission requirements adopted in California.

Creating a Green Library

In order to support sustainable design goals in project after project, interior
designers may want to develop a catalog of green products to aid in the material
selection process.
For designers who have an existing product catalog system, green product information can be integrated within the existing catalog, or separately as a green
library. The visibility of a separate green library may encourage and challenge
users to think in a new way, but it also raises questions about how to determine
what is green, when, as we have seen, that determination may vary between
projects. Integrating the product information into the entire library may encour-

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MATERIALS AND PRODUCTS INTERIOR DESIGN AND GLOBAL IMPACTS

age users to integrate these products into many projects, even those not focused
on sustainable design, but it may also be less accessible for those specically
working on sustainable design projects. The best approach may be to develop
a method for agging green products (or those with specic green attributes)
within a general product library.
Once a green library is established, a designer needs to decide what to include.
Some designers have developed manufacturer questionnaires to obtain detailed
information about environmental characteristics for specic lines of products.
This is a challenge for both the designer and the manufacturer: The designers
may nd it dicult to keep updated and the manufacturers may not have the
manpower to respond to multiple questionnaire inquiries.
The GreenSpec Directory
lists environmentally preferable products that have passed
its selection criteria.

One alternative is to rely on comprehensive product directories of environmentally preferable products. GreenSpec Directory, from BuildingGreen, Inc., is
one such directory that is widely relied upon to locate green building products.
GreenSpec does not perform tests like the organizations listed above, but it
compiles product information from many dierent sources and includes products
that t its selection criteria. GreenSpec is updated often, in print and online,
minimizing the design rms burden. The selection criteria used to develop the
directory are available so the designer can evaluate how specic products could
t his or her project goals, and the online version allows users to lter products
by environmental attribute. www.buildinggreen.com

3 Integrated Opportunities and Design Process

The goals of a sustainable building project can be achieved most readily using
an integrated design approach. Integrated design involves the early and active
participation of a full team, including the interior designer, enabling the team to
develop coordinated solutions resulting in less duplication of eort and a more
universal understanding of overall project goals. The interior designer benets
from being involved early in the design process by developing a deeper appreciation for the goals of the whole project, and the interior designer also has the
opportunity to communicate with other team members about how their choices
aect the goals of the interior design.
The interior designer can be inuential in material selection for the entire
project. For example, the mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) engineer
may be focused on selecting highly ecient equipment with refrigerants that
limit contributions to global warming potential and ozone depletion. With these
decisions on the forefront, the engineer may not have considered the use of lowVOC adhesives, sealants and paints in relation to the equipment and systems he
or she is specifying. By being involved in the process, the interior designer has
the opportunity to suggest such products and provide resources to help in their
specication. For a more detailed discussion of integrated design, please refer to
the ASID Beyond Interior Design white paper.

4 Materials/Products and Green Building Rating

Systems
The LEED Rating System and the NAHB/Green Home Building Guidelines are
discussed below. Information about other rating systems and programs can be
found in the ASID sustainability white papers Reference Guide.

MATERIALS/PRODUCTS AND GREEN BUILDING RATING SYSTEMS

USGBC/LEED Rating System

Within LEED for Commercial Interiors (LEED-CI), the system most likely to be
used by commercial interior designers, approximately one-third of the 57 points
are directly related to design topics and materials selection issues discussed in
this paper. The Materials & Resources section includes points relating to
Building reuse maintaining interior non-structural components
Resource reuse using salvaged, refurbished or reused
construction materials and furniture
Recycled content using materials with recycled content

For additional details,

visit the USGBC Web site at
www.usgbc.org.

Regional materials using materials that are manufactured and extracted

regionally
Rapidly renewable materials using materials that contain
rapidly renewable content
Certied wood using wood products that are FSC-certied

Additionally, the Indoor Environmental Quality section includes ve points for

using low-emitting adhesives, sealants, paints, carpet systems, composite wood
and laminate adhesives, furniture and seating.

For additional details,

visit the NAHB Web site at
www.nahbrc.org/greenguidelines.

The related LEED for New Construction (LEED-NC) credits are very similar to
those in LEED-CI, although furniture considerations are not usually included in
LEED-NC projects. LEED for Homes (LEED-H) credits contain many of the same
concepts related to materials selection, such as using local sources and environmentally preferable products, as well as additional credits related to home size,
material-ecient framing and a durability plan.

NAHB/Green Home Building Guidelines

Home designers are more likely to encounter a system such as the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Model Green Home Building Guidelines. Within
the Resource Eciency section of these guidelines, there are 31 available
initiatives that can be implemented, each with an assigned point value. The main
categories of Resource Eciency include
Reduce quantity of materials and waste

Endnotes

Enhance durability and reduce maintenance

1 Material Selection: Tools, Resources,

and Techniques for Choosing Green,
Environmental Building News, January,
1997.

Reuse materials
Use recycled content materials
Use renewable materials
Use resource ecient materials
Employ innovative options (this includes the use of LCA tools)

2 International Organization of Standardization, Standard ISO 14040,

Reference Number 14040:1997 (E).
1997, p2.
3 Selected and adapted from FutureProong Your Building: Designing
for Flexibility and Adaptive Reuse,
Environmental Building News, February
2003.
4 Journal of the American Water Works
Association, August 4, 2005.

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MATERIALS AND PRODUCTS INTERIOR DESIGN AND GLOBAL IMPACTS

Appendix: Questionnaire
The following questionnaire is oered for the benet of the reader to
evaluate whether the learning objectives of the paper have been achieved.

1. List and dene the four typical life-cycle stages of building materials.

2. Explain how BEES can be used to evaluate product alternatives using LCA.

3. Name and discuss three holistic strategies that can be used during interior design to
create sustainable interiors.

4. List and explain four attributes of materials that are often used to determine environmental preference.

5. What are VOCs? Explain four strategies that can be used to minimize
the VOC content of materials in an interior design project.

6. Name four toxicants or hazardous ingredients that can be found in

common building or interior nishing materials.

7. What steps can be taken to evaluate environmental trade-os during

material selection? Name and discuss briey.

8. Explain the dierent types of product certication and list three

third-party certications systems.

9. List three strategies for developing a green library.

10. Explain how an interior designer can contribute to the integrated

design process.