Creating the Eco-Friendly Kitchen

The framework for an environmentally friendly home and kitchen is being all electric. Electricity is increasingly being generated by renewables, either on or off site, thus avoiding the pollution and climate issues linked to using fossil fuels. Clean electricity has none of the harmful health issues tied to home gas appliances. A Federal EPA report asserts that a gas stove adds between 25 and 39 percent more nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide to the air in a home.

Fortunately, a great alternative to gas stoves exists in the electric magnetic induction cooktop. Because it directly heats a pan using magnetic fields, an induction unit can provide great power, instant adjustability, excellent thermal efficiency and precise control—better than with gas cookers and without the negative impact on indoor air quality. The energy efficiency of induction coils is approximately double that of gas burners.

To create an eco-kitchen, all appliances need to be minimally Energy Star rated. The Energy Star label, a Federal program that evaluates energy efficiency of household appliances, enables shoppers to knowingly purchase appliances that use the least energy and water to operate. Created in 1992, the program now covers 40,000 products and saves more than $30 billion (2013) in energy costs annually.

Choose cookware and utensils that stand the test-of-time and won’t have to be thrown away and replaced. Stainless steel and cast iron are good choices for pots and pans (also metallic cookware is required for magnetic induction cookers). Similarly, choose high-quality knives. One only needs a few good ones, plus they stay sharp longer.

Good natural lighting and ventilation can reduce the need for artificial lighting and mechanical ventilation. Carefully locating windows and skylights can improve the ambiance in a kitchen and enhance air quality. When needed, electric lighting is best provided by LEDs (light emitting diodes). They are super-efficient—requiring fewer photovoltaic solar panels—and provide excellent task lighting.

Equipment, lighting and ventilation are important, but one’s devotion, passion, common sense and experience focused on efficient food prep and cleaning habits are as key, if not more so, in creating an eco-friendly kitchen. Examples:

·         Use cloth towels rather than paper towels.

·         Avoid bottled water.

·         Buy cleaning products from companies that make non-toxic, biodegradable, plant-based products

·         Shop at the farmers’ market for local, fresh, organic, highly nutritious food without packaging.

·         The difference between ordering takeout and tossing together a salad with farmers’ market ingredients shifts from big to small impact on our agricultural system and the larger eco-systems. Food accounts for a greater portion of our ecological impact than home energy.

·         Minimize gadgets.

·         Don’t install a garbage disposal. Learn how to compost. Set up for easy recycling.

·         Design an open pantry for maximum convenience.

·         Have only drawers below counters. Avoid cabinets with doors and pull-out shelves. They require 2 operations every time one accesses a cabinet.

A Water Efficiency Breakthrough

Rain patterns are changing all over the planet. Being in a multi-year drought, Southern California is acutely aware of this indispensable resource and our lack of it. Santa Barbara has cut its non-agricultural water consumption by 35 percent. If we can cut usage even more, we can minimize additions to our water supply from the most costly, most energy intensive sources such as desalinization or the California State Water Project.

A promising development that can help cut water consumption even more is the atomizer mist technology. Nozzles harnessing this technology can be attached to most faucets or the concept can be incorporated into showerheads. The Swedish firm, Altered, has created a simple device that atomizes tap water into a fine mist. Although simple, it has been years in development. The result, per the company, “is a 98 percent reduction in water use, with no loss in functionality.” Although using only about 2 percent of the flow from a tap with no flow restrictor, the dispersion of millions of tiny droplets of water created by the high spread mist, makes it as effective in performing tasks like washing hands, cleaning a toothbrush or rinsing vegetables, or, for that matter, doing most other tap-related tasks.

At times, more water is needed more quickly than the atomizer can provide. Because it takes minutes to fill a glass or a pasta pot with water in the mist mode, the nozzle can easily be switched to a higher volume flow, called the Saver mode. This mode increases the flow to almost a gallon (0.8 gal) per minute. Since, on average, about 18 percent of household water consumption is through sink faucets, retrofitting with these small, attractive devices could reduce overall household water usage by 15 percent or more.

Another recently developed product using the same atomizing approach is the Nebia showerhead. Produced in the US, it similarly disperses water into millions of microscopic droplets to create 10 times more surface area than a regular shower’s water pattern, while saving 70 percent of water in the process. It has a built in multi-layer filter to catch sediment and other solid buildup. The Nebia comes with a wall mounted bracket that allows the showerhead to be adjusted vertically, or even detached completely to be used as a portable unit.

Both of these devices, new players in the strategic game to make more efficient use of our available water resources, show great potential as they move into the marketplace.

Carbon Storing Building Materials

Since my recent article on constructing carbon storing buildings, many have asked for specifics on carbon sequestering building materials. Here is a partial list:

·         Cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels of varying dimensions made up of alternating layers of perpendicular boards. Because small diameter trees, pest damaged trees and even trees killed by wildfires are used in fabricating these members, forest resources are more fully utilized. In addition to being strong, stiff, stable and relatively light weight, CLT panels are highly fire resistant and hinder fire spread. CLT can often be substituted for steel, even in high rise construction.

·         All bamboo building materials. Bamboo is a fast-growing wild grass that takes carbon out of the air faster than other plants. When laminated into posts, beams, glue-lams and trusses (trade name Lamboo), it rivals the strength ratio of steel yet is more fire resistant without the use of ecologically unfriendly fire retardants.

·         Cal Star bricks and pavers.  These are manufactured from fly ash, a waste product, using a small fraction of the energy needed to fabricate other masonry products. Another technology, on the cusp of commercialization, is growing bricks at ambient temperatures using bacteria and biomass. Absorbing pollution and carbon is part of the process.

·         Hemp lightweight composite (building) blocks (developed by JustBioFiber Structural Solutions). The blocks are highly resistant to fire, mold and insect damage. Hemp products are top performers in the negative carbon materials classification.

·         Calplant MDF rice straw panels. These panels utilize a carbon sequestering waste material that normally is disposed of by farmers flooding their fields using large amounts of valuable water.

·         Low-carbon insulating materials: cellulose, fiberboard (Gutex Multitherm), hemp board, recycled denim and mushroom insulation. Ecovation is the brand name for mushroom insulation. It can be sprayed into wall cavities or seeded, filling the cavity in 3 days.

·         Ecosmart drywall. This product uses less energy, resources and water to manufacture, is fire resistant and lighter in weight, thus requiring less energy to transport.

·         Green concrete. Cement accounts for around 6 percent of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). Green concrete focuses on 3 strategies: cutting GHG emissions, reducing inputs of natural resources, mostly by substituting recycled materials, and lessening air, land and water pollution related to its production. Ceratech, a US company, has created a feed mixture for cement that is 95 percent recycled fly ash and 5 percent renewable liquid additives, yielding an almost zero carbon footprint. Its concrete mixes reduce virgin resource inputs by 95 percent and water by half. This hydrated cement has superior properties to Portland cement, the industry standard. Another innovation is a cement that cures by absorbing CO2.

Incorporating these and other low or negative carbon materials in new and remodeled construction can substitute for many traditional building materials. Traditional materials like steel, concrete, aluminum and glass account for 11 percent of global CO2 emissions, according to a report from the UN Environmental Program. All materials listed above, except the bacteria grown bricks, are currently available and fit standard construction practices.

Building with Wood

For several decades there has been a debate in the building industry as to whether wood frame or steel frame construction is more sustainable—wood being a renewable material, while steel has recycled content, often incorporating 70-80 percent old automobiles. Perhaps the debate is finally being decided due to a panel technology called cross-laminated timber, CLT for short. Developed in Europe in the 1990s, it is only recently gaining popularity here.

A CLT panel usually consists of 3, 5, 7 or 9 layers of kiln-dried boards stacked in alternating directions, bonded with structural adhesives and pressed to form a solid, straight, rectangular panel. Surprisingly CLT has good fire-resistant properties: it is hard to ignite and once lit resists fire spread. Because the layers are oriented perpendicular to each other, the CLT panels are exceptionally strong, stiff, stable, relatively light weight and able to handle load transfer on all sides. They can be used for walls, floors and roofs in a single building system, or used interchangeably with other wood products.

Most commonly CLT panels are 40-60 feet long but can be as much as 100 feet. They are up to 18 feet wide and any thickness up to 20 inches. These panels are widely used in Europe, Australia, Canada and Japan. The possibility of large panels is revolutionizing how 10, 20 and 30-story buildings are being built. Currently an 18-story, 400 student residence (174 feet high) at the University of British Columbia is the largest CLT structure, but a 24-story tower is under construction in Vienna and a 35-story building in Paris is in the works. The most ambitious proposal to date is London’s CLT framed, 80-story Oakwood Tower.

Not only are CLT panels frequently made using small-diameter trees, but also can use less desirable wood from pest damaged trees, or even trees killed by wildfires, without compromising the panel’s overall integrity. These small, less-than-perfect inputs to panel manufacturing are leading to better utilization of forest resources. Pulling out small and medium sized timber, as well as dead trees, contributes to healthier forests.

Processing these culled trees into CLT panels, which then get incorporated into buildings, sequesters carbon from the atmosphere. CLT not only emits less carbon dioxide during the manufacturing phase but the finished buildings then help sequester carbon for longer periods. Scientists estimate that buildings made with these materials result in a 25-30 percent reduction in global warming potential compared to those made with traditional materials—concrete, masonry and steel.

Because they lend themselves to design versatility, fast installation, reduced waste and good thermal and seismic performance, CLT can reduce construction costs by up to 50 percent. Perhaps the biggest advantage, however, is sequestering carbon while creating healthier and more resilient forests.