Yummy Fish

The retailer’s magazines were each featuring sustainable seafood a month or so ago. They reassured me that the store in question supports sustainable seafood, and is working very hard to make sure that the fish they sell is indeed eco-friendly. I found out that Giant (a local grocery store) has a “Choice Catch” program and that BJs Wholesale Club is implementing a new seafood program with similar goals. Since a) we really like yummy fish, and b) we often shop at these stores, these flyers were of great interest.

Giant is a regional Mid-Atlantic grocer. They have been working with the New England Aquarium since 2000 to help ensure that they are truly buying fish that is sustainably raised or caught.. This has various aspects. One surprising one to this layperson is labeling—making sure that the labeling is accurate (selling illegal fish under a legal label is not unheard of). Another aspect is monitoring their supplier fish farms on various environmental criteria such as pollution, energy use, waste products, amount of contaminants from the fish farm, etc. They also don’t sell Chilean sea bass or orange roughy—both of which have been severely overfished.

BJ’s is newer to the whole idea of sustainable seafood. Within the past month, they have announced a commitment to sustainable seafood. Some of the elements are the similar to Giant’s—for example label integrity (they actually DNA test their fish), and making sure that wild caught fish are indeed legally caught (or least trying to ensure the legality of the fish). They also work with organizations like the Marine Stewardship Council and the Global Aquaculture Alliance. BJs has recently issued guidelines to its fish farm suppliers regarding enough room to swim, limiting chemicals, and preventing farm fish from escaping into the wild and spreading diseases into the ecosystem.

Another option for buying sustainably caught fish (at least in the Philadelphia area) is to enroll in Otolith Seafood’s Community Supported Seafood (CSS) program. It works like a farmer’s community supported agriculture CSA where customers pre-pay for the season. Every season, Otolith Seafood contracts with Alaskan fisheries for a set amount of fish. The CSS payments fund the purchase, enabling the harvester to have the capital they need to operate the boats and catch the fish. This fish is immediately blast frozen and shipped to Otolith for distribution. Unlike most resellers, Otolith will in many cases provide the name of the vessel that caught fish, and proof of its legality. The transparency is very impressive. A quick look at Otolith’s website gives one a pretty sense of where the fish comes from.

While it is important to be concerned with the environmental aspects of the seafood supply chain, social responsibility should be a part of it also. A recent Business Week article documented disturbing instances of fish sold in the United States being caught by crews who are essentially slaves. On the positive side, McDonald’s requires the supplier of the hoki used in Filet-o-Fish sandwiches to comply with a social responsibility audit including labor standards.

I guess the best way to make the whole seafood supply system more “sustainable” is to take some responsibility myself. This means making an effort to buy more sustainably sourced seafood than I did previously. Buying seafood at stores like Giant and BJ’s (among others) is a good start. Becoming more aware of these issues is another aspect. Asking questions in restaurants and stores is another thing I can do. Maybe I’ll even send a tweet or email to BJs’, Giant, or McDonald’s thanking them for having the programs they do. Talking about these issues with my friends is another idea. This may seem like only a little something. However, if many people do a little something, the combined result is an awful lot of something happening in the marketplace.

Otolith Seafood Blog:
http://www.otolithonline.blogspot.com/

Business Week Article
http://mobile.businessweek.com/global/fishing-as-slaves-on-the-high-seas-02202012.html/

Can I Really Buy Green Power?

I have officially become one of the 1.6 million Pennsylvanians to switch electricity providers. I now have a fixed rate of 7.27 cents per kilowatt-hour—100% green power. This compares favorably to the (RH) rate I was paying PECO, and compares favorably to what the RH rate will be this summer—so I am pretty pleased both on the cheaper price front and the green power front. When I decided to switch, my goals were a) cheap as possible and b) green as possible.

When Pennsylvania lifted the rate caps for electricity at the beginning of January 2011, I did not know a whole lot about the market for electricity. In fact, I barely knew that there was a market for electricity at all. My first task was to decode my electric bill so I knew what I had a choice about. I learned about generation and transmission charges, and the “price to compare”—PTC. Generation and Transmission is what I now have a choice in, and the PTC is the PECO utility benchmark for those generation and transmission charges. For 2011, I decided to watch the PTC to see what would happen before I switched.

I discovered that the PTC is generally lowest in the winter, highest in the summer and in between during the fall. I also learned that the price for electricity is as volatile as the stock market, and in the summertime, the price can shoot up—way up. I began to understand the concepts of variable, fixed, and mixed (blended) pricing for electricity. This was getting more complicated by the season. To top it off, I am (or was) an RH Residential Heating customer. Since I got volume discounts in the winter, no one really wanted me because they would not (or could not) match the RH discount I was getting.

This changed in January 2012 when the RH discount began to be phased out. I started getting real offers in the mail and referred to the state’s power switch website. I had to weed through the fixed, variable, and blended rate offers. “Fixed” could mean 6 months or 12 months—“variable” means the rate changes monthly, and blended means the price for the first 500 KwH is fixed, while any usage above that in any given month is at market rates.

If I happened to be an energy manager for a large enough commercial/industrial user instead of my house, I would absolutely consider doing such a blended contract, because it is certainly possible to “play the market”—if you can watch your usage. For me as a residential customer—I cannot watch my usage closely enough to prevent exposure to (summertime) price spikes. I won’t save enough to make it worth it. But I did know that the PTC was going up April 1, with every indication that it would go up again in July. So I decided to now lock in the best price I could.

I found a good price—Mission 1 (cheaper) accomplished. Accomplishing Mission 2 (green power) ended up costing me an extra $5/month on top of the regular power charges. I should mention that “buying” green power is somewhat of a misnomer. When I plug my light into a wall, the electricity feeding the bulbs comes from wherever PJM is getting it from for my zone. PJM is the entity that actually dispatches electricity from generators to buyers like utilities. On average, the breakdown is approximately 47% coal, 34% nuclear, 15% gas, the rest from various sources like wind and solar. What I am really doing is providing funding via my bill payments for Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) that are paid directly to wind, solar, water and other renewable power providers. This helps support them—so I am indeed supporting the production of “green’ power.

When I asked Energetix (my new supplier) about their green power, they said it was 40% wind and 60% hydro—water over a dam. In addition, I found out that Energetix is based in Rochester, NY and is a subsidiary of Iberdola–the Spanish wind energy company. They also own generation assets in New York State. They partner with an organization called Earth Kind Solar Energy to help with the “green” power they re-sell. Earth Kind’s website had some good case studies of other institutional customers who had used their services (solar)—and those had been re-printed in industry journals. Also, the commentary on some New York blogs checked out for Energetix as well. I forgot to ask who had certified their hydro power—but they seem legit.

So I am pretty happy with what I ended up when I switched. I got a good price for my electricity for the next year, lower than PECO’s PTC. I am also able to support green power development. Maybe I’ll do some research some day to find out which specific dams and wind farms my REC money is actually going to—and take a road trip to go see them. I am always looking for an excuse to go visit Upstate New York—I like it there.

PUC website for switching electricity providers:
http://www.papowerswitch.com/

Energetix’s green power partner:
http://www.earthkindsolarenergy.com/buy-wind-hydro-power/renewable-energy-credits/

Energetix Environmental Disclosure from 2008 (latest I could find):
http://www.energetix.net/Data/Documents/ENX%20Enviro%20Disclosure%200511.pdf/

Let There Be Light!

Sunlight Pours In

I left work today at about 5:30 pm, and I noticed something as I stepped outside—light. The days are now noticeably longer. This is actually one of the few things I like about the month of February—more time for sunlight. I recently came across a renovated 4-story wool mill in Norristown, PA whose owners (Corbett, Inc.) obviously share my affinity for sunlight. How do I know this? I went inside and was practically flooded with the natural light. In fact, on a recent tour I took there I learned that no employee is more than 15 feet from a source of natural light. I happen to be on the sun side of my office building, but at Corbett, every side is a sun side.

The Washington Woolen Mill building (the home of Corbett, Inc.) was built in 1817. In the 1820s, mills were 4 stories, with supply deliveries and natural light coming in through big doors and windows on the top floor. Then product moved down each floor through various manufacturing processes to the bottom floor, from which finished product was delivered. When Corbett bought the building in 1979, the company overlaid modern technology and extensive re-use to renovate the property. The main element they re-used was the architecture—especially the strong stone walls and large upper-level door and window openings. The original stone walls were repointed, and the original window glass (when present) was re-glazed. (Some of the windows had been boarded up in the 1970s—those got new glass. The frames are the old ones.

An "Outer" workspace

In a clever design touch, the employees in the office the most get the work spaces along the outer walls—that is, with the most natural light. One of the critical issues in managing the light (the current term is “daylight harvesting”) is making sure that each employee has the correct amount of light at all times. To ensure this, Corbett installed a very clever light management system that features automatic shades and dimmable overheard ballasts. As the sun travels around the building, the shades go up and down depending upon the sunlight level. At the same time, nearby dimmable ballasts are sensing how much sunlight is coming into the space, and dimming themselves accordingly. The system is so sensitive that single dimmable fixture (the longer ones) can have 2 distinct dim settings working simultaneously.

Conference Room

I’m glad there was so much light inside the building, because I still had a lot of building to see. Looking around, I noticed the very thick support and cross beams—original. I looked down and noticed the beautiful floors—reglazed, but also the original wood. Other spots had carpeting—and this was all both recyclable and made from recycled materials (not unlike the carpet I had bought a few years ago). I looked up, and saw the sprinkler system—re-purposed from the 1970s installation. What I did not see was much (or any) drywall. I saw modular glass walls (panels of glass) that allowed for privacy and the long open sight lines that made the space very pleasant. These panels also allow the light to travel a long way vs. getting blocked by drywall. These modules impressed me; they also impressed a Corbett client who came in for something else, saw the walls, and essentially bought them on the spot.

The Windows Really Do Open

Even the heating system partially uses the sunlight. First, the allowing the natural light and warmth to come in can only help with heating costs. The property features 2 connected buildings—Corbett’s office in the 4 story section and another company (Kay and Sons) in a connected 2 story annex. Both sections feature exposed ductwork at the ceiling above the cross beams mentioned earlier. The Kay and Sons folks have an extra benefit of a 2-story atrium with the original lever and pulley system intact for opening the upper windows. I was assured that they use the pulley system at every possible opportunity to bring in fresh air, providing yet another modern use for the original design.

Sunlight Delivered

When the mill was built in 1817, the architects utilized the sun and surroundings for heat and light because they had to—the technology did not exist and electricity had not been harnessed yet. Now, creators of sustainable buildings and design are looking for techniques and methods for buildings to work more with their surrounding environment for the comfort of the occupants. The occupants of the old Washington Woolen Mill (ie, Corbett, Inc., Kay and Sons) are certainly benefiting from the combination of the original design and modern technology. They don’t have to go outside to get some sunlight (and fresh air)—the renovated building’s design delivers it to them.

A Previous Post on Carpets
http://sustainablewritings.wordpress.com/2009/05/07/my-squishy-new-carpet/

A Previous Post on Drywall
http://sustainablewritings.wordpress.com/2009/04/15/drywall-wetwall/

Road Trip

It is January; so that means it must be time to think about where I go on vacation this year. Given the presence of a toddler in the house, this will almost definitely be somewhere I can drive to. Conveniently, my issue of AAA World showed up with its usual array of great trip ideas. Amongst the trip ideas was a story about efficiency in general and electric vehicles in particular. I must confess I have never put AAA and using less gasoline in the same thought before, so I read this with great interest.

Not only was there a great write-up on how seriously the auto industry is taking efficiency (for both economic and regulatory reasons), there was also an announcement of an upcoming series about trends the magazine believes “to be pushing the envelope of efficiency”. Sample features will include Tesla and the West Philly Hybird X Team. Tesla is a pioneer of battery technology, while the West Philly Hybrid X Team has won all kinds of citations for their entry in a national competition to design a car that can get 80-100 miles per gallon.

The article had a really nice write up on how seriously the automobile industry is taking (mileage) efficiency. This comes from a regulatory basis (the corporate average fuel economy—CAFÉ standards) and a market basis due to how consumer preferences tends to shift when gas hits $3.75/gallon toward higher mile-per-gallon cars. (I’ve seen other sources which say the $4/gallon is the tipping point. Whatever the reasons, I am thrilled to see more investment in developing more efficient cars.

There was a portion of this article that raised some questions about electric vehicles. Some of these concerned an infrastructure for electrics (charging stations), what might happen when batteries are depleted, etc. I think the question of disposing electric batteries is only fair if disposing of regular car batteries is considered as well. As for infrastructure, I have seen an increasing number of announcements of this location or that location being outfitted as a recharging station. Maybe this is part of the reason that, in spite of these questions, the article included a statement saying how AAA is “embracing the role of the EV (electric vehicle) in the future of the automobile”.

That does not mean that electric cars will become the dominant player in the industry any time soon. But it certainly underlines the potential for electric cars to become a noticeable segment in the industry. For example, I noticed that 700 units of BMWs current electric car (the Active-E) are now available for testing in the United States. (I happen to love BMWs, so I really paid attention to this item—too bad I live in the wrong market to qualify for the test.) If companies like BMW, Nissan, Ford, Honda and others gain acceptance over the next few years for their electric vehicle offerings, they will combine with the Toyota Prius to make a very noticeable market segment indeed.

BMW’s new electric vehicle ready for testing
http://ht.ly/8xRB1/

My Way or the Highway

Last weekend, I drove through the redesigned intersection of Camp Hill Road and Pennsylvania Avenue near Ft. Washington, PA. The construction project was finally over. On the transportation enhancement side of the ledger, the sightlines are much better, two traffic lights have been merged into one, and ample turn lanes have been provided to significantly smooth traffic flows. Also, the grade on Camp Hill Road is more gradual where it had been very steep before. I had dreaded coming down that hill in the wintertime, now I do not. So the intersection is much safer. Actually, from an engineering perspective, the solution to the previous safety problems is pretty clever. They basically raised both roadways.

On the environmental side of the ledger, the benefits are less obvious. Many trees (I guess a couple of hundred) were taken out to essentially move the hill and widen the roads. In fairness, it looks like that there was some environmental mitigation done. The remaining hill looks like it has been landscaped. There is also a new water retention pond nearby. I do not like the apparent environmental impacts, but the safety improvements are significant.

I think most roadway projects tend to have limited (if any) environmental benefits. However, one newly opened roadway not very far from me does have clear environmental benefits (vs merely environmental damage mitigation). This particular project is next door to the famous Longwood Gardens.

I should mention that Longwood Gardens is one of my favorite places. I love the variety of gardens there—both the indoor one and the outdoor ones. I also love the fact that my toddler son has a great time whenever we go there. I know I am close when I cross Route 926 and see the big meadow along Route 52. So I was more than a little puzzled when I drove there last month only to find that my meadow was missing. I know my toddler can run off at a moment’s notice, but a runaway meadow? Something was going on.

It turns out that the PA Dept of Transportation had moved the Route 52 I was used to a quarter mile to the east. The old road did not meet current roadway design and safety standards. Unlike most highway projects, this one had an explicit sustainability component–the creation of approximately 23 acres of new trees and the restoration of the natural flow of Pocopson Creek. This was due to a partnership created between Longwood and PennDOT. Longwood provided some funding and design assistance for the reforestation. PennDOT, of course, designed and built the new road.

The 23 acres translates to over 11,000 trees and 30,000 shrubs—many of which will be sourced locally. The specific types of trees and shrubs planted were designed to work together to create an environment that can blend with an existing meadow at the edge of Longwood Gardens. There will also be wetlands with a boardwalk, so I assume there will be public access at some point.

The transportation success of the Route 52 project will be fairly quickly apparent. The success of the reforestation will not be fully evident in 1 year, or in 5 years, but in 50 years. It is very interesting that Longwood is essentially looking for not a 1 year impact, or a 5 year impact, but a 50 year impact.

It would be nice to see every roadway project be judged on both the transportation enhancements and environmental benefits many years (50) down the road. However, I am probably being more than a little bit optimistic in that wish. If there are any road projects being built with both the long term transportation and environmental benefits being deemed equally important, I would love to hear about them.

Sustainability at Longwood Gardens:

http://www.longwoodgardens.org/SustainabilityatLongwood.html/

(Election) Signs of the Times

The election has come and gone, but thousands of its remnants remain. These would be the political signs that covered Montgomery County, Pennsylvania during the campaign. I am not against the signs per se, especially since I had four of them on my lawn. Approximately 24 seconds after the election ended (give or take a few seconds) these signs morphed into lawn clutter. Many years ago I used to throw them out. A couple of years ago I started putting the metal frames into my township provided recycling can.

This year, the county’s Recycling Office, both political parties, several townships, ReCommunity Recycling, and Sullivan’s Scrap Metals have put together a new program to recycle these election signs–frames and all. There were an estimated 200,000 of these signs throughout the county, which would be a huge amount of landfill waste (if they actually got to the landfill). So if you live or work anywhere in Montgomery County, take the sustainable route to getting rid of those now worthless election signs—recycle them!

They want your signs!

All the Details:

http://www2.montcopa.org/montco/CWP/View.asp?a=11&q=83273

Montgomery County Recycling Office

http://www2.montcopa.org/montco/cwp/view,a,3,q,82083.asp

The (Electricity) Meter is Running

Energy efficiency is very important to me. I have always been somewhat of a fanatic about turning off my lights. I just do not want to use any more electricity than is absolutely necessary. A few years ago I had a new air heat pump system installed. I used less electricity and immediately saved a full one-third off my electric bill. This summer we installed new windows. The house was cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter (at least during the October snowstorm we had yesterday that I am counting as “winter”.). Based on a couple of bills, I estimate that the new windows have saved 10% off of my electric bills.

My house is all-electric, including electric heat. I am very oriented to ways I can be energy efficient. Additionally, Pennsylvania has PA Power Switch. This means that my electricity rates reflect the market price, not a cap enforced by the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission (PUC). It also means I have to make a choice whether to switch my electricity supplier from my local utility (PECO) to someone else. For residential customers like me, this started back in January 2011. For many businesses, this need to make a “power switch” as to their electric power supplier started several years ago.

Businesses have a couple of options to reduce their electricity usage and bills. They can either lower their overall electricity demand, and/or, they can lower their demand for electricity at specific times during the day. This latter option can be a little tricky because it involves reducing your electricity usage when everyone else is increasing theirs, like on a hot summer day with the humidity over 90%.

The first option is basically implementing various energy efficiency measures. Lighting is often a highly effective way to achieve savings—mostly because it tends to cost less than other options. Something as simple as replacing incandescent bulbs in EXIT signs can have a very positive effect. In fact, a school district near me did a comprehensive lighting retrofit a couple of summers ago and reported a savings of over $250,000! HVAC systems are often more capital cost intensive—but they can have great benefits also. I recently read a case study of a local hospital that saved almost a half-million (500,000) kilowatt-hours per year with their upgrades (and they got rid of the cold spots, also).

The other option is adjusting your electricity usage to the demand in the overall market. This demand response works best when a company has the ability to actually lessen demand at certain times of the day—the times when electricity costs the most. Contrary to widespread popular belief, the wholesale price of electricity varies during the day, similar to stocks. In fact, many electricity suppliers base part of their rates on how much a given business uses during peak system demand times as well as how much they use overall.

So if a business can actually figure out when these high system demand times will be and adjust accordingly, they can receive cash payments immediately and benefit from lower rates year round. This requires a detailed knowledge of both energy usage as well as how their business operations can potentially be rescheduled during the day. Focusing on late afternoon during the hottest days of the year is a good place to start.

I actually participated in a demand response program this summer. I agreed to allow PECO to curtail my air conditioner’s cooling ability for 15 minutes at a time when demand on their system was the highest (the fan still ran). In return, their Smart A/C Saver paid me $30 monthly for 4 summer months to do so. Given my bills, this is real money.

Like myself, the school district, and the hospital, many entities implementing energy efficiency initiatives are saving significant funds by doing so. Energy efficiency is a classic case where being good to the environment can also have very good economic benefits. As the Economist says, it is not particularly glamorous but it works really, really well from a variety of perspectives.

The Economist article:

http://www.economist.com/node/21533432

PUC PA Power Switch site:

http://www.papowerswitch.com/

Can My Employer’s Office Building be Green?

I got an email at work this week noting that the company’s landlord (Brandywine Realty Trust) was implementing a new recycling system. Instead of changing everyone’s trash can liners daily, the trash can at my cube is now a recycle can—the trash goes to lined cans in the kitchen. The idea is to make it less easy to throw away trash and more easy to recycle, The system will be set up to encourage the sustainable option—in this case, recycling,

I became curious about what else a landlord like Brandywine could do on the sustainability front. Brandywine actually has a pretty impressive program. A couple of its elements include green cleaning products and beginning an integrated pest management system for the landscaping outside. Equally impressive from a corporate point of view are the goals for 2011—including a 70% recycling diversion goal (the source of the email I got), a 10% reduction in water consumption—35 million gallons, and bringing 33% of their portfolio into Energy Star compliance. These are all excellent goals—and measurable.

But Brandywine is not the only large commercial landlord in the Philadelphia area marketplace implementing green building initiatives. Another major landlord is Liberty Property Trust. I was actually lucky enough to be able to take a tour of one of their showcase properties—Center City Philadelphia’s Comcast Center. It is truly a spectacular building featuring a 100 foot high “lobby”. However, in order to save energy, only the bottom 20 feet is climate controlled—the other 80(%) are not. That is a lot of energy usage avoided.

The Comcast Center has several other notable features that make it a more sustainable building. The special windows block 60% of the sun’s heat while enabling 70% of the sun’s light to get through. The urinals are waterless (saving an estimated 1.2 million gallons of water). The irrigation system is based on the collection of storm water and re-using that water vs. turning on the taps. This water will be stored in old boiler tanks that were re-purposed and re-used (and saved from a landfill at the same time.).

There are numerous other major buildings in Philadelphia that have significant green elements. The expanded Convention Center, for example, has a “white-roof” which reflects the rays of the summer sun. It also has the energy efficient “Low-E” insulating glass. Both of these help reduce operating costs. In suburban Philadelphia., Centocor put a “solar grove” in their parking lot. This features 8 columns of 70 solar panels each. The panels will simultaneously save $35,000 on energy costs and generate $60,000 in revenue from solar power sold back into the electricity grid.

The more I look, the more examples I find of commercial property owners making their properties greener and more sustainable. It definitely seems the wave of the future—one that can’t come soon enough in my view. I am happy that my particular office building is implementing the new single stream recycling system. I am even happier that many other building operators have implemented larger scale projects to make their buildings green and cheaper to operate at the same time.

Lobbies of Green

Traveling is something I enjoy. It is fun to explore other cities, and other areas. I am always happy when I get an indication that a given hotel that I am staying in is implementing some sort of environmental program. But after reading the article linked below, I think I probably should just stay home. It turns out that my home region, Philadelphia, has witnessed an innovation explosion when it comes to implementing sustainability and green (building) techniques in the hotel sector.

The array of efforts is quite impressive. The efforts range from something as seemingly mundane as blankets made entirely from recycled materials to exotic as channeling bathroom exhaust fans into the main HVAC system to be re-used for pre-cooling and pre-heating. One hotel even has a rooftop garden that supplies its in-house restaurant. (Now I know why the brunch there is really, really good.) Possibly the most surprising example is a new hotel under construction that I drive past every day. It actually uses wood by-products and recycled drywall in its construction and included a “white roof” that helps to regulate heat to boot. Maybe I should ask for a tour of the site.

This article, from the Uwishunu blog published by the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (posted by Allison Stadd), gives a lot more details:

Sustainability in Philadelphia Hotels

http://http://www.uwishunu.com/2011/08/sustainable-philadelphia-eco-friendly-measures-hotels-in-and-around-philadelphia-are-taking/”

A Previous Post about Drywall

http://http://sustainablewritings.wordpress.com/2009/04/15/drywall-wetwall/”

The Big Boy Bed

My wife and I noticed a very scary thing a few weeks ago—our son was beginning to lift his knee as if to climb out of his crib. He is an accomplished climber, so we fully expect him to be out of the crib within a month of two. Time for a big boy bed—and time to find out if the words “sustainability” and “big boy bed” can work in the same sentence. Depending upon how you define it, it is probably possible to buy at least somewhat “sustainable” youth furniture.

For me, the number one definition of sustainability is made in the USA. I generally think of sustainability as environmental first, economic second. However, in this case, I am flipping my preference list. I would vastly prefer to help keep an American company (and its jobs) in business rather than send the money overseas for something like this. I am not entirely sure if it is the litmus test, but it is pretty close. By essentially filtering on “Made in the USA”, I realize that I am potentially limiting my options, but I want to fully explore these companies first.

While looking at potential beds for my son, I identified 3 companies who make youth collections in the United States—Young America (Stanley Furniture), Vaughan-Bassett, and Lea Furniture, which is owned by La-Z-Boy. I thrilled to learn that all of Young America’s collections are made in the Southeast. However, I was less thrilled to learn that Stanley’s adult collections are made primarily in either Indonesia or Vietnam. Lea Furniture has a similar dichotomy, with some collections (like Deer Run and Austin) being made in the United States, and others (like Lea Elite) being made abroad. Vaughan Bassett seems to be the company most consistently making its line of products here in the United States—they claim 95% of their product is made in the USA.

Vaughan Bassett also has a very nifty program where they essentially replace the trees they use. They had a “one for one’ program which provided 150,000 seedlings to the State of Virginia, which has replanted them in state forests. They’ve also installed equipment to increase lumber yield (and therefore use and pay for fewer trees). Both they and Stanley (at least, the domestically made Young America collections) source most of their lumber from within 500 miles of the factory—75% for Young America, 99% for Vaughan. Young America is also working towards reducing the amount of materials used in its packaging as well as decreasing the amount of hazardous by-products created in the course of the manufacturing process.

Both Stanley and Vaughan-Bassett are members of the Sustainable Furniture Council, a furniture industry organization dedicated specifically to sustainability. Another industry initiative is the EFEC: Enhancing Furniture’s Environmental Culture. This is a program of the American Home Furnishings Alliance focused specifically on environmental aspects of the production process, that Lea Furniture and Hooker Furniture have affiliated with.

For its part, the SFC has a lengthy application where companies detail a variety of efforts in various aspects of sustainability. Examples concerning People, Planet, and Profit (triple bottom line) include whether a company has implemented recycling in its production process, not using virgin wood if at all possible, pays a living wage (vs a minimum wage), implements an energy audit, etc. Their website has lots of good information oriented towards building a community of players within the furniture industry who care about sustainability including but not limited to environmental aspects.

The EFEC is specifically an environmental management program, analogous to the ISO 14001 environmental management standard. The EFEC requires an applicant company to have written environmental goals and a documented process to measure progress to achieving them. Further, EFEC audits the manufacturer when they first apply for registration and annually thereafter. Additionally, the EFEC program has an extension called Sustainable by Design (which Lea qualified for a couple of years ago). This goes beyond the environmental management program to include supply chain management, greenhouse gas emissions, energy conservation, social performance, etc.

This research has actually affected my thinking about which bed I buy. I was always determined to buy a good quality bed for the long term, with underbed storage. I want to buy a bed that is simultaneously American made, high quality, environmentally friendly and affordable. The easiest piece to define has been high quality—I can shake the bed, pull the drawers and decide if the combination will be suitable for my son as the years go by. I begin there as the initial filter, and then went into other factors such as American made and good on the environmental and sustainability fronts.

Now, after learning about what different companies are doing in terms of overall manufacturing and environmental performance across their various brands, it is becoming more complex. I might be making this too complicated, but what if a company makes only some of its collections in the United States? What if I am impressed about a particular company’s environmental performance, but that specific collection is imported while others are made here? Or, do I want to stick with what is probably a perfectly suitable American made, relatively environmentally friendly collection vs spending a premium for another collection (also American made, and relatively environmentally friendly collection) that is reputedly “higher quality”. I wish I knew.

Sustainable Furniture Council:

http://http://www.sustainablefurnishings.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=12″

Enhancing Furniture’s Environmental Culture:

http://http://www.ahfa.us/resources/efec/section1/section1_home.htm”

Hooker Furniture Eco-Friendy Furniture Post:

http://http://blog.hookerfurniture.com/2011/06/you-don’t-have-to-sacrifice-style-to-“go-green”-in-furniture/”