ELPC’s Green Office Update
Thursday, July 1, 2010
ELPC’s New Office Gets Final Touches—Floor and Ceiling Tiles
ELPC’s new office has been designed to achieve LEED Platinum certification, the highest level possible. At every stage of the process—from planning and construction to moving and occupancy—we have taken steps to maximize efficiency, minimize waste and create a safe, healthy work environment. This has meant paying very careful attention to materials selection and specific design elements. For example, we have used more glass in our interior walls in order to increase the flow of natural light throughout the office and decrease the amount of electricity needed to light the space.
When selecting green building materials, we also looked at all phases of a product’s life cycle. Construction and demolition waste take up about 40% of space in landfills; half of that waste is recyclable. ELPC was able to divert more than 75% of our construction waste from landfill during our renovations.
A Quick Look at ELPC’s Office Flooring and Ceiling Materials
Flooring can be a major contributor to indoor pollution since it covers the largest surface area, and commonly used materials can be sources of environmental contaminants. Both flooring and ceiling materials are important contributors to environmental and air quality, but they are often ignored, as people focus on lighting, accents and other “sexier” issues. Around 30% of buildings have “poor” indoor air quality, due in part to harmful chemicals in carpets, adhesives, sealants, and finishes, including toxic volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
1. Carpet Tiles: The floor of our office space and production room is covered in state-of-the-art carpet tiles (Shaw EcoWorx Tile). The carpet tiles:
- - Have low-emitting thermoplastic backing, which is much healthier for indoor air quality than traditional PVC carpet backing.
- - Are 40% recycled content and 100% recyclable.
- Can be replaced in small sections as needed, extending the life of the materials and avoiding waste.
2. Ceiling Tiles: Ceiling material also covers a large area and can also have a big influence on indoor environmental quality. We use Armstrong Second Look ceiling tiles. These tiles:
- Are composed of 44% pre-consumer and 4% post-consumer recycled content.
- Can be recycled at end-of-life through Armstrong’s take-back program. This is important because recycling one ton of material saves:
- about 1,000 pounds of global warming pollution, the global impact of not driving a car 3,675 miles
- 11 tons of virgin raw materials, which saves 1,892 gallons of potable water; and
- 1,390 kWh of electricity, the monthly energy to power a home for 1.4 months.
We’ll continue to update you on our progress and highlight different elements of the office space as we settle into our new green office space in July. The next office update will focus on our lighting and other materials that allow natural light to travel through the office space.
Tags: green building, Greener Architecture
