Feature from Environmental Building News
Cool Products From Greenbuild 2009:
An Expo Floor Tour
Another Greenbuild conference has come and gone, with its frenetic activity, informative educational sessions, many meetings, and all-important networking.
Exciting Products from Greenbuild Phoenix
While the products described in the following pages are scattered over a wide range of applications, most have been grouped under general headings.HVAC and water-heating equipment
Rinnai has a new, 95% efficient, condensing tankless water heater. The RC98HPi is designed for interior mounting; delivers 9.8 gallons per minute (gpm; 37 lpm) at a 35°F (19°C) temperature rise and 3.8 gpm (14 lpm) at a 100°F (56°C) temperature rise; and uses natural gas or propane at an input rate of 10,000–199,000 Btu/hour (2.9–58 kW). The energy factor is listed at 0.93. Solving a problem with some tankless water heaters used with low-flow faucets, this water heater will activate at a flow rate as low as 0.4 gpm (1.5 lpm). www.rinnai.us Venmar Ventilation of Canada showed off its state-of-the-art EKO residential heat-recovery ventilator (HRV). The EKO 1.5 uses an electronically commutated motor (ECM) to deliver 2.53 cfm per watt, which the company claims is the highest efficiency of any HRV in the industry. At the lowest of four speeds, it uses just 13.5 watts to deliver 40–80 cfm. Included with the HRV is a highly sophisticated and, well, pretty cool Altitude wall control, which displays graphically what the HRV is doing. www.venmar.ca RiteHite makes high-volume, low-speed fans—like Big Ass Fans, which has been a prominent exhibitor at recent green building conferences. RiteHite claims that its Revolution series offers the highest-efficiency air delivery of any ceiling fan. It certainly looks to have very good specifications. Fans are available with diameters from 8–24 ft (2.4–7.3 m) providing up to 428,000 cfm of air flow. Ceiling fans are green because, by moving air, they raise the air temperature at which people are comfortable; RiteHite claims that 2–3 miles per hour (0.9–1.3 meters per second) of air flow is comparable to lowering the air temperature 7°F–11°F (4°C–6°C). www.ritehitefans.com The Power-Pipe drainwater heat recovery system from RenewABILITY Energy isn’t new, but it’s exciting enough to remind readers about. It is one of several systems that capture waste heat from shower drains for preheating hot water. It consists of multiple, parallel lengths of flattened copper pipe wrapped around a section of copper drainpipe; cold water circulates through the small-diameter outer pipe before reaching the water heater. It is appropriate for homes as well as commercial, industrial, and institutional buildings. According to company president Gerald Van Decker, over 50 builders are now using the system, and both Sears and Home Depot are carrying it in Canada. www.renewability.comPanel products and interior finishes
The German company Pinta Acoustic has introduced to the U.S. a great-looking acoustic ceiling panel and wall tile called Phonstop. The panels are made from 100% post-consumer recycled glass bottles, which are ground and sintered to form a rigid, lightweight, porous panel. Unlike mineral wool acoustic panels, a binder is not required for the Phonstop panels, which achieve Class 1 fire-resistance as well as flame-spread and smoke developed ratings of 0 (based on ASTM E-84) without the use of flame retardants. Compressive strength is 165 psi. Phonstop V, in 2" (50 mm) thickness, adheres directly to walls or ceilings; Phonstop E, in 1" (25 mm) thickness, is installed into standard ceiling grids. www.pinta-acoustic.comand was used in the German submission that won the 2009 Solar Decathlon (see EBN Dec. 2009). www.thermalcore.info Richlite makes a durable countertop material from paper and phenolic-formaldehyde resin. All of Richlite’s paper content (60%–70% of the material) is now either certified to the Forest Stewardship Council’s (FSC) standards or derived from 100% post-consumer recycled paper (the R100 line). As for concerns about emissions from the phenol-formaldehyde resin, the material is certified by Greenguard Children & Schools and has measured formaldehyde levels of 0.001 parts per million, which is two orders of magnitude lower than typical background levels in the U.S. www.richlite.com
Plumbing fixtures and water-saving components
One of the big surprises at Greenbuild was learning that most of the major plumbing equipment manufacturers, including Moen, American Standard, Kohler, Delta Faucet, and TOTO, have shifted 100% of their lavatory faucets to maximum-1.5 gpm (5.7 lpm) flow rates—the level required to achieve EPA WaterSense certification. This represents a 32% reduction in water use when compared to the federal standard of 2.2 gpm (8.3 lpm). For most of these companies, this change applies to both residential and commercial products. As was clearly demonstrated in many of the exhibits, with good aeration or laminar-flow designs, a 1.5 gpm lavatory faucet is virtually indistinguishable from a 2.2 gpm product. Along with the conversion to 1.5 gpm faucets, American Standard has a new FloWise Flush-Free Urinal that’s manufactured by ZeroFlush and branded American Standard; it comes in three styles. The company has also introduced the Washbrook FloWise eighth-gallon (0.5 lpf) urinal, the H2Option dual-flush toilet using 1.6/1.0 gpf (6/3.8 lpf), the Yorkville pressure-assist 1.1 gpf (4.2 lpf) toilet (using a WDI EcoFlush pressure-flush module), and an interesting FloWise showerhead that is adjustable from 1.5 to 2.0 gpm (5.7 to 7.6 lpm); if you adjust it higher, it reverts back to 1.5 gpm when next turned on. www.americanstandard-us.com Kohler was most excited about its Insight Technology for hands-free faucets and flushometer toilets. This is a hybrid capacitor that achieves, Kohler claims, a 30-year battery life for sensor faucets based on 1.5 million uses—that’s once every 10 minutes, day and night, for 30 years. Another significant innovation premiered at Greenbuild was the hands-free Wave technology for sensor-flush toilets that prevents false flushes. A user flushes a toilet equipped with Wave technology manually—without touching anything—by passing a hand over the top of the sensor, breaking a vertical beam. Kohler also showed off its new eighth-gallon (0.5 lpf) Barden urinal. In October, for the second year in a row, Kohler was named the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) WaterSense Partner of the Year in the manufacturer category. www.kohler.com Australian manufacturer Caroma introduced in May 2009 a redesigned version of its H2Zero waterless urinal (see EBN Nov. 2007). The new model includes both the elastomeric mechanical seal (trap) that the previous model used and, below that, a more conventional “P” trap that uses urine (rather than the usual water) to provide the code-required liquid trap. While Caroma believes that this U.S. code requirement is unnecessary and that mechanical seals alone can do the job, redesigning the urinal was easier than changing long-established plumbing codes (for more on this issue see EBN Apr. 2008). The mechanical seal is made of silicone and rated for 10,000 uses. A big advantage of this system is that there’s no plant-oil trap fluid (found in most waterless urinals). Not only is that fluid expensive, but some experts worry that it will become a problem in wastewater treatment plants as waterless urinal use grows. Without the worry of losing the plant-oil trap fluid, custodial staff can periodically flush a gallon of water down the drain of the H2Zero to clear salt deposits—the biggest hindrance to long-term performance of waterless urinals. The City of Los Angeles recently approved the H2Zero urinal and offers a $400 rebate on it. www.caromausa.comWindows, doors, and fenestration-related products
RavenBrick displayed one of the most innovative products I saw at Greenbuild: RavenWindow, a thermochromic glazing that darkens passively as it is heated. On a hot, sunny day this tinting reduces the solar transmissivity of a window from about 60% to 8%, dramatically reducing solar heat gain and cooling costs. The tinting occurs without any electricity; when the glazing cools, it reverts back to its clear state. The temperature at which RavenWindow darkens is set at the time of manufacture; once the glazing is produced, that property cannot be changed. The tinting is achieved with an organic material sandwiched between two layers of glass. Unlike some organic electrochromic glazing materials that have come and gone in recent years, the material used by RavenBrick is highly durable, according to CEO Alex Burney. The first product will be shipped in March 2010, Burney says, for an installation in a new building at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The company is projecting a cost of $25/ft2 ($270/m2), which is lower than that of SageGlass, a competing electrochromic glazing (see EBN June 2006). Like SageGlass, RavenWindow technology will be licensed to partner manufacturers that will produce the windows and glazing systems. RavenBrick also showed off a spandrel glazing system, RavenSkin, that incorporates a PCM; the hope is to introduce it commercially in 2011. www.ravenbrick.comLighting, electrical, and instrumentation
Lunera Lighting has introduced an attractive commercial LED lighting fixture that provides extremely uniform light. Available in linear (6.7" x 4'; 17 x 122 cm) or square (2' x 2'; 61 x 61 cm) configurations, Lunera fixtures provide a very respectable efficacy of about 61 lumens per watt. The fixtures are fully dimmable, and available with color temperatures of 3,000K, 4,000K, and 5,000K; the rated life is 50,000 hours with 70% lumen maintenance. www.lunera.com Southwire has a new electrical cable with the lead oxide taken out. This isn’t as exciting as it would be if Southwire, North America’s leading producer of electrical cable for building wiring (Romex brand) as well as power distribution, offered a halogen-free product, but it’s great to see the company exhibiting at Greenbuild and at least talking about green issues.southwire.com Illumra is one of a number of really cool control systems for hospitality lighting and HVAC systems using wireless EnOcean technology. Guests in Illumra-equipped hotel rooms use a key card to unlock the door, then put the key in a key-card reader in the room; this activates lighting and HVAC controls. When the hotel guests leave, they take the key card out of the reader, turning off lights and resetting HVAC controls to energy-saving default settings. The beauty of the EnOcean wireless technology is that Illumra systems can be installed in existing rooms very easily and quickly. For more on Illumra, see EBN Dec. 2009; for more on EnOcean (a BuildingGreen Top-10 product in 2007), see EBN Dec. 2007. www.illumra.com GrayWolf Sensing Solutions manufactures a wide range of monitoring equipment for volatile organic compounds (VOCs), carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, ozone, hydrogen sulfide, and other chemicals, as well as temperature and relative humidity. Different probes are required for different measurements. The target market for the product line includes facility managers, indoor air quality consultants, environmental engineers, and building scientists. The company also offers a wide range of data collection, reporting, and software components. Typical system costs are about $7,500. www.wolfsense.com
Rainwater harvesting components and systems
There were a lot of rainwater harvesting systems on display at Greenbuild—more than I’ve ever seen. Clearly, there is growing concern about water supplies, and rainwater harvesting systems can be one part of the solution. BRAE is based in North Carolina and offers a full range of residential and commercial rainwater systems. Rather than manufacturing components and systems, BRAE is a designer and packager; it has installed over 1,000 systems since its founding in 2002. www.braewater.com Conservation Technology has seemingly been around forever, with new product introductions every time I turn around. At Greenbuild the company showed off a number of new rainwater harvesting products, including controllers, pumps (including a model with a variable-frequency drive), and tanks. It also has a new green roof system: the ultra-lightweight Drainage Plate System. www.conservationtechnology.com RH2O North America makes both residential and commercial rainwater harvesting systems. The products are imported from Germany, and the primary North American presence is (so far) in Canada. Systems include a full range of sophisticated components, including rainwater filters, calming inlets, overflow siphons, floating suction filters, and tanks. www.ourh2o.com Jay R. Smith Manufacturing Company manufactures a variety of rainwater harvesting components and systems for both commercial and residential applications. With over 5,000 systems installed, not including its rain barrel systems, the company claims to be the largest manufacturer of rainwater harvesting systems in the country. Its products are primarily related to rainwater collection and filtration, not tanks. Jay R. Smith partners with Rain-water Management Solutions in the design and specification of systems. www.jrsmith.comWood products
MBDC had a booth focused on its Cradle to Cradle product certification, where it displayed Bark House, a residential siding made by Highland Craftsmen from the bark of the tulip tree (Leriodendron tulipifera), which is sometimes—incorrectly—referred to as a poplar. The bark, a byproduct, is peeled from recently felled trees, cut to size, flattened, fully kiln-dried, and heat-sterilized. The bark itself provides its own “backing” and weatherproof layer. And it looks really cool—rather like, well, bark. The cost is fairly reasonable, too: about $6–$9 per square foot ($70–$100/m2) for the material or $12–$14 per square foot ($130–$150/m2) installed. BuildingGreen reviewed Bark House for our GreenSpec directory, but I had never really grasped one of the real beauties of this product: when you want to replace it, you just pull it off and throw it into the woods to decompose. The product has become one of the few building products to earn a Cradle to Cradle Gold rating from MBDC. www.barkhouse.com Accoya from Titan Wood was introduced in North America at the 2008 Greenbuild conference, but we somehow missed it. It is wood that has been treated with acetic anhydride (acetylation) to make it more stable and rot-resistant. The sample I picked up still has a distinctive vinegar smell—like salt-and-vinegar potato chips. The acetylation process has been known for a long time—since 1928—but has only recently entered the market: in Europe in 2004 and North America in 2008. The process works by converting free hydroxyl (OH) groups into acetyl groups, thereby removing the primary sites that absorb and release water. Titan Wood is currently made with radiata pine from New Zealand, but Accoya hopes to license the technology to a North American company that will use a native softwood. Titan Wood carries a surprisingly long 50-year warranty for aboveground applications and a 25-year warranty for belowground. All of the product is certified to the FSC mixed-sources standard, and the company expects to receive Cradle to Cradle certification at the Gold level shortly. The wood is more expensive than ACQ-treated wood but less expensive than tropical woods. Applications, according to Accoya, include outdoor decking, siding, window frames, doors, and outdoor furniture. Among our unanswered questions are whether the residual acetic acid in the wood causes corrosion problems (we suspect that it does) and whether there are indoor air quality problems associated with offgassing; we plan to run a more comprehensive product review in EBN in the future. www.accoya.comWater treatment and wastewater
Living wall systems
Miscellaneous products
Among the most talked-about new products at Greenbuild was CalStar fly ash brick. It’s an unfired brick, like concrete brick, but it uses Class C fly ash (about 40% by weight) as the binder, rather than portland cement. If this brick performs as the manufacturer claims and if the hazardous components are indeed locked up (as they are with vitrified brick), then this could be a dynamite product. www.calstarproducts.com EBN has long promoted the benefits of good entryway track-off entry systems (see EBN Oct. 2001). In June 2009 EcoPath introduced an entryway track-off product with a host of green features in addition to the obvious indoor air quality benefits. Its BioGrip non-skid underlayment is made from natural rubber, with a fleece inter-layer made from 100% post-consumer recycled PET bottles. An EnviroCel layer is made from soy-based polyols and a fly ash constituent called Celceram. Durable face fibers are made from virgin polypropylene or nylon. Different abrasion levels are provided for different portions of the track-off system. The company will also take back product for recycling at the end of its useful life through its ReField program. www.ecopathmats.comFinal Thoughts
Even though I’ve been researching and writing about green building products for 20-odd years, I’m still always excited to learn about the new stuff coming out, and Greenbuild has become the leading place to see what’s new. A few of the products mentioned here will return to the pages of EBN with more in-depth product reviews or coverage in relevant feature articles. To learn more in the meantime, check out the websites listed with the brief product descriptions, or visit the Greenbuild 2009 website to view the full Expo Guide. Please share your own impressions using the comments field below. For more information:Greenbuild 2009
www.greenbuildexpo.org
January 1, 2010
Reader-contributed comments related to Cool Products From Greenbuild 2009: An Expo Floor Tour - EBN: 19:1. Comments are listed with newest at the top.
Venmar HRV
Posted by
Dave Brach
on Jan 6, 2010, 05:06 PM
The efficiency of the motors on the HRV mentioned is indeed impressive, but don't confuse this number with the actual efficiency or effectiveness of the heat recovery. This unit has a sensible heat recovery efficiency of 67% at 122 cfm, which I believe is average.
The efficiency of the motors on the HRV mentioned is indeed impressive, but don't confuse this number with the actual efficiency or effectiveness of the heat recovery. This unit has a sensible heat recovery efficiency of 67% at 122 cfm, which I believe is average.
Green products at IBS
Posted by
Alex Wilson
on Jan 6, 2010, 02:38 PM
Craig,
Great idea on using the NAHB show planning tool to map these products. I'm afraid that we don't have time to do that ourselves, but if you do it and if there's a way to post a link to that map here, that would be awesome! -Alex
Craig,
Great idea on using the NAHB show planning tool to map these products. I'm afraid that we don't have time to do that ourselves, but if you do it and if there's a way to post a link to that map here, that would be awesome! -Alex
Products at IBS builder trade show too?
Posted by
Craig C. Conner
on Jan 6, 2010, 01:09 PM
Excellent report. Very nice to see the companies innovating.
I'm headed to the home builder's trade show (IBS) in 2 weeks in Las Vegas. Will try to view these products there. Can EBN use the NAHB show planing tool to map these products in the trade show exhibit?
Excellent report. Very nice to see the companies innovating.
I'm headed to the home builder's trade show (IBS) in 2 weeks in Las Vegas. Will try to view these products there. Can EBN use the NAHB show planing tool to map these products in the trade show exhibit?
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GREEN TOPICS
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IMAGE CREDITS:
1. Photo: Highland Craftsmen, Inc.
2. Photo: Rinnai
3. Diagram: National Gypsum
4. Photo: Eric O’Leary
5. Photo: American Standard
6. Photo: Delta
7. Photo: TOTO
8. Photo: Rytec
9. Photo: Illumra
10. Photo: Worrell Water Technologies
11. Photo: KokoBo Plantscapes, Ltd.
DISCUSSIONS
Alex Wilson
Jan 7, 2010 RELATED PRODUCTS
RELATED GREEN DESIGN
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More comments
Comment from a reader in Liechtenstein in response to information on National Gypsum's planned introduction of PCM drywall:
Knauf has marketed a gypsum board with PCM Materials from BASF for the last few years in Germany and Switzerland. How much it has actually been used I don't know. We wanted to
specify it in a project just before Christmas and just find out, that Knauf has withdrawn the product from the market fall 2009. Apparently there was some issues related to indoor air quality. Unfortunately I have no details.
Christoph Ospelt, Lenum AG, Vaduz, Liechtenstein