GREEN FURNITURE GUIDELINES Yale University Kroon Building January 25, 2007

Eames Chairs by Herman Miller

Atelier Ten

Consulting Environmental Designers 45 East 20th Street 4th Floor New York NY 10003

p: 212.254.4500 f: 212.254.1259 www.atelierten.com

INTRODUCTION Furniture is one of the most visible parts of a finished building, and therefore presents an opportunity to demonstrate the project's commitment to green design. In response to the growing demand for green furniture, manufacturers ranging from designers to major companies are increasing their offerings of sustainable products. To assist in the selection of green furniture, this report establishes guidelines for green furniture and a list of recommended manufacturers. There are two compliance paths to earn a LEED innovation point for green furniture. The first is to purchase furniture that is Greenguard Indoor Air Quaity Certified. The second approach is to track the furniture composition using fourteen sustainable criteria that are described in this report. There also exists a third compliance path which requires independent VOC emission testing by an independent laboratory for each furniture system. This path is not recommended for this project. Furniture included in this context includes funiture that has been manufactured, refurbished or refinished within one year prior to occupancy. This specifically includes workstation desks and panels, free standing shelves, filing cabinets, hang-on components, task and guest chairs. Furniture excluded from this credit is salvaged and used furniture older than one year.

Mirra Chair by Herman Miller

Kroon Building - Green Furniture

GREEN FURNITURE GUIDELINES COMPLIANCE PATH #1 By purchasing Greenguard Indoor Air Quality Certified furniture, the project will be eligible for an innovation credit. The certification must include a document stating the manufacturer and product line, item description, period of manufacture, form of compliance and the period for which the item is Greenguard Air Quailty Certified. This period must cover the manufacturing period of the actual product being used. Additional information can be found at the Greenguard website: www.greenguard.org. The Greenguard Environmental Institute basis for certification is published on the website listed above. The GREENGUARD 2005 Indoor Air Quality Guide states that, The GREENGUARD Environmental Institute (GEI) has established performance-based, fieldvalidated standards to define products and materials with low chemical and particle emissions for use indoors. The standards establish certification procedures, including test methods, allowable emissions levels, product sample collection and handling, testing type and frequency, and program application processes and acceptance.

Kroon Building - Green Furniture

GREEN FURNITURE GUIDELINES

GREEN FURNITURE GUIDELINES Prerequisites Manufacturing Waste, Monitoring and Reduction Manufacturing Water Use, Monitoring and Reduction Manufacturing Energy Use, Monitoring and Reduction Monitoring and Reduction Recyclability or Take-back Remaining Criteria Recycled Content Local Content, Manufacture Local Content, Raw Materials Rapidly Renewable Content Certified Wood VOC Content Urea-formaldehyde Content Ozone Depleting Substances Packaging Reduction

GREEN FURNITURE GUIDELINES COMPLIANCE PATH #2 Atelier Ten established fourteen sustainable criteria to consider in the selection of green furniture. Of these, five should be considered "prerequisites" and the remaining nine criteria should be maximized whenever possible. To earn an innovation credit towards LEED certification, or simply to assist in the selection of furniture, we recommend meeting the five prerequisites and at least five of the other criteria (all of which are weighted equally). The prerequisites and other criteria should be calculated for the project's furniture package as a whole. Althoug Atelier Ten formulted these furniture guidelines they are loosely based on the LEEDs approach to construction material selection. In general, the selection of furniture is similar to the selection of construction materials. However, because furniture is sold as a finished product, there may be less opportunity to maximize all sustainable characteristics. In addition, depending on the selection of wood, metal, or plastic based furniture, the ability to meet targets for recycled content, renewable content, etc will vary. These guidelines are intended to balance these concerns while providing a framework for decision making on furniture purchases. The table to the left summarizes the prerequisites and criteria in the furniture guidelines. Each is described in more detail below. Manufacturing Waste, Monitoring and Reduction Intent: Encourage company-wide sustainable manufacturing by monitoring the amount of manufacturing waste and implementing measures to reduce such waste. Recycling of office waste such as paper and beverage containers is commendable but is not sufficient for this prerequisite. Target: Company must have a plan in place for monitoring and reduction of manufacturing waste, including documentation.

Kroon Building - Green Furniture

GREEN FURNITURE GUIDELINES

Manufacturing Water Use, Monitoring and Reduction Intent: Encourage company-wide sustainable manufacturing by monitoring the amount of water used in manufacturing processes, and implementing measures to reduce such water use. Target: Company must have a plan in place for monitoring and reduction of process water, including documentation. Manufacturing Energy Use, Monitoring and Reduction Intent: Encourage company-wide sustainable manufacturing by monitoring the amount of energy used in manufacturing facilities and implementing measures to reduce energy use. This includes energy used in operation of the manufacturing facilities as well as energy used in the manufacturing process. Target: Company must have a plan in place for monitoring and reduction of energy use, including documentation. Toxins Used/Produced In Manufacture, Monitoring and Reduction Intent: Encourage company-wide sustainable manufacturing by monitoring the amount of toxins used and produced in manufacturing and implementing measures to reduce such toxins. This includes, but is not limited to, VOCs, nitrous oxides, particulates, phosphates, hazardous solid waste, and other chemical emissions. Target: Company must have a plan in place for monitoring and reduction of toxins used and produced in manufacture, including documentation. Recyclability or Take-Back Intent: Require manufactures to design products with end-of-life disposal in mind. Target: Companies must either have a takeback program for 50% of the purchased furniture (to be refurbished, donated, resold, or disassembled and recycled), or design the product so that at least 50% can be easily disassembled and recycled by the end user. Calculations should be made by weight. Recycled Content Intent: Encourage manufacturers to close the recycling loop by using recycled materials in their products. Target: The furniture package must contain at least 10% recycled materials by weight.
Meridian Storage by Herman Miller

Ballet Tables by Steelcase

Avive Tables by Herman Miller

Kroon Building - Green Furniture

GREEN FURNITURE GUIDELINES

Local Content, Manufacture Intent: Reduce transportation energy and support local industry by purchasing products manufactured locally. Target: 20% of the furniture package (defined by the location of the last stage of manufacture for each product) must be manufactured within a 500-mile radius of the project. Calculations should be made by weight. Local Content, Raw Materials Intent: Encourage manufacturers to reduce transportation energy and support local industry by purchasing raw materials extracted/harvested/synthesized locally. Raw materials to consider include wood, metals, plastics, textile materials (e.g., wool), agrifiber, etc. Target: Of the locally manufactured products above, 20% of the raw materials used in the furniture products must come from sources located within 500-miles of the location of final manufacture. Calculations should be made by weight. Rapidly Renewable Content Intent: Use rapidly renewable materials (with a lifespan of 10 years or less) instead of materials with a longer regeneration time. Examples of rapidly renewable products are agrifiber, bamboo, and wool. Target: 5% of the material content of the furniture package should consist of rapidly renewable materials. Calculations should be made by weight. Certified Wood Intent: Use wood products that come from sustainably managed forests. Sustainably managed forests provide better habitat for wildlife, prevent erosion and preserve clean waterways, and avoid the use of old growth trees. Target: 50% of all wood used in the furniture package should come from sustainably managed forests. Third-party, non-industry certification is preferred (such as FSC or SCS). If such certification is not available, other claims for sustainably produced wood can be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. The manufacturer must be able document any claim that their wood sources are sustainably managed. VOC Content Intent: Improve indoor air quality, both in the project and at manufacturing facilities, by

reducing the VOC content of furniture. Target: All furniture should be Greenguard certified, or show that the Greenguard VOC levels have been met. Urea-Formaldehyde Content Intent: Reduce the use of added ureaformaldehyde. Target: All furniture should be Greenguard certified, or show that the Greenguard ureaformaldehyde levels have been met. Ozone Depleting Substances Intent: Reduce the use of ozone depleting substances (as defined by the EPA to include CFCs, HCFCs, halons, methyl bromide, carbon tetrachloride, and methyl chloroform) in the manufacturing process. Target: No ozone depleting substances should be used in the manufacture of any furniture products used in the project. Packaging Reduction Intent: Reduce the amount of packaging associated with furniture, including the packaging of component parts during manufacture as well as the final product. Target: All companies must have a plan in place to reduce the use of packaging associated with their furniture products, including documentation. This can include the use of reusable containers, blanket-wrapping, etc. Comments: Reusable shipping containers are preferable to simply reducing the amount disposable packaging.

Kroon Building - Green Furniture

RECOMMENDED MANUFACTURERS Most sustainable initiatives for manufacturing processes are met at a company level consequently it is important to note which companies have the best environmental record. Also, for categories of products where sustainable information is scarce, the environmental standing of the company as a whole can be used in lieu of individual product statistics. To establish a ranking of large contract furniture manufacturers, each company is compared based on the fourteen categories described in the furniture guidelines. The manufacturing process itself is considered (waste, water, energy, toxins, ozone depleting substances). Each company was also evaluated based on the range of sustainable criteria met by their products (certified wood, recycled content, etc.). When no information is available for a given company, it is assumed that the company performed poorly. If more information on sustainable practices becomes available, the rank of some companies may change. Based on the above research, we recommend the companies in the following order: 1. Herman Miller Company 2. Steelcase Company 3. Allsteel Company 4. Metro 5. Knoll Company
Caper Chairs by Herman Miller

PET Lounge Chair by Steelcase

Kimball International, Vecta, Gunlocke, Krueger International (KI), Humanscale, and Harter lack substantive information for assesment. It is important to note that subsidiaries do not necessarily follow the sustainable practices of their parent companies.
Arcata bench by Landscape Forms

Kroon Building - Green Furniture