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Research into practice: Green home project
Research into practice Green Home project The Casa Toscana e Green Home project is an initiative undertaken by local government and industry associations in Tuscany, Italy, to encourage and promote more environmental awareness and sustainability within the local furniture industry. As well as being famous for its cultural heritage, its natural environment, its food, olive oil and wine, and its tourist industry, Tuscany is home to a large number of small to medium manufacturing industries, some of them still based in artisan practices, and some of them more industrially developed. Amongst these (of all types of production) are several furniture manufacturers. Casa Toscana e Green Home provides these manufacturers with an eco-compatibility label for their products, and a resource for improving the environmental performance of their products. The origin of the project lies in doctoral research work at the University of Florence by Giuseppe Lotti, who remains involved, as do other researchers in the Faculties of Agriculture and Architecture at the University. The Faculty of Engineering of the University of Pisa has also contributed research, as has the Istituto Ambiente, the Italian Institute for the Environment. This research input has helped to establish the scientific validity of the eco-labelling scheme e and in fact, without extensive research input it simply would not be possible to operate such a scheme with any credibility. The research focuses on cradle-to-grave life cycle analysis (LCA) of the furniture industry
products. First it is necessary to establish the environmental impacts of the materials and processes used, and then to assess the impact of each manufactured product. In many cases, this involves detailed analyses of the manufacturers’ own data about consumption of materials, their origins, energy usage, packaging, transport, and so on e data that have to be extracted with some persistence from the manufacturers’ records, which were not originally kept or organised for such purposes. Casa Toscana e Green Home takes a wide view of environmental impact, covering three areas: human health, eco-system quality, and mineral and fossil resources. Impact on human health is assessed through potential effects on climate change, ozone layer thinning, ionising radiations, respiratory effects and carcinogenesis. Impact on eco-system quality is assessed through local and regional effects on vegetation, acidification, eutrophication and ecotoxicity. Resources impact is assessed through energy costs for future extraction. These three impact categories are differentially weighted, at 50% for human health, 33% for eco-system, and 17% for resources, and aggregated into an overall impact factor. With the help of Simapro LCA software, this factor is calculated for a standard ‘unit’ of furniture e for example, a single chair, each seat-space of a sofa, each linear metre of kitchen installation, or each cubic metre of wardrobe space. Having established impact factors for a variety of furniture products, thresholds were set for the award of certificates at two levels. The highest level (i.e. low level of impact) certificate is labelled an ‘AA’ rating, and a lower
www.elsevier.com/locate/destud 0142-694X $ - see front matter Design Studies 26 (2005) 319e320 doi:10.1016/j.destud.2005.02.001 Printed in Great Britain
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level certificate is labelled ‘A’. Products which do not reach at least the ‘A’ level are not awarded a Casa Toscana e Green Home certificate. There is an extra ‘C’ mark awarded to products from companies meeting other certified environmental standards. Some 50 products, from more than 20 manufacturers, have now been certificated. Once awarded, the certification is valid for three years. The thresholds will be regularly revised to more demanding standards, so that manufacturers will be encouraged constantly to improve their environmental performance. Quantification of environmental impact is a novelty within the furniture industry. One outcome has been that manufacturers have been challenged to achieve better ratings for their products, and this has involved interaction between the manufacturers and the researchers. The latter have been able to analyse individual products and to advise on how to change processes or vary materials in order to lower the environmental impact factor. For most manufacturers, this is the first time they have been able to address consciously and rigorously the environmental impact of their products. For example, the Dema company submitted its ‘Foglie’ sofa to analysis. The resulting changes to the product included changing and reducing the amount of foam filling used, and increasing the locally-sourced wood content, and replacing solid aluminium structural components with honeycomb structures. The final impact factor was within the ‘AA’ grade, whereas the original product was outside even the ‘A’ grade. Some manufacturers are now launching completely new
320
Figure 1 AC for George Sowden’s ‘Pacific’ recycled-plastic chair for Segis
products, designed from scratch with environmental impact in mind. An example is the new ‘Pacific’ chair (Figure 1) designed by George Sowden for the Segis company, using recycled plastics, which achieved an ‘AC’ rating. Further information: http://www.consorziocasatoscana.it/ http://www.csm.toscana.it/ H.Faber
Design Studies Vol 26 No. 3 May 2005
products. First it is necessary to establish the environmental impacts of the materials and processes used, and then to assess the impact of each manufactured product. In many cases, this involves detailed analyses of the manufacturers’ own data about consumption of materials, their origins, energy usage, packaging, transport, and so on e data that have to be extracted with some persistence from the manufacturers’ records, which were not originally kept or organised for such purposes. Casa Toscana e Green Home takes a wide view of environmental impact, covering three areas: human health, eco-system quality, and mineral and fossil resources. Impact on human health is assessed through potential effects on climate change, ozone layer thinning, ionising radiations, respiratory effects and carcinogenesis. Impact on eco-system quality is assessed through local and regional effects on vegetation, acidification, eutrophication and ecotoxicity. Resources impact is assessed through energy costs for future extraction. These three impact categories are differentially weighted, at 50% for human health, 33% for eco-system, and 17% for resources, and aggregated into an overall impact factor. With the help of Simapro LCA software, this factor is calculated for a standard ‘unit’ of furniture e for example, a single chair, each seat-space of a sofa, each linear metre of kitchen installation, or each cubic metre of wardrobe space. Having established impact factors for a variety of furniture products, thresholds were set for the award of certificates at two levels. The highest level (i.e. low level of impact) certificate is labelled an ‘AA’ rating, and a lower
www.elsevier.com/locate/destud 0142-694X $ - see front matter Design Studies 26 (2005) 319e320 doi:10.1016/j.destud.2005.02.001 Printed in Great Britain
319
level certificate is labelled ‘A’. Products which do not reach at least the ‘A’ level are not awarded a Casa Toscana e Green Home certificate. There is an extra ‘C’ mark awarded to products from companies meeting other certified environmental standards. Some 50 products, from more than 20 manufacturers, have now been certificated. Once awarded, the certification is valid for three years. The thresholds will be regularly revised to more demanding standards, so that manufacturers will be encouraged constantly to improve their environmental performance. Quantification of environmental impact is a novelty within the furniture industry. One outcome has been that manufacturers have been challenged to achieve better ratings for their products, and this has involved interaction between the manufacturers and the researchers. The latter have been able to analyse individual products and to advise on how to change processes or vary materials in order to lower the environmental impact factor. For most manufacturers, this is the first time they have been able to address consciously and rigorously the environmental impact of their products. For example, the Dema company submitted its ‘Foglie’ sofa to analysis. The resulting changes to the product included changing and reducing the amount of foam filling used, and increasing the locally-sourced wood content, and replacing solid aluminium structural components with honeycomb structures. The final impact factor was within the ‘AA’ grade, whereas the original product was outside even the ‘A’ grade. Some manufacturers are now launching completely new
320
Figure 1 AC for George Sowden’s ‘Pacific’ recycled-plastic chair for Segis
products, designed from scratch with environmental impact in mind. An example is the new ‘Pacific’ chair (Figure 1) designed by George Sowden for the Segis company, using recycled plastics, which achieved an ‘AC’ rating. Further information: http://www.consorziocasatoscana.it/ http://www.csm.toscana.it/ H.Faber
Design Studies Vol 26 No. 3 May 2005