Tidbits From The Expo

Getting to all the exhibitors at Greenbuild would have taken far more time than I had available, but I did happen upon a couple of booths of note.

Invista didn’t have a booth at all, not in the traditional sense. In the spirit of the show, Invista’s low carbon footprint exhibit space featured locally sourced reclaimed furnishings and carpet, used no electricity, banners, or handouts. Artists drawing on chalkboards provided visitors with product information.

Tubular daylighting is a fascinating technology that many of us have never used because, well…we didn’t understand the technology. So, it was nice to see the large and instructive Solatube exhibit with touch and feel product demonstrations. Yes, it is possible to bring daylight into the lower levels of a building.

Solaleya wood dome-shaped homes rotate, using passive solar energy, by slowly turning the entire home towards the sun to heat it or away from it to cool it down. The rotation is imperceptible from inside the house, and can be operated with a simple touch of a remote control. The Jetsons would feel right at home and actually, so would I.

Good news from Tandus. Ethos, the carpet backing that contains 76 percent post-consumer recycled content, from non-chlorinated thermoplastic polymer recovered from car windshields and safety glass, is now available on the company’s modular products, as well as its six-foot goods.

3form has done it again–innovated themselves into the forefront of green design. Its surfacing product, 100 Percent, made from 100 percent post-consumer recycled high density polyethylene (HDPE) just got better with the introduction of six neutral but striking solid base colors.

Office Depot supported Greenbuild as a Platinum Sponsor by handing out the fifth edition of The Green Book Catalog, which features increased thresholds for recycled content, more bio-based rapidly renewable products and a framework to help businesses develop a Green Purchasing Policy.