Sustainable flooring

Sustainable flooring is produced from sustainable materials (and by a sustainable process) that reduces demands on ecosystems during its life-cycle. This includes harvest, production, use and disposal. It is thought that sustainable flooring creates safer and healthier buildings and guarantees a future for traditional producers of renewable resources that many communities depend on. Several initiatives have led the charge to bring awareness of sustainable flooring as well as healthy buildings (air quality). Below are examples of available, though sometimes less well-known, eco-friendly flooring options. The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America recommends those with allergies to dust or other particulates choose flooring with smooth surfaces – such as hardwood, vinyl, linoleum tile or slate. In the U.S., the Building for Energy and Environmental Sustainability (BEES) program of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) provides a one-stop source of life cycle assessment-based information about flooring options. Life cycle comparisons of flooring alternatives by research groups around the world consistently show bio-based flooring products to have lower environmental impacts than other types of flooring. The life cycle environmental impacts associated with producing and using flooring alternatives such as cork, linoleum, and solid wood are clearly lower than other alternatives. Wool carpeting and composite marble exhibit the greatest impacts, and impacts linked to typical carpeting used in residential structures are higher than those shown in the BEES system due to the use of a pad under the carpet layer. The development of life cycle assessment methodology in the early 1990s has shown the environmental advantages of wood and wood-based products. Wood is a unique and renewable material. Trees absorb carbon during their growing cycle, and this carbon remains stored in products like wood flooring during its service life, thus keeping it out of the atmosphere. At the end of its service life, wood can be reused (in which case the carbon continues to be stored in the wood) or used for fuel. A life cycle assessment of flooring materials made of solid wood, linoleum and vinyl found the wood flooring had lower energy use and carbon dioxide emissions. It also performed better in environmental impact categories such as resource use, environmental toxin emissions, air pollution emissions and waste generation. When reclaimed wood is used for wood flooring, it is taken for reuse from many different sources, including old warehouses, boxcars, coal mines, gymnasiums, homes, wine barrels, historic barns, and more. Wood can also be recovered from rivers in the form of fallen trees along with logs that were once sent downstream by lumber mills. Using reclaimed wood can earn credits towards achieving LEED project certification. Because reclaimed wood is considered recycled content, it meets the Materials & Resources criteria for LEED certification and because some reclaimed lumber products are FSC certified, they can qualify for LEED credits under the 'certified wood' category Besides qualifying for LEED points, reclaimed wood is drawing an increasing number of home and business owners, architects, and contractors to choosing reclaimed wood flooring for a few significant reasons: