This dismal year is almost over and most people won’t be sorry to see it go. On the other hand, if apocalyptic 2012 predictions are correct, the New Year will see the Mayan calendar coming to an end and so, apparently, will the world. Yikes! There’s a curse, reputed to be Chinese, that goes, “may you live in interesting times.” Well, we’re living it.
But even in these interesting times, I still find reasons to be optimistic. You don’t have to be green to do well in our business, but green dealers tend to do better. That’s encouraging. This year, there were several innovative products and materials that were either launched or found traction in the market. That’s also encouraging because innovation is exactly what the home and shelter supply chain needs – in products, materials, merchandising - the whole package. And it seems to me that’s exactly what’s in the pipeline for next year and beyond. Here’s what I’ve got my eye on.
For several years, we’ve seen small independents roll out green-only retail concepts and doing well in their respective niche markets. But this year Green Depot (www.greendepot.com) took a step into the “big leagues” when they acquired EcoHaus on the West Coast, making them the first coast-to-coast green home improvement chain. They’ve demonstrated that green can scale. Who’s next? It might be new, Austin-based TreeHouse. It’s big, well designed, focused 100% on green building, and is an easily replicable concept. These are but two examples of the shape of things to come.
On the product front, it’s hard not to get excited about the innovations in energy efficiency. Perhaps there’s no better way to gauge what’s happening here than to look at the least sexy product category: insulation. There’s a place for mass-produced formaldehyde-free, high recycled content fiber glass, but for a paradigm shift, you’ve got to look at what small companies are doing. For example, we’ve talked about hemp as a building material, but now there’s hemp insulation, too. American Lime Technology’s Breathe™ Insulation is made from hemp and flax fibers, is breathable and functional, with obvious green benefits over conventional materials. And then there’s insulation made from fungus and agricultural waste – hard to get greener than that. Designed by Ecovative Design (www.ecovativedesign.com), Greensulate™ is currently undergoing testing and may come to market next year.
If insulation is the least sexy product category, then thermal mass, as such, is the least commercialized. As passive solar designers have known for decades, properly managing thermal mass and solar gain results in efficiency and comfort. For example, a granite south-facing wall absorbs heat during the day, keeping interior spaces cool, re-radiating that heat at night, keeping interiors warm and comfortable.
Imagine if, instead of logistically unfriendly granite, thermal mass was a product that came in rolls, like bubble wrap, that was easily installed in walls and ceilings like, well, bubble wrap. Turns out someone already has. Phase Change Energy Solutions (www.phasechange.com) has developed BioPCmat, a roll of bubble wrap like material that is essentially thermal mass in a roll. Properly installed, BioPCmat can result in 30% energy savings.
Products like these offer radical new approaches to products and materials. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Philips recently unveiled the Microbial Home design concept including a kitchen that produces its own cooking gas – methane – from bathroom and kitchen waste. Whether these product innovations take off in the marketplace is an open question. But innovation breeds innovation. If this pace of new product development continues, 2012 could well be very interesting, but in a good way.
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