Innovation in Interesting Times

(This was originally published in the December issues of Building Products Digest and Merchant Magazine.)

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.

THE Alternative Building Material

(This appeared in May '10, Merchant Magazine and Building Products Digest)

When I began thinking about this article and the various alternative building materials I could write about, several came to mind. But what counts for “alternative,” anyway? For example, there are products that are greener versions of old standbys like triple-glazed windows or FSC lumber. I could write about Serious Materials’ (www.seriousmaterials.com) innovative EcoRock drywall which they claim is 5 times more environmentally friendly than gypsum drywall, or Eco-Panels’ (www.eco-panels.com) super-efficient and well-designed structural insulated panels (SIPs). And then there are materials and methods that have thousand-year histories but aren’t mainstream, such as cob, which combines clay, sand and straw fibers usually sourced onsite. But these kinds of natural alternatives don’t usually require much of a supply chain. Instead, I’m going to highlight a building material that will blow your mind – hemp.

Industrial hemp used to be one of the most important agricultural products in the United States, but its cultivation has been illegal here for decades. (That may change soon - google Hemp History Week to learn more.) The Puritans brought it with them from Europe, many of our Founding Fathers grew hemp, and as recently as 1942, the government actively encouraged farmers to grow it. In those days, hemp was indispensable for making rope, cordage and sail cloth, and it yielded more usable fiber per acre than cotton or flax. Innovations in more recent times have demonstrated its value as paper and plastic feedstock, nutritive food ingredient, and biofuel. Cultivation can also bring benefits to farming communities as it delivers relatively quick, dependable yields without the use of pesticides or synthetic fertilizers.

Absolutely the coolest thing about hemp is that it’s being used to sequester carbon in an innovative new product called Tradical Hemcrete. It’s a combination of hemp shiv, which is the woody core of the plant, and a hydraulic lime binder. The components are mixed at the jobsite and packed into forms to make thermally efficient, breathable walls that could potentially last for hundreds of years. After its first US installation in the NauHaus, an innovative new home prototype designed by building science think-tank NauHaus Institute, (www.thenauhaus.com), there are now several more homes in the works.

Hemp Technologies, (www.hemp-technologies.com,) based in Ashville, NC, is the North American distributor of the product, importing it from England where it was originally developed. Greg Flavell, co-founder and hemp technology guru, said he discovered the product after searching for the most sustainable building material he could find. “I think this is it – it’s zero waste, non-toxic, breathable, mold resistant, durable, and is carbon negative, sequestering about 238 pounds of carbon per cubic yard,” he told me, adding “it’s also cost competitive.”

There are a few limitations, of course. The product is imported from England, where it was originally developed, because hemp isn’t yet grown domestically, nor are there easily sourced quantities of domestically produced hydraulic lime. The system is sold in two bags, Tradical HF and Tradical HB, which must be mixed at the jobsite by company-trained installers, though any contractor could easily master working with the material. In any case, those factors will slow widespread adoption of the material in the near term. However, Flavell says that they’re working on sourcing a little closer to home and developing a new panel system. Panels could dramatically expand the potential applications and make it easier for distributors and dealers to pick up the product. “We’re hoping to have panels available later this year,” says Flavell. If everything goes according to their plans, hemp could very well become less “alternative” and much more mainstream.