Designing your home sustainably
While our athletes stood on the podium in Tokyo, and our entire nation beamed with pride, the designer in me couldn’t help but also celebrate Japan for the thought and innovation they applied to the fabrication of this year’s medals. For the first time in history, every single Olympic medal awarded was made entirely from recycled material. The precious metals used to make all 5,000 medals were mined from discarded cellular phones. The Japanese ingenuity made me take a step back and ask myself, what we are doing every day, to ensure that we too are designing with sustainability in mind.
The International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment explains that environmentally sustainable interior design (ESID) concerns the use of aesthetic principles and strategies that provide benefits on a global scale. Sustainable design is about using materials and processes that are environmentally friendly as well as socially and economically viable. Where possible, we should ensure that the spaces we are creating today aren’t destroying the world of tomorrow. This might sound like a high-level task best suited for construction professionals and industry stakeholders, but with home renovations and construction at an all-time high, homeowners also have a role to play in implementing sustainable design best practices.
Here are a few areas you can consider when designing your home with sustainability in mind.
Furniture
While cutting down a tree to make a coffee table seems like the antithesis of sustainability, there are ways to take from the earth without killing it. The most common practice is to plant trees to replace the ones that are being destroyed. Accountability is the biggest challenge with relying solely on this method, but local organisations like the Forestry Department help to implement and enforce guidelines pertaining to how we handle our trees.
While wood is a renewable resource, not all renewable resources are created equal. Some trees take decades to mature. Bamboo furniture is a great alternative to those made from hardwood trees like Mahogany. It takes a bamboo plant five to seven years to be established and just another few weeks to grow into a mature tree; during its lifespan it continues to rapidly produce more plants on the same root structure. On the other hand, it takes one mahogany tree 25 years to fully mature. Bamboo is versatile enough to make any piece of furniture and is easily replenished. Bamboo is also used to fabricate bed linen and curtains, home accessories, dishware and even utensils, which is more affordable than many traditional options.
Utilising similar grass-like plants to fabricate home accessories like locally made raffia and straw placemats or rugs, baskets and pendants made from the Jute plant, and furniture made from cane are great ways to incorporate sustainable design in your home. Sustainable furniture has become a huge design trend, and rattan, cane, concrete and other natural materials are now hotter than ever.
Flooring
Bamboo has once again entered the chat, but not without acknowledging cork. While you have to eliminate a tree to generate a product from bamboo, cork is made from the bark of a tree, so without cutting down a single plant, you are able to fabricate flooring that is similar in appearance to hardwood and perfect for sound absorption. Cork is also used for wallpaper applications, which can add texture to any space.
Repurposing
The beauty about furniture made from natural resources like wood and metal, is the ability to transform them into something else easily, without breaking the bank. An old bookcase can become a new media centre, a side table can be used as a nightstand, kitchen cabinets can be refinished, a worn sofa can be reupholstered; the list is extensive. With a little creativity, you can redesign your space in a sustainable way. If you’re not fond of do-it-yourself projects, purchasing furniture that is fabricated from reclaimed wood is equally impactful.
Design Style
Your choice of design style can also influence sustainability. For design to be sustainable, less is more! Minimalism encourages design that focuses on including only the core, functional elements. Streamlined furniture, minimal accessories, clutter-free surfaces, and ample space are a few characteristics of minimalist design; which promotes only keeping what is useful. This may sound like a nightmare for hoarders, but how many times have you purchased something and only used it once, if at all? The less you use, the more resources are available for other people. A minimalist lifestyle improves both social and environmental well-being and allows your available income to be used for other projects.
Rustic design can also promote sustainability if reclaimed wood is the preferred choice of material.
Chemicals
While eliminating the use of chemicals in the construction process is a complex feat, we can start with areas like paint, by using low VOC options, Milk paint, LEED certified water-based paint, and other finishes made from natural elements. The next time you visit the paint counter, ask for an eco-friendly option. Be prepared to pay a little extra for Low VOC options, but the benefits outweigh the cost.
Energy
We couldn’t complete this list without including the use of alternate energy sources as a means of powering your household. Solar panels top the list of sustainable design practices commonly used in residential design. By harnessing our most renewable resource, the sun, we can reduce our contribution to global warming. The typical solar installation can save approximately 30% or more on your monthly bill while allowing you to possibly resell excess power back to JPS.
Another factor that contributes to high energy costs is our cooling bill. In warm climates like ours, the heat can be brutal. The average household uses either fans or air-conditioning units (or a combination of both) to cool their home. In the region, as much as 40%-60% of energy usage is from air conditioning. Architecture plays a big factor in facilitating proper airflow throughout your space. If you are building a home, ensure that you collaborate with your architect to allow for proper ventilation and sufficient windows that facilitate air circulation, and the possible inclusion of breezeways. You can save hundreds of thousands of dollars on cooling in the long term if you are able to maximise on natural airflow.
Lighting
The least expensive sustainable design initiative is utilising LED bulbs and fixtures. LED is the gift that keeps giving. By reducing our electricity consumption, we effectively reduce our carbon footprint in the process. LED bulbs can last up to 50 times as long as traditional incandescent bulbs, and are available in a wide range of temperatures, so they don’t negatively impact style. Due to their longevity, more manufacturers are producing integrated LED light fixtures, reducing the need to constantly replace bulbs.
Processes
Imagine going to the supermarket and carrying items one by one to the cashier without using a trolley. The number of steps required to complete your shopping excursion would be too many to count. Now imagine you were renovating your home and drove back and forth transporting material in small trips, because that’s what your car could hold. The carbon footprint you leave behind would be far-reaching. Sustainable design involves implementing processes that consolidate transportation, reduce dust and noise nuisances and the release of noxious fumes and chemicals that impact air quality.
While we all don’t have the capacity to implement every single sustainable practice, we can each play our part in sustainable design. Even a small change can make a huge impact. Ask yourself, If I were in the sustainable design Olympics, would I even make the team? If your answer is no, pick one of these areas and work towards your very own recycled gold medal.
— Joelle Smith