Photovoltaic Systems

Although Tonbo Meadow is situated on just 3 acres in Wilmington, North Carolina, this community has some big ideas.  With only 10 house lots, Tonbo has a lot to offer, including a one-acre preserved meadow, community recycling, composting, community gardens, drought tolerant landscaping, rainwater reclamation, rain gardens, a stormwater wetland, and tree protection / relocation plans. 

Trails and bridges will surround Tonbo Meadow and provide
access to the community’s natural recreation areas.  One especially
neat element of the community will be a renovated barn, left over from
the properties farming days, which will function as a
remote screened porch at the top of the meadow
for stargazing or enjoying long summer nights. 

Tonbo is embracing the idea that green homes are built on a smaller scale;
their homes will range from 2,000 to 3,000 square feet, although in my
opinion truly well-designed green homes need not be that big.  The
homes will be crafted to the unique elements of the various house-lots. 
Tonbo emphasizes clean, modern design, and although the homes are
not actually built yet, some interior shots on their website suggest beautiful design in the works. 

All of Tonbo’s homes will incorporate sustainable
materials, such as certified sustainable wood floors, cement board and
metal siding, high performance windows and doors with UV glazes,
spray-in Icynene insulation, "green" countertops, Energy Star
appliances, low-VOC paints, stains and finishes, low-flow plumbing
fixtures, high tech electronic energy / light monitoring systems, and stormwater cisterns and reclaimation features.  Optional features include solar thermal systems, PV solar panels, geothermal, and radiant systems.  Tonbo Meadow sounds like a wonderful, peaceful community to call home, but with so few available lots, you’ll have to scoop one up quick!

The founders of Noble Home, based in West Somerville, Massachusetts, saw first-hand the manner with which homes were being constructed in the United States  — big, cheap, toxic, and out of the price range of many families.  So, they set out to create a new way.  Their home kits are versatile, easy to put together, sustainable, affordable, and healthy.  They offer elements such as greenhouses, root cellars, water collection, solar, wind, and even human-powered energy! 

They are also working on a solar heating system which
uses the earth as a thermal mass.  This is how they explain the system: "The
roof system will collect enough summertime heat to be ducted into the
ground around and underneath the house.  During the winter months, this
heat will radiate back inside while the house also collects winter
passive solar heat."  This is known as Passive Annual Heat Storage
(PAHS) and was first used in the early 1980′s.  Noble Home is even
looking for customers willing to try out this system with material
costs paid by them: where do I sign up? 

Noble Home does not use any
materials that off gas.  The designs mostly include locally grown woods,
compressed straw panels, and aluminum doors and windows.  They also
offer natural interior finishes as an alternative to painting or
staining.

Nobel estimates that their finished homes will have cost between $100-$150/square foot depending on how much of the work you do yourself.  They suggest that the average custom-designed home costs about $200/square foot today; the majority of these homes are not energy efficient and are filled with toxic materials, making Noble a very attractive option for a green and healthy home.

Noble’s homes are available in one and two-story.  In this article are photos
from Jennifer Morgan’s two-story Noble Home project on Cape Cod.  It
looks like a beautiful home.  To learn more about Nobel Home, visit
their website.

Photo credits: Noble Home.

Emily Kroll, CEO and founder of upholstered furniture company EKLA HOME, has furniture design and environmentalism in her blood.  The granddaughter of a furniture designer on one side, and an architectural and scrap metal recycler on the other, Kroll says she is "passionate about changing the way the furniture business works in the United States."  She plans to do this by eliminating toxins, limiting waste and using
sustainable materials.  And EKLA certainly has a very impressive list
of sustainable practices, perhaps one of the most impressive on the
green furniture market today. 

ELKA is a member of the Organic Trade
Association, Sustainable Furniture Council, and Co-Op America.  They
have third-party certifications by FSC, Oeko-tex, KRAV, SCS Gold,
and GREENGUARD.  Their practices include using raw materials sourced as
close to manufacturing facility as possible, producing all products in
the U.S., and using only organic and non-toxic materials and
the lowest VOC finishes possible.  EKLA also uses reclaimed wood whenever
possible and, otherwise, the wood is FSC Alder, a sustainable crop. 

Other
small details are paid attention as well such as recycling packing
materials and operating the workshop on as much natural light as
possible.  One aspect that I particularly like is that no chemical
flame-retardants are used, which can be highly toxic and are found on
products ranging from pillows to children’s pajamas.

Their website is currently only displaying five style options at this
time, but the pieces are modern and attractive, especially the Camille,
Kristina, and Milano (pictured in this article).  I have listed the specific
eco-elements of some pieces below the photo.  EKLA is certainly making
an outstanding effort to create green furniture.  A sentence on EKLA’s
website states their goals beautifully : "Our devotion to craftsmanship
and quality produces pieces that last a lifetime, and are lush and
luxurious but never compromise our dedication to the environment."   
Visit their website for more information. 

MILANO SOFA ROUGE – 100% organic wool, dyed with fiber reactive low impact, non-toxic dye.  Construction: Natural Rubber, 100% organic US grown and milled wool,
100% organic cotton barrier cloth, FSC alder frame and legs, recycled
steel springs, Safecoat no VOC stain.

KRISTINA SECTIONAL CITRUS – 100% organic wool, dyed with fiber reactive low impact, non-toxic dye.  Construction: Natural Rubber, 100% organic US grown and milled wool, 100% organic cotton barrier cloth, FSC alder frame and legs, recycled steel springs, Safecoat no VOC stain.

Image credits: Elka Home.

Arhaus, a furnishings company, was founded in 1986 with commitments to design, craftsmanship, and responsibility.  Today, they are also committed to searching out eco-friendly materials and methods.  Arhaus has always focused on artisan crafted pieces, created by furniture makers from across the world whom Arhaus maintains "face-to-face" relationships with in order to assure quality and fair labor practices. 

Their eco-initiatives include plantation grown wood, reclaimed materials, end of life materials such
as mango wood from trees that are no longer producing, recycled
materials such as copper and glass, and a refusal to use
any rain forest woods. 

The company offers a wide variety
of furnishings including beds, tables, storage, and upholstered pieces in many styles ranging from traditional to contemporary.  I found that you have to search their website, reading about each piece, to
find the ones that are eco-friendly.  There are many
pieces made from mahogany, which is not known to be eco-friendly, as
well as other woods that I thought were questionable.  It would be beneficial
if the website had an eco-friendly product section. 

The company also
offers a selection of accessories, including many recycled glass vases.
The photos included in this article show a table from the Captiva
collection which is made of Mango wood (reddish colored console table),
a coffee table from the Pearson collection made of reclaimed Elm wood
and a circular dining table from the Trieste collection which has a
recycled copper top which has been hand hammered 3,500 times in order
to produce unique coloring and texture.  Pricing seems fairly reasonable.  The Captiva table is normally $800, but is on sale
for $500.  The Pearson table is on sale for $500 and the Trieste copper
table is on sale for $1700, normally $3600.  Each style is available in a variety of sizes and you may purchase their pieces on Arhaus’s website.

Photo credits: Arhaus.