NATIONAL REPORT—When it comes to wallcoverings, designers, hotel owners, purchasing agents and others have not always had the most environmentally friendly choices. Vinyl—polyvinyl chloride or PVC—years ago included heavy metals and solvent inks. Today, however, it is a different world and 90 percent of heavy metals have been eliminated and water-based inks are used. Some wallcovering makers still tout vinyl’s durability and value, and one has even started recycling it, but others are now offering non-PVC alternatives. One company that has made a big splash at trade shows in the past year with its recycling initiative is LSI Wallcovering, Louisville,...

LAKE PLACID, N.Y.—Next spring will be an exciting time here at the Golden Arrow Lakeside Resort, located in idyllic Lake Placid, home of the 1980 Winter Olympics. Up on the roof of the 153-room property, just between the main lobby and the restaurant, a green roof will be installed. Similar to a garden, the roof will include a bed of soil and plants that will have both aesthetic and environmental benefits. The roof originally was going to be put in place this fall but it was determined that the plants that will rest in the roof modules need more time...

ATLANTA—Natural ventilation has been promoted as a cure-all to reduce cost and energy consumption and to improve indoor air quality and occupant comfort. The reality of natural ventilation, however, is more complicated. A workshop discussing the design and performance of natural systems will be featured at ASHRAE’s IAQ 2007: Healthy and Sustainable Buildings conference. The event will be held in Baltimore October 14-17. In the workshop, entitled “What’s So Great About Natural Ventilation,” Steve Emmerich and Andy Persily, both with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, will discuss how natural ventilation systems relate to existing ventilation, thermal comfort and...

CHICAGO—Tornado announced that its recently released CK LW 13/1 vacuum cleaner has just earned the Carpet and Rug Institute’s (CRI) Green Label certification. The Green Label on a vacuum cleaner tells users that the machine meets the highest standards of operation, efficiency and performance, which can help lower overall cleaning costs and improve worker productivity, as it protects the environment. To earn the certification, the performance of the vacuum cleaner is evaluated in three key areas: • Soil removal—how efficiently the machine removes soil from a test carpet area; • Dust containment—the amount of dust released into the air when using the vacuum cleaner;...

PEORIA, ARIZ.—LG Solid Source LLC (LGSS), the North American sales and marketing arm for LG HI-MACS Acrylic Solid Surface, LG HI-MACS Volcanics Collection, LG HI-MACS Eden Collection, and LG Viatera Natural Quartz is excited to announce that these products are now Greenguard Indoor Air Quality Certified for low chemical emissions with and without LG Adhesive. “The Greenguard Certification is a testament to our ongoing commitment to provide environmentally-sensitive products that meet the demands of everyone from the designer to the installer,” says product manager Mike Tasch. “It also complements our very popular LG Eden product line which has been independently...

One of the legacies of the Industrial Revolution is the introduction of cleaning chemicals into the marketplace. Since WWII, more than 75,000 industrial chemicals have been registered with the EPA. Of those, less than 2 percent have been tested for toxicity, birth defects, and cancer. Moreover, chemical companies are under no legal or regulatory obligation to study the long term health effects their products have on the human body, nor are they required to fully disclose all of the ingredients in their products. Citing proprietary privilege, they only report on active ingredients. This accounts for less than 5 percent...

PEACHTREE CITY, GA.—The Wyndham Peachtree Conference Center is now offering allergy-friendly guest accommodations and 99.9 percent allergenic-free meeting facilities, thanks to Pure Solutions NA’s PURE Room system. “At the Wyndham Peachtree Conference Center, we’ve always made it a priority to offer personalized service to our guests,” says Helen Simmons, general manager at the property. “We’ve taken that philosophy to unprecedented heights with our new allergy-free rooms and meeting facilities.” Utilizing the PURE Room system, this hotel now offers guests an environment where surfaces are treated to minimize contaminants and irritants—such as mold spores, yeast, bacteria, pollen, dust, dust mites and chlorine—as...

BOULDER, COLO.—If you would like to learn about the Boulder Outlook Hotel & Suites’ zero waste program, I suggest checking with the property’s Ambassador of Cool (owner Dan King)—or maybe its Green Goddess (environmental champion Diane Schevene). Believe it or not, those are the titles the two have given themselves. Both have worked hard to push the property toward zero waste. Is zero waste possible in a hotel that has a full-service restaurant, 3,800 square feet of meeting space and 162 guestrooms? It is if one considers only the waste generated by staff. Because the hotel cannot control what guests...

ATLANTA—Healthy and sustainable buildings are the talk of the building industry, but what exactly defines what a healthy building is? ASHRAE will discuss this and other topics at its IAQ 2007: Healthy and Sustainable Buildings conference in Baltimore. The event will be held Oct. 15 to 17. IAQ 2007 will address what tools and metrics can be used to quantify buildings’ health and sustainability and how indoor air quality can be certified as sustainable. Plenary session speakers will compare the functionality of rating systems, how they can be improved and what information other than the ratings can developers, designers and...

PEMBROKE PINES, FLA.—The Chemically Safer Travel Directory, a guide for health-conscious travelers with sensitivities to chemicals, is now available. It features 658 listings (314 of which are new). Each listing represents a less-toxic place to vacation and stay in the United States, Canada and other countries. The “Safer” in Safer Travel Directory was inspired by the 1995 movie “Safe,” in which the main character inexplicably becomes allergic to the 20th century. Twentieth Century Disease (also known as Multiple Chemical Sensitivity) is a very real disability with no cure. It is brought about by some 60,000 chemicals present in our environment,...