by aleida, on August 3rd, 2009
Three years ago, when we started thinking about developing our own green materials library, we didn’t know what we would find. We knew we wanted alternatives for paints, flooring, wallcoverings, and tiles. We wanted to have the option of choosing products that could begin to reflect our firm belief that, as designers and specifiers, it was our responsibility to be educated and informed about the impact of every item we brought into one of our retail projects.
The search started in earnest, and the more and more we delved into it, the more we found we knew very little about… well, practically everything. So we dove into research that brought startling revelations to our office. Take, for example, what we learned about aluminum. From paints to mirrors, antiperspirant to food wrap, aluminum is ubiquitous in our modern lives – I’m using an aluminum-encased laptop at this very moment. But rarely do we stop to consider its prevalence. And so it was for us in our design work. It was in there, in products that we specified, and that was that. Then we started looking into it.
Here are some things we found out: by weight, aluminum is actually the most abundant metallic element on Earth, making up approximately 8% of the planet’s solid surface. And yet, despite this enormous presence, pure aluminum is incredibly rare. The metal is so reactive with oxygen that you can find it in its pure state only in areas where oxygen is least present, and there are few of those around. Most of Earth’s aluminum exists in combination with various minerals – over 270 of them! For industry to arrive at the aluminum that we’re commonly familiar with – the shiny, silvery, malleable metal – it literally has to be extracted from this combined state. And here’s where we were shocked: the smelting process requires approximately 15,000 kilowatt-hours of energy to produce one metric ton of aluminum. As of the end of 2003, the global annual aluminum production came in at 27.7 million metric tons. When the world produces about 75 thousand metric tons every single day, you can see how much energy is required! And that’s just the smelting process. That figure does not take into account the energy required to mine and transport the bauxite ore (the primary source of aluminum), nor the energy it then takes to transport the extracted aluminum to factories that will actually turn it into something that can be brought to market (what is referred to as embodied energy).
In comparison, steel production requires approximately 3,520 KwH per metric ton, and recycled aluminum production requires 2,250 KwH per metric ton. It was easy for us, then, to decide to seek out recycled aluminum products, and to strive to specify only those. One of our early finds were the recycled aluminum tiles made by Eleek, Inc., a design and manufacturing company established in 2000 in Portland, Oregon. From among their product line-up, the tiles really stood out for us. They are beautiful, with a unique finish, elegant colors, and a truly green story behind them, making them an easy and obvious choice as a library addition. Eleek sources used aluminum from within a 50-mile radius of their facility, and depending on the project, the tiles may contain up to 100% recycled content. Considering the enormous difference in energy required to produce virgin vs. recycled aluminum, this fact alone is a remarkable accomplishment in energy efficiency. Eleek also has a take-back program, where they can personally recycle any of their products. This, along with the metal’s innate recyclability (it doesn’t lose any of its natural qualities in the process), means the aluminum can live on and on indefinitely.
We have been able to use the Eleek tiles in two of our retail projects so far, both Whole Foods Market stores, with one in Wellington, FL, and the second in Jacksonville, FL. It was the same application at both stores: as a wall covering in the coffee bar venue. The gorgeous Golden Amber artist patina of the tiles makes those walls pop. We hope to have occasion to use this product again in the future.
Great read! thx
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