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McDonough Creates Sustainable Templates for China

Architect William McDonough has joined the throngs of architects in the building gold rush currently in progress in China – but, of course, he has a different goal – bringing his cradle-to-cradle protocol there to assist in sustainable development. China’s modernization is proceeding at an almost unfathomable pace. McDonough is trying to spread the word of building sustainably by developing planning templates that can be used for a wide range of projects. He is working with the China Housing Industry Association (CHIA) which conducted a mass-energy study on what would happen if the planned 400 million units were built with brick. They found that China would lose all their soil and burn all their coal! The result would be cities, but without food or energy. That?s how big this is. 174 jurisdictions have already made brick illegal. The Chinese are going to house 400 million people in the next 12 years. Essentially they are rebuilding the housing stock of two Americas – in 12 years. McDonough is working with CHIA and a group of developers to create templates for cities based on the cradle-to-cradle protocol. What we do, he says, is examine sites – some of which are as big […]

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Carpet, Fabric & Apparel to Get Greener

Why is it taking so long for sustainable products of all kinds to be integrated into mainstream society? The Institute for Market Transformation to Sustainability (MTS) has taken on the charge to make it happen. Their goal is to transform manufacturing and retail practices worldwide so that by 2015 sustainable products are available in 90% of the global marketplace. Daunting? Yes, but since the 100 largest companies account for more than 90% of the world’s products, MTS believes its mission is attainable. MTS – through a process of consensus – develops product standards, and then puts them into practice by establishing purchasing programs, training, and promotion. They conduct on-going training programs on understanding and implementing their Sustainable Product Standards and Clean Vehicle training. In December, the group unanimously approved by ballot a standard to sustainably manufacture carpet, fabric and apparel, The Unified Sustainable Textile Standard 2.0. Years in the making, the standard covers the entire supply chain, product reuse and reclamation of textiles of all kinds. Its textile rating system is based on the level of sustainability over the course of the life cycle. Maximum credits can be achieved if the following criteria are applied throughout the supply chain: – […]

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