It is globally being reported, since the early 2000s that nearly 40% of the planet’s carbon dioxide emission is being accounted by the construction industry. Moreover, we have constantly being underestimating the role of interiors into this percentage.
A common statistics suggests that around 7-10% of the total carbon-footprint responsibly comes from a project’s furniture, fixtures and equipment. However, a recent research data indicates the contrary. The data reveals that in a building’s average lifespan the ratio of carbon footprint of its interiors will be equal to that of its structure and envelope and may even exceed in some cases.
Surprisingly, interior designing has actually been doing a great harm constantly be it in the form of deforestation or polluting the environment with saw dust during its making. The saw dust produced during furniture making is known to be lethal in long terms for humans. Thus, tackling climate crisis has become a transcendental issue in large scale traditional construction as well as in the process of designing decorative elements and furnishings. Therefore, furniture designers and manufacturers are placing sustainability as a top priority keeping hand in hand with comfort, aesthetics and functionality of the furniture. They are achieving this goal through various methods such as climate-smart fabrication, making use of recycled materials or by utilizing better quality products having durable lifespan. All this has been in an effort for generating a positive environmental impact and providing a simultaneous response for the conscious audience that seeks to consume responsibly.
Smart furniture can be said to be a commodity that brings or adds value, integrates functionality, comfort and elegance and also fits into every personalized requirement issued by the user, as well as possess latest IT technology.
Characteristics of smart furniture
In order to provide a personalized and customized key to satisfy the basic needs of population a set of special characteristics has been defined for smart furniture.
Contributing to sustainability
When it comes to selecting materials, smart furniture are all about innovation. At the first place, the shell is composed of thermo-polymer of natural and non-fossil origin that is completely generated from living micro-organisms. It offers a sustainable profile that is similar to that of wood. The material is fully recyclable, completely bio-degradable and compostable. However, the only challenge that comes in is the pioneering and experimentation with thermo-polymer created many hurdles and technological complexities. For instance, it becomes necessary to bring about modifications in the molds by injecting new systems to guarantee fluidity, in adjusting the settings of machinery that injects it and the use of hardware solutions for improving the temperature and humidity control.
A completely novel fabric collection called as Circular ONE fabric is developed particularly for covering these furniture. These fabrics are composed from textile wastes and PET plastics that are recovered from bottles. Adopted from a textile production process, the fabric not only offers quality and durability but also ensures a minimal environmental impact. In addition, every single component of the sustainable furniture could easily be disassembled for being reused and recycled at the end of its useful life. To attain this, every component is joined without glues and adhesives for facilitating better separation process.
Minimal carbon-footprint
Collectively, all these measures are being taken as an effort to minimize carbon-footprint in furniture. Considering an example, on an average, manufacturing of any chair requires 30-60 kgs of carbon-dioxide emission, whereas, a sustainable chair utilized just 11.94 kgs of carbon-dioxide emission, in terms of both energy and transport.
Conclusion
Thus, it becomes evident that sustainability is no longer an issue exclusively for large scale construction. It ought to be addressed in each and everything being designed, no matter the scale. Henceforth, with a climate emergency that is only aggravating every single second, all the large and small scale manufacturers are obligated to take into account for what they are produce and how they are produce it. Lastly, even if the production processes are getting more expensive and complex, the innovation and adoption of climate-smart designs will ultimately enable us to pave step towards a cleaner, greener future.
Aakansha holds a master's degree in biotechnology and is currently working as a research scholar. An avid reader, Aakansha finds keen interest in reading and writing on areas related to clean energy and zero carbon emissions.
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Technology is a useful servant, but a dangerous master, it was rightly said. Electronic devices have grown into an inevitable part of our daily lives.
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