Define the “green” trend. If you forget kitchen and bath, green is really being conscious of the world’s needs, being environmentally friendly. When it comes into the kitchen and bath, trends have started a long time ago. There are trends on how much water per flush a toilet uses, or how much water comes out of your showerhead. Being green-friendly in kitchens and baths also has to do with the energy used in lighting. It has to do with everything that’s at all possible to save on natural resources, to care about what our grandkids see.
What are some of the most exciting developments in this category? The most exciting development is if you equate new things to computers: a long time ago, when computers first came out and you received it through regular shipping, it was outdated. That’s how technology is just advancing in leaps and bounds. With the trends in building, the most amazing things are happening, and it’s really the individual states that are forming their own laws. In California, for instance, 50 percent of the lighting in all new commercial buildings has to be fluorescent. In doing that, the fluorescents light bulbs can’t be screw-in bulbs; they have to be snap-in. The reason for this is they don’t want a builder to build, an inspector to come in and see more than half the lights are fluorescent, and then the builder changes it to incandescent bulbs. So as far as what I see as new in bathrooms and kitchens, it’s the use of lighting. People are building homes now that have cells on the roof. That happened 40 years ago, but now they’re very functional. I see those as incredible trends, as well as a lot of [bathroom] hardware where the water flow is restricted so it’s not as wasteful.
Why are people becoming interested in this category now? Because they see what’s going on. You see what’s happening with global warming; we’re concerned about losing the rain forests; we’re concerned about losing the polar ice caps; we’re concerned about the animals.
What can we expect from this category in the future? We’re actually becoming very conscious about a lot of things now. At first we complained about things, but what happens now is the manufacturers get into making it better, to making it more efficient. And what I see in the future is more and more the same. I see lighting being the same, I see people getting into being able to program their homes from a second location. For example, for people who have second homes and are coming out on the weekends in the winter, instead of leaving the heat on at 68 degrees, you can put it down to 40 and when you’re 20 minutes away in your car, you can turn on the heat from your cell phone. The first LED light we made was made because it was the easiest one to make. Now, all of the metal that we use is made out of brass, and all the brass has been re-melted down from either artillery shells or boats that are being salvaged.
If someone is interested in incorporating this trend into their home, what tips would you offer? They should be able to figure out what it’s going to cost, but then weigh that against what it’s going to save. For example, when oil goes up and natural gas goes down, and you’re thinking of converting your oil furnace to burning propane, figure out how much will it cost, and how long will it take to get your money back. I think people have to really sit down and understand it’s not just dollars and cents; it makes a lot of sense morally. Then, if they figure out if it makes sense [cost-wise], how are they going to execute that? Go into a store that sells appliances and take a look at every refrigerator and every oven. Find out how much fuel they burn and how much energy they use. You really have to do research – it’s readily available. With manufacturers that have done their homework correctly and are very conscious, that’s going be a major selling point. It’s not just going to be just flash and chrome and what looks great. Interview by Elizabeth Heiberger
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