Green carpet

Floor covering manufacturer Interface's 'Cool Carpet' doesn't exactly do that. But it doesn't add to levels of CO2 and therefore global warming. Hence 'Cool'. Manufacturer Interface calculates the amount of CO2 which will be produced over a carpet's life and then buys 'emission reduction credits' to the same value in schemes such as renewable energy research or energy efficiency programmes.

The public sector is a target market, as sustainability is starting to appear in tender documents, and the government has made a commitment to reducing CO2 emissions, according to European sustainability manager Blake Bowers.

At the moment Cool Carpet is only available in the United States, but Interface plans to launch it in Europe later this year says Bowers. In the States, Cool Carpet comes as standard on one range of flooring, but can be taken up as an option on other ranges – for an additional charge.

Underlaying costs
Have people really been paying extra to do their bit? "It has been taken up as an option in the States, but not as heavily as we would have liked," says Bowers. "Europe is a different market. It is more aware of climate change." So how does it work?

Interface, in association with climate change groups, uses life cycle analysis to calculate how many tonnes of CO2 are emitted in connection with a floor covering, 90% of which come outside the manufacturing process. There's all sorts of extras to consider: transport of materials, cleaning and disposal at the end of its working life.

Now, there's a market price for CO2. So Interface pays that price to support projects that are aiming to reduce the amount of CO2 produced. In the US this has involved retrofitting boilers in schools and sponsoring energy efficiency programmes. At the moment Interface Europe is negotiating with European projects before the launch of Cool Carpet in Europe.

Piling on the pence
Interface has yet to decide if and on which products Cool Carpet will be offered as standard. But Bowers says it should not add more than 10 pence per sq m to the price, although the extra amount will vary depending on which climate change projects the manufacturer hooks up with.

Since floor coverings, coming as they do towards the end of a construction project, are often squeezed because the money has been spent elsewhere, is anyone really likely to go for this? "Sustainability can be one of the things that falls out of the specification," admits Bowers. "But where there is a clear commitment from the end user it could be used. A lot of big companies are signing up to climate change policies."