Green Builder Media CEO Sara Gutterman talks with Noah Chitty, vice president of sustainability at AHF Products, about the carbon-neutral tile and wood flooring being specified for the VISION House Austin project. Chitty explains how carbon reduction, carbon credits, and material transparency add up to healthier, lower-carbon homes.
00:00:01:19 - 00:00:19:05
Sara Gutterman: Sarah, I'm CEO of Green Builder Media and I'm here today with Noah Chiti, VP of sustainability for So let's just start with Rs, which is a parent company for a variety of brands. Can you just tell us about Aref, who you are and what brands you represent?
00:00:19:06 - 00:00:39:20
Noah Chitty: So Aref five years ago was residential good company. And then with the acquisition of Armstrong and then finally the acquisition last October of Crossville kind of brings them US manufacturing facilities in Parkwood Resilient and Tile.
00:00:39:24 - 00:01:00:13
Sara Gutterman: The vision House Austin project, which, as you know, is a unique architect designed home that's intended to showcase how sustainability begins with design. So talk a little bit about how A.H. products and Armstrong and Phil in particular, since those are the brands we will be showcasing in the project to sustainability at the design phase.
00:01:00:14 - 00:01:19:24
Noah Chitty: For the tile part, you know, we chose one of the three carbon neutral products that we have. This is the perfect showcase to kind of start the conversation of like, what is a net zero building mean? You know, what are the building products going into a net zero building need to have? And what is that carbon accounting look like?
00:01:19:25 - 00:01:52:26
Noah Chitty: So I think one of the carbon neutral products made sense for this kind of project. And then would I think the main story around sustainability is just that lasting the time and it being obviously an all natural material. Interestingly enough, there's a conversation about how what is the most sustainable, and there's a conversation about how tile is the most sustainable material and just trying to figure that out because there is some complicated, you know, nature in the back of that biogenic carbon and, you know, making sure that we're, you know, bringing trees from sustainable forest so we can make those type of claims.
00:01:53:00 - 00:02:05:08
Noah Chitty: And we just want to make sure that, you know, that people know we're going to be transparent about these products, you know, especially the ones that you're in the US and making sure that those attributes that people are looking for in the market.
00:02:05:10 - 00:02:29:15
Sara Gutterman: The meticulous specification of low carbon products, is essential for getting to a net zero carbon built environment. And you mentioned that we are we're going to utilize and showcase a net zero carbon product from Crossville in this project. Can you tell us a little bit more about how that particular product line has achieved that net zero carbon status?
00:02:29:23 - 00:02:56:27
Noah Chitty: As we've gone around talking about the carbon neutral products, and a lot of the questions come. Well, what about what percentage is coming from carbon reduction? So I've been trying to figure out how to put those two things together lately, because my first instinct was a carbon neutral because we buy carbon credits. But I'm also thinking that same statement that somebody who buys carbon credits or to get carbon neutral without a carbon reduction program isn't being sustainable.
00:02:57:04 - 00:03:34:09
Noah Chitty: So I think what the architects, designers are trying to figure out is how to use those two things together to ask a simple question. So I think I've sort of gotten there, which is we did our first in 2014. We showed a 10% reduction by 2019. We'll show somewhere between 5 and 10% with the EPA this year. But I think the final answer to people are looking for is that what they're close to in between 15 and 20% from reduction in 80% from carbon credits, with a goal of 30% reduction by 2030 in the carbon credits, and then a final goal of the carbon credits being zero eventually.
00:03:34:09 - 00:03:38:27
Noah Chitty: But we can figure out how to get all the carbon emissions out of the entire life cycle chain.
00:03:38:28 - 00:03:58:22
Sara Gutterman: We know for a fact that younger generations believe that having a healthy home is kind of a must have. It's not a nice to have anymore. So talk a little bit about how your products and specifically the the wood and tile products that we're using in the house. Austin address that very important topic of healthy home.
00:03:59:00 - 00:04:31:29
Noah Chitty: From the tile side, I think it's probably pretty easy. We use all natural materials fired to 2200 degrees. It is, and it is not possible for it to absorb VOCs from other materials, like if they paint or something and it doesn't emit docs. So I think from a tile standpoint, a healthy home and just like any hard surface material, and I guess that's maybe how they relate to wood, the hard surfaces of material are going to be easier to clean, usually able to be cleaned without chemicals that are going to, you know, be difficult for somebody to deal with.
00:04:32:01 - 00:04:49:10
Noah Chitty: And then really, I think the hard surfaces give you the fact I mean, I have carpet in some of my house. It doesn't take you too long to realize that trying to keep one of them clean from allergens and contaminants versus the other is a much different situation, especially if you have nets or something.
00:04:49:12 - 00:04:54:06
Sara Gutterman: Is there anything else that you would like to say or share with us today?
00:04:54:10 - 00:05:14:08
Noah Chitty: What I walked into was already a company trying to be very transparent about what they're doing, and when that happens, it's easy. So I mean, I think our goals for the future are to make sure that we're transparent, mainly through environmental transparency and material ingredient transparency. We're in the process of trying to do that across the board for all the products that we make.
00:05:14:10 - 00:05:39:23
Noah Chitty: And then I think we will sit down and figure out kind of what, you know, carbon reduction strategies look for in the future. And of course, we have to tie in all of the, you know, the other things in the air pledge or in the designer pledge. You know, we supply chain and social equity and circularity are all things that we need to bring to the table for future product design, for future acquisition, all of those things.
00:05:39:27 - 00:05:47:06
Noah Chitty: There's a lot more to think about. And today's world of sustainability that it's really a major piece of what we're doing is we're going to hold it.