Green door for sustainable buildings program

As we began researching and implementing green and economically-viable alternatives to traditional signage materials, a wide and deep network of established frameworks helped us visualize the eco-friendly trajectory of our product.

Having the support of these established organizations who shared our vision for a better future gave us an additional, more detailed, roadmap to enact revolutionary revisions to traditional signage materials.

First to go was all phthalates and, as of recently, we are proud to have replaced the irritant D-limonene with more gentle and bio-based wood sealing oils. To anyone debating the leap of faith to sustainable, responsible products: You and our planet have nothing to lose!

All environmentally beneficial actions are worthwhile, no matter how small. Every individual product maker who improves upon the system makes it easier for other craftspersons and even consumers to make the right decisions, too. Being a great example—choosing responsible materials and sharing transparent ingredient lists—will only strengthen the system that is already here, just waiting to be used. Building upon our past sign industry and marketing experience, the best action Simon and I can take is to produce and sell sustainable braille office door signs.

While signs are a small building component, they are placed at every doorway and are highly visible. Why have a faux wood door sign when you can have the real thing?

Woodland Building Supply is a full service building material dealer located in the University City section of Philadelphia. We offer exceptional service and competitive pricing to the building trades, home remodelers, and commercial property managers in the Greater Philadelphia area, and beyond.

Site Map. Close Search. Sustainable Windows. Request A Quote Now! This field should be left blank. Framing Wood frames are very energy efficient, and are available in FSC wood, but can also be expensive and need to be sealed or painted regularly to protect them from water damage.

Glass Options. Insulated Glass Creates an insulated air space between the two pieces of glass, resulting in better thermal performance. Low-E Glass Low-E Glass is coated with a virtually invisible layer of silver that reflects radiant solar energy while permitting visible light to pass through the glass. Argon Gas Added inside an insulated panel with Low-E Glass, Argon gas is an invisible, insulating blanket that replaces most of the air during the manufacturing process. Sustainable Doors Doors that are considered to have sustainable qualities must be especially good at creating a seal between the outside and inside, and a large part of energy conservation is about reducing heat or cold exchange with the outdoors.

Material Choices One aspect to sustainability is the material that the door is comprised of. Here are a few materials to choose from:. Fiberglass Doors There is an abundance of styles and textures to choose from. Wood Doors When looking for a wood door, there are two things to look for.

It should come as no surprise that wind turbine supplier Suzlon has a top-tier green headquarters. The rest of its electricity comes from its off-site windmill farms, making it a net zero energy building.

Credit: Shutterstock. One side looks like a regular commercial building, but the other is something straight out of your Hanging Gardens of Babylon fantasies. It has a series of 15 garden terraces that reach up to about feet, according to Metaefficient. The project was born of limited options and ingenuity. Fukuoka residents were livid about losing their last public green space in the center of town, so architect Emilio Ambasz conjured up a compromise by bringing the public green space upward.

The terraces not only look gorgeous, but also moderate the building's temperature and support insects and birds. Torre Reforma Mexico City. Torre Reforma or Reforma Tower in English is Mexico City's tallest building and it helps lead the way in sustainability there. Torre Reforma rises to feet -- higher than any other building in the Mexican capital -- and stands tall on energy-saving measures, too. Arup, the engineering firm on the project, says the tower's slimness maximises the amount of natural light let in, which in turn cuts down on the need for electric lights; and when the weather permits, controls can automatically open windows before dawn to let in cool air as a form of natural ventilation.

The tower, which has LEED platinum certification, comes with another important bonus: It's built to withstand a major earthquake, a vital consideration in the quake-prone city. The Edge Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Edge, headquarters of Deloitte, is one of the greenest and smartest office buildings in the world.

The Edge, a light, bright and app-controlled building with a large atrium as its nucleus, is as green as it is worker-friendly -- a key directive by PLP Architects when designing the building. Eschewing traditional electric lights and wiring, LEDs are powered by a "digital ceiling" with computer cables connected to sensors, anticipating lighitng needs rather than running at a steady rate.

The skin of the building is made of solar panels. Temperatures are regulated by pumping warmer and cooler water from different levels in an aquifer.

Workers can even adjust their window blinds with the app. The Edge got an enviable sustainability score of The design is inspired by terraformed rice paddies, and numerous sky gardens have been inserted along the building's facade. They deliver luxuriant greenery , including palm trees, to public areas and guest room balconies. These also provide a natural cooling effect.

WOHA also incorporated crevasses, waterfalls and gullies into the design. These features are designed to be self-sustaining, taking advantage of Singapore's abundant rainfall to irrigate all those plants through a drip system.

Robinson Tower Singapore. An open-air garden sits atop the retail portion of Robinson Tower. Credit: Tim Griffith. Officially known as 18 Robinson , this tower is a new jewel in Singapore's architectural crown. The design meets the stringent standards set by Singapore's Landscape Replacement Policy, which require that new projects include public green spaces equal to any greenery removed to construct the building. Loaded with podiums and tracks for trees and other plants, the design also maximizes the amount of available natural light coming in, which reduces artificial lighting costs.

The public can visit an enclosed garden on the roof and an open-air garden on the top of the retail spaces in the building. The result is a very creative design loaded with podiums and tracks for trees and other plants. The design also maximizes the amount of available natural light coming in, which reduces artificial lighting costs. The public can visit an enclosed garden on the roof and an open-air garden on the top of retail part of the building.

One Angel Square is lighting the way to a greener future in Manchester. Credit: Alamy. Manchester helped lead the way during the Industrial Revolution, so it seems fitting one of its 21st century buildings is helping lead the way to a greener future.