Tuesday, 29 April 2008 | Levent OZLER
Architect Peter Pfeiffer Lectures on "Greening the Kitchen"
 ALNO hosted a press breakfast Saturday, April 12 at their Chicago-based showroom, and building scientist and green architect Peter Pfeiffer spoke on key ways to green the kitchen. Having implemented ALNO kitchen cabinet systems in a green home he designed in Austin, which was recently completed on Earth Day, Pfeiffer choose ALNO for their quality product, but also for their use of incredibly green materials and manufacturing processes.
Pfeiffer's presentation covered the importance of lighting and choosing low-watt fixtures in the kitchen to reduce energy use, including fluorescent and LED lighting sources. He also relayed that refrigerators are the second highest consumers of electricity (next to air conditioners), stressing the importance of the Energy Star label. As for cooktops, he favors induction cooktops as they use the 85% of the energy lost to actually transfer heat to the food. Lastly, he mentioned simple tips including cooking meats on the outdoor grill, lessening the time spent running the dishwasher as boiling water pollutes the home's atmosphere as high indoor humidity levels encourage chemical interactions and dust buildup. On another note, he stated that prefinished cabinets are far less likely to off-gas into the home, making for healthier indoor air. In addition, Pfeiffer's presentation illustrated real life green homes as opposed to homes that were revered for being green, but merely scraped the surface.
"My hope was that the journalists would leave feeling more informed about the importance of incorporating green elements in the kitchen, as this is something designers, architects and homeowners need to know about," said Yael Tamari, President of ALNO USA. "A lot of companies hold press events only to promote their product; we wanted to do something different. Our aim was to give reporters objective, factual information, which will enlighten their audience and serve as a call to action."
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