In a down economy, fewer are willing to spend on green furnishings

Furniture shoppers are less willing to spend on eco-friendly furniture, says Furniture Today, reporting on the Sustainable Furnishings Council's 2010 Green Home Furnishings Consumer Study. Evidently, big ticket spenders are harder to find these days, and only 4 percent of consumers say they are looking to buy green home furnishings. The survey suggests that educating shoppers about green home furnishings should be a priority, given the current low levels of consumer knowledge.

While in the past about 10 percent of respondents have said they would be willing to spend more on eco-friendly products in general, now that's dropped to just 5 percent.

Green in office

Check out GigaOm's roundup of green options for furnishing the workplace:

Desks, shelves and chairs can do more damage to the environment than simply using up energy and natural resources when they’re manufactured. They can also introduce toxic chemicals into the environment, both during their manufacture and after their disposal.

The article offers solid recommendations for office chairs and desks, with an eye for good design.

How to select green furniture

Check out this article from Today GreenDay on selecting eco-friendly furniture:

Look for furniture made from reclaimed materials. Houses, kitchen tables, pianos, baseball bats — think of all the wood that is used to make things each day and then think about all the scraps left over from construction and manufacturing and the landfill waste from discarded wood items. Instead of using new wood to make dining room chairs and beds and bookshelves, some green designers are turning to wood that’s already in play. 

Ikea invests in a sunny future

Furniture giant Ikea is investing in alternative energy products, such as solar panels, to the tune of $77 million, according to Inhabitant. But don't expect to see products in stores until 2011 or 2012.

Update: For more detail, check out this story in this blog's parent publication, Home Channel News.

Wal-Mart agrees to clean up its wood supply chain

From our sister publication, Retailing Today, here's a story on how Wal-Mart has partnered with the Global Forest and Trade Network to phase out illegal and unwanted wood sources from its supply chain, relying more heavily on certified chain-of-custody product. Money quote:

Within one year, Wal-Mart will complete an assessment of where its wood furniture is coming from and whether the wood is legal and well-managed. Once the assessment is completed, Wal-Mart has committed to eliminating wood from illegal and unknown sources within five years. The company will also eliminate wood from forests that are of critical importance due to their environmental, socio-economic, biodiversity or landscape values and that aren’t well-managed.

American building materials companies also partnering with the Global Forest and Trade Network include BlueLinx, Domtar, and Cryntel.