To adapt an adage from the popular language of fashion, green is the new black. It’s no surprise then that one of the world’s most cutting-edge genres, luxury yacht construction and design, is falling in step with the green revolution. With influences ranging from Al Gore’s highly popular feature film documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," to some of Manhattan’s newest skyscrapers—the Hearst Tower near Columbus Circle and the Bank of America tower at One Bryant Park—we are, as a culture, going green.

Interior design is just one of the ways in which ours and every other community can begin to adhere to a new set of rules that will ensure there is clean air to fill our sails and blue seas to float our bottoms. Taking this mantra to heart is one of Royal Huisman Shipyard’s latest projects, the 190-foot (58-meter) performance ketch Ethereal. Ethereal’s green mission, to be energy efficient and environmentally friendly, is driven by her extremely committed owners. Her brief was to push the envelope of current knowledge and practices and become a yacht that could operate independently and efficiently for extended periods. Applying this dictum to every detail of the yacht’s design meant pioneering major advances in interior lighting (and many other systems’ designs). (Click image to enlarge)

Examples of these innovations include windows and hatches manufactured from exotic glass laminates and designed to become increasingly opaque as infrared heat increases. They can be programmed to maintain constant light and comfort levels to reduce the demand for heating or air conditioning. Advanced insulating flooring was also developed. This new composite is light, yet stiff enough to support great weight and will be used for many interior floors. Some composite panels will also be used in the bulkheads of certain spaces, such as the galley, ensuring Ethereal’s interior will be, as the yard says, a "beautiful and stylish energy-saving cocoon." (Click images to enlarge)

Trumping the admirable list of eco-friendly advancements is Ethereal’s lighting applications. As Royal Huisman explains, "Lighting of a ship can actually be a major player in improving its level of environmental friendliness." The conventional, incandescent lighting that is the norm takes up a considerable amount of energy and is thus an important factor in determining a yacht’s power profile (which, in turn, is used to determine the size of the generators required). Saving energy with lighting equals reduced generator capacity and subsequent fuel consumption: green benefit No. 1.

In addition to the grander goal of reduced fuel consumption, saving energy by eliminating incandescent lighting has two major benefits. Typical incandescent light only converts five to 15 percent of the energy consumed to light, leaving the balance of that energy to turn to heat. To offset this heat, a yacht requires an elaborate air-conditioning system that not only combats heat from the external environment, but also heat from the lighting system. Consequently, this requires larger generator capacity and more fuel.

Royal Huisman’s Ethereal was designed to be green. Among the many ways yacht owners can be environmentally responsible is using LED lights and fabrics made of sustainable materials. (Click images to enlarge)

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To tackle the problem of the "cool" bluish light LEDs originally produced, Royal Huisman worked with the American company Illumination Optics to develop a type of LED that would offer warm white color.LEDs have a lifespan 50 times longer than that of conventional incandescent light bulbs. When Ethereal is launched in August 2008, she will be a shining example of how rethinking a "minor" facet of interior design such as lighting can produce a considerable amount of energy savings and reduce fuel consumption without compromising design.

Other areas in which we can begin to consider employing green design include furniture and fabric selection. When asked the question, "What have you done lately to implement green principles into your work?" Washington, D.C.-based interior designer Paul Sherrill thought a moment and then responded: "Antiques. Using antiques is essentially recycling and one way designers and clients may not even realize they have done something green."

Creative use of antiques aboard yachts is one way of "recycling" that designers and owners may not even recognize as doing something green. Top Photograph by Alan Karchme. Middle photograph by Walter Smalling. (Click images to enlarge)

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Companies such as Q Collection, Kravet Green and Ralph Lauren Home every day are making it easier to design and decorate green without compromise. Based in New York, Q Collection was founded in 2002 with the mission to combine high-end, stylish design with the most environmentally friendly materials available. The next two years were spent developing a comprehensive line of furniture, textiles and accessories that are now available at the flagship store at 915 Broadway, a second New York location in the Decoration & Design Building and other showrooms around the country.

To remain at the forefront of sustainable design, Q Collection strives to eliminate toxic chemicals, carcinogens and other leading components of poor indoor air quality from its products. Its residential collection of fabrics offers high-end biodegradable textiles made from natural fibers including abaca, alpaca, bamboo, hemp, linen, organic cotton and wool that are custom-colored or printed with low-impact, heavy-metal-free dyes. All leathers use only vegetable dyes and no heavy metals in the tanning process. Both leathers and fabrics are free of any toxic finishes or treatments. Any wood employed in accessory or furniture manufacturing is "certified" sustainably harvested.

Of course, the most appealing facet of these forward-thinking pieces is their uncompromised styling. The Q Collection seating line is especially strong and could easily be employed wherever loose furnishings are needed on board. Why not bat for two and upholster them in one of many diverse and sophisticated patterns of residential fabric ranging from the nautical to the whimsical?

For more than 90 years, the American fabric house Kravet has provided the design community with innovative patterns and textures. Now with Kravet Green, the company is using its influence to set an example that puts sustainable living at the forefront of the decorative fabric and home furnishings industry. Its first collection includes the palettes of Fire, Earth and Ocean. The line uses all natural and sustainable yarns or recycled components, water-based products for finishing and environmentally approved dyes, providing customers with responsible choices in a field that is increasing in popularity: green interior design.

Filtering our focus to a tertiary level (after first examining green ships’ systems, building materials and furniture fabrication and upholstery), we can look at Ralph Lauren Home’s Lauren Spa line. Lauren Spa is a sustainable choice for chic bedclothes and linens including pillowcases, sheets, duvets, shams and towels in a range of colors to match any stateroom.

The magnificent vessels that comprise our community and provide us with unparalleled leisure are only as admirable as the environments in which they exist. As I finish this article on the unmatched Côte d’Azur, I can only think that to keep this beautiful coast blue, we must start by going green.

For more info on these lines, visit:
www.kravetgreen.com
www.qcollection.com
www.royalhuisman.com
www.poloralphlauren.com
www.solisbetancourt.com