What is Green Building?
(Page 2 of 4)
August/September 2005
By Alex Wilson
The Holy Grail of LCA for building products would be a database in which the life-cycle environmental impacts of different materials were fully quantified and the impacts weighed so that a builder or designer could easily see which material was better from an environmental standpoint. Though efforts have been started along these lines — one example is the Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability (BEES) software developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (available for free download at www.bfrl.nist.gov/oae/software/bees.html) — we are not close to realizing that goal. We are a long way from a comprehensive, truly objective way to compare the greenness of building materials, but we still can make informed decisions regarding their selection.
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Finding These Products
Until we have a comprehensive LCA database that we can use to quantify the environmental characteristics of building materials, one way to identify green products is to rely on green labels or certifications for those products. Most such labels are specific to a particular type of product. Examples include certified wood from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), Energy Star appliances and office equipment, and GreenSeal labels on paint.
There also are a number of directories of green building products, including the online Oikos Green Product Directory from Iris Communications (www.oikos.com). My firm, BuildingGreen, offers the GreenSpec Directory, the newsletter Environmental Building News and a new residential directory, Green Building Products (to order, go to www.Mother
EarthNews.com).irectories such as these necessitate that editors use specific criteria to screen products for inclusion. The GreenSpec criteria are available for free download in the article “What makes a Product Green?” (www.buildinggreen.com/ features/gp/green_products.cfm).
Are Green Products More Expensive?
Some green building products are more expensive than their nongreen counterparts. VOC-free (volatile organic compound) paints produce no significant pollutants, but require different chemical formulations that may cost more to manufacture or that may be produced in smaller volumes, such that manufacturers can’t benefit from economies of scale. Other green products are made from natural ingredients that are significantly more expensive, or from wood that is grown and harvested in environmentally sensitive ways that can cost more. With mechanical equipment and appliances, greener products have greater energy efficiency, which can require more expensive components or more elaborate configurations.
Not all green building products are more expensive, though. Plenty of them cost no more than their conventional counterparts — or even cost less. And as green products gain market share, economies of scale should bring down overall costs.
Alex Wilson is the president of BuildingGreen in Brattleboro, Vt., and executive editor of Environmental Building News. BuildingGreen (www.buildinggreen.com) publishes authoritative information on environmentally responsible building design and construction. This article is reprinted courtesy of Solar Today (www.solartoday.org).
