GreenSage E-zine 03/2008

A GreenSage Guide to Green Materials
by Elaine Ireland & the GreenSage Team

Whether you are selecting a material for your home or a design project intended for a LEED certification, its important to think about ways to assess the sustainability of your selection. Greener materials are one very important component in achieving a healthier indoor environment and an overall sustainable outcome of your entire project.

At GreenSage we began compling our online Directory of Green Materials in 1998. With very little information available at that time, we organized a system to evaluate the qualities of a material to qualify it for or reject it from our Directory. The contents below are based upon our work creating these standards for evaluating what makes a product green.

First thing you should know, its not a black and white process. Its green!

Qualifying a material as green is a series of determining various criteria. Many materials are, in fact, a shade of green with trade-offs and evaluations of the many contents in the product. For example, perhaps one materials' raw ingredients is toxic, but their use in a project is highly beneficial (take for example, vinyl clad windows where vinyl production has been known to be toxic, but vinyl windows can be durable and energy efficiency). Perhaps a material is non-toxic, but the extraction of its ingredients from the planet may be harmful to our environment (wood products made from uncertified forests for example), or its method of manufacturing may be toxic (perhaps bamboo when made into knit textiles).

So, here's a basic overview of our Selection Consideration Guidelines — five main categories to aid in your assessment and decision-making process for selecting greener products and materials.

The five main green selection criteria categories are:

1.Materials Resource Management
	a.The component's physical ingredients
		1.)An extracted natural source? Is it a perpetual resource? a renewable resource? a non-renewable resource?
		2.) A regenerated source?
		3.) A reduced resource?
		4.) A non-renewable source?
	b. Processing methods.
	c. Packaging materials.
	d. Relative transportation efficiencies.
2.Toxicity and Health Impact Criteria
	Any toxicity in the Product?
	Any Production toxicity, production waste, or reclamation issues?
	Environmental toxicity
	Any toxics in installation materials or processes?
	Does it contribute to energy efficiency or other offsetting benefits?
3.Performance (Use and Post-use)
	Does product help optimize performance of the building?
	Does product help optimize operations of the building?
	Does it help prevent or eliminate waste, toxins or contaminants?
	Is it durable?
4.Cost
	If there's a substantial first cost, will it save money over time?
	What about its Life-Cycle Cost? (including the cost to our natural capital)
	Will non-toxic materials save health care costs? (Tthe answer is generally yes.)
5.Corporate Commitment to Stewardship
	Does the manufacturer have an Environmental Policy? Are they Socially responsible? Treat workers fairly? Give to causes?

Some of the proven benefits of those materials qualifying as green include:

1. Reduced operating and maintenance costs from green qualities such as easy-to-maintain materials, energy saving products and leased equipment.
2. Reduced waste from green qualities like reusing existing materials, prioritizing durable and/or recycled content products
3. Healthier Indoor Environmental Quality from green qualities such as use of natural light, good acoustics, thermal comfort, occupant controls, appropriate ergonomics, and indoor air quality from such green strategies as low-emitting materials and indoor air quality monitors
4. Satisfied clients and occupants - (increased productivity and decreased absenteeism at the office)
5. Elevated marketability of both the property and the designers who created it
6. Increased professional credibility
7. Decreased environmental impact from such green qualities as reducing unnecessary resource extraction and minimizing waste generation
8. Qualifying for LEED credits or other certifications.