Material Health

Pursuing material health in the building industry involves avoiding or eliminating toxic chemicals from building products. Toxic chemicals are those that can bring harm to factory workers, installers, or building occupants. There are tens of thousands of unregulated chemicals used in our building products, and they can increase the risk of everything from asthma to obesity to cancer.

Materials containing these toxic chemicals include carpet, insulation, wet-applied products like adhesives and sealants, and many others. It’s possible to improve material health through better design decisions and product selections.

Material Health

Deep Dives

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  • Piping in Perspective: Selecting Pipe for Plumbing in Buildings

    Feature Article

    Potable water supply piping and drain-waste-vent piping represent a significant fraction of a building's materials. Choosing the greenest pipe for both applications, particularly deciding between metal pipe and plastic alternatives, requires evaluating a variety of environmental and human health impacts as well as durability and performance issues.

  • Cradle to Cradle Certification: A Peek Inside MBDC's Black Box

    Feature Article

    Cradle to Cradle is a multiple-attribute product certification program based on the philosophy of architect William McDonough and chemist Michael Braungart, and the work of their company, McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC). While MBDC's consulting services are driving breakthroughs in green manufacturing, the certification program lacks some of the comprehensiveness and transparency that are increasingly expected in the green certification market.

  • Get a Whiff of This: The Lowdown on Product Emissions Testing

    Feature Article

    Analytical chemistry tools, used together with product testing chambers, are making it possible to "see" product emissions in new ways. Editor Nadav Malin discusses the science behind product emissions testing, the different product certification standards, and what's ahead for this growing field.

  • Treated Wood in Transition: Less Toxic Options in Preserved and Protected Wood

    Feature Article

    Following the recent phaseout of CCA, the dominant wood preservative of the last 30 years, the treated wood industry is in major transition. Some current wood treatment technologies present familiar environmental problems, while less-toxic alternatives are just entering the market.

Quick Takes

Jump straight to the essentials with these short explanations of green building concepts.


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  • Brominated Flame Retardants

    Primer

    Keeping furnishings, appliances, and building materials from catching fire and burning up is important, but many flame retardants aren't good for us or the environment.

  • Using Fly Ash in Concrete

    Primer

    Fly ash lowers the environmental footprint of concrete and improves durability. Pouring and curing concrete with high levels of fly ash requires special treatment.

  • All About Formaldehyde

    Primer

    A naturally occurring organic compound used in binders for composite wood products, among other things, formaldehyde can create serious health problems in those exposed to high concentrations.

  • Volatile Organic Compounds: Definitions Matter

    Primer

    Because of how air-quality regulators define VOCs, judging a product's contribution to indoor air quality using only VOC content can be misleading.

Product Guidance

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In The News

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Perspective

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Learning Resources

Syllabus supplements and CEU content, with automatic reporting for AIA and GBCI.


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Just For Fun

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