Material Selection
Selecting building materials can be complex. You have to take into account toxicity, performance, the environmental life cycle, cost, and other factors.
Understanding what makes a building product green is a long-term prospect. Green characteristics differ from product category to product category, and multi-attribute vetting is critical.
Material Selection
Deep Dives
Get up to speed on complex topics. You can also earn CEUs and download PDF Spotlight Reports.
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The Questionable Science Behind VOC Emissions Testing
Feature Short
We need the protection that product VOC testing provides, but it’s far from the last word on human health in buildings.
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Bamboo in Construction: Is the Grass Always Greener?
Feature
An increasingly popular building material, bamboo is celebrated for its quick growth and ability to regenerate after being harvested. But bamboo also has its downsides. In this feature article, EBN examines the pros and cons of building with bamboo.
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Get a Whiff of This: The Lowdown on Product Emissions Testing
Feature
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.
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Greening Your Electricity
Feature
Many businesses and homeowners are choosing to buy green power, including renewable energy credits (RECs). This article examines the environmental benefits of green power, including on-site renewables, what REC buyers should know about their purchases, and investing in energy conservation.
Quick Takes
Jump straight to the essentials with these short explanations of green building concepts.
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Life-Cycle Assessment: Tracing a Product's Impacts
Explainer
Life-cycle assessment—accounting for all of the environmental impacts of a product from its manufacture to its disposal—is a simple concept, but using it to compare products in practice can be difficult.
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Forest Products Certification: How It Works
Explainer
Many wood and paper products now come with an eco-label. But what happens behind the scenes before a product gets the seal of approval?
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The Many Faces of Reclaimed Wood
Explainer
Some types of reclaimed wood count as "salvaged materials" that contribute to points in LEED and help comply with green building codes while others do not.
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Getting “Conflict Minerals” Out of Our Products
Explainer
While “blood diamonds” get attention, mining of metals like tin and tungsten helps finance civil wars. Here’s a look at the movement to change that.
Product Guidance
Unbiased information from our product experts helps you separate green from greenwash.
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BuildingGreen Announces 2007 Top-10 Products
Product Review
BuildingGreen, Inc., publisher of the GreenSpec Directory and Environmental Building News (EBN), announced its annual Top-10 Green Building Products, representing the most exciting products covered in those publications in the last year.
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Decorative Ceiling Panel Uses Recycled Content
Product Review
Chicago Metallic has introduced Monarch GE, a decorative ceiling panel system using gypsum and 70% recycled content from glass.
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Bella-Dura Contract Fabric Touts Its Green Credentials
Product Review
Bella-Dura indoor/outdoor fabric offers contract-quality performance in a competitively priced product. The company claims that Bella-Dura solution-dyed polypropylene fibers are colorfast and require less energy and water to produce than nylon or polyester.
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BuildingGreen Announces 2008 Top-10 Green Products
Product Review
BuildingGreen's 2008 Top-10 Green Products include FSC-certified bamboo flooring, zero-VOC paints, and an integrated heating and ventilation system, among others.
In The News
We break news down to the essentials and provide expert analysis.
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FSC Revises Controlled-Wood Standards
News Analysis
The Forest Stewardship Council's efforts to identify wood harvested under the most controversial conditions should become more effective with some new changes and reliance on a Global Risk Registry.
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Groups Challenge Timber Companies Under SFI Rules
News Analysis
In separate actions, two environmental groups are putting Sustainable Forestry Initiative standards to the test by using its rules to challenge timber company practices.
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Window and Door Makers Offer FSC-Certified Options
News Analysis
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Home Depot Rolls Out Green Labeling
News Analysis
Building supply retailer Home Depot introduces a labeling program it hopes will educate consumers about environmentally preferable products.
Perspective
Thought-provoking opinions from the most trusted minds in sustainability.
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The Big Materials Dream Needs to Include Climate Change and More
Op-Ed
We’re finally getting vital toxicity information about building products. But let’s remember that sustainability is about more than avoiding health hazards.
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FSC, LEED, and the Price of Perfectionism
Op-Ed
A hard line against industry-sponsored alternatives to FSC certification in the past may have unfortunate outcomes for the world’s forests.
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Building Products Matter Even More Than We Thought
Op-Ed
Operational energy use is critical, but materials might be an even bigger part of the solution to climate change and other pressing environmental issues.
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Let’s Talk: Mainstreaming Transparency Takes More than Letters
Op-Ed
To move the building industry toward greener products, there are two big things we need to do.
Learning Resources
Syllabus supplements and CEU content, with automatic reporting for AIA and GBCI.
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Using Low-Carbon Concrete in Your Next Project
Spotlight Report
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The BuildingGreen Guide to Building Product Certifications and Ecolabels- Discounted
Special Report
This BuildingGreen publication provides a no-nonsense guide to the world of green building product certifications to help designers, purchasers, manufacturers, and others in the industry to focus on what is significant and relevant so that market forces can work and the industry can focus on bigger issues.
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Getting Low-Carbon Concrete into Your Next Project: A Virtual Roundtable
Webcast
In this one-hour deep dive, we’ll speak with industry experts on current and potential low-carbon concrete technologies, how to track concrete’s embodied carbon, and how to specify viable low-carbon concrete.
Register here: https://www.buildinggreen.com/webcast/lc-concrete -
Keeping PFAS Forever Chemicals out of Building Products
Feature
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been linked to negative health and environmental impacts. Getting them out of our building products is going to require work.
Just For Fun
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