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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Why Chemical Transparency Matters
Feature Article
You can’t manage what you don’t measure—especially if you don’t know it exists in the first place.
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What Makes Plumbing Green? BuildingGreen’s Guide to Plumbing Products
Feature Article
People like a clean flush and a long shower, but water is getting scarcer. Selecting the right building products can meet both needs.
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EPDs Are the Future of the Building Industry, Whether You Like It or Not
Feature Article
Environmental product declarations are taking off, but can they actually fly? Experts share the ups and downs of this promising but imperfect transparency tool.
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Finding Furniture Without Toxic Flame Retardants
Feature Article
Flame retardants in upholstered furniture are easier to avoid under new rules, but they’re not gone. Here’s how to navigate the changing landscape.
Quick Takes
Jump straight to the essentials with these short explanations of green building concepts.
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Forest Products Certification: How It Works
Primer
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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Life-Cycle Assessment: Tracing a Product's Impacts
Primer
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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Drywall Options: Paper-Faced, Monolithic, or Fiberglass-Faced?
Primer
Drywall types differ in cost, recyclability, and response to moisture and mold.
Product Guidance
Unbiased information from our product experts helps you separate green from greenwash.
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New Insulated Metal Panels without Halogenated Flame Retardants
Product Review
Kingspan and Centria IMPs are using halogen-free flame retardants, resulting in less toxic, better performing insulated cladding.
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BuildingGreen Announces Top 10 Products for 2018
Product Review
Our innovative Top 10 product selections improve IAQ, save energy and water, contain fewer hazardous materials, and promote material transparency.
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Mineral-Based Interior Paints Go Mainstream
Product Review
Mineral-based paint from Romabio contains no synthetic resins, and can be used in place of standard interior acrylic latex paint on drywall.
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Interior Paints: LEED v4 and Beyond
Product Review
LEED v4 overhauled its low-emitting materials credit, with a new emphasis on VOC content and emissions. But be sure to look for durability as well.
In The News
We break news down to the essentials and provide expert analysis.
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FSC Mass Timber Production Arrives in the Midwest
News Brief
The east and the west each have their own CLT producers, but now there’s one in between.
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Justice, Circularity Overhauled in Cradle to Cradle v4
News Analysis
The latest version of the Cradle to Cradle product standard also expands embodied carbon requirements and replaces the controversial “banned list” with a new approach.
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AIA Adopts Materials Pledge: Spec, and You Shall Receive
News Analysis
The AIA Materials Pledge, inspired by the 2030 commitment, looks at issues from carbon to social justice.
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Transportation a Key Factor in CLT Sustainability
News Brief
A life-cycle assessment of Katerra cross-laminated timber reveals opportunities for lower carbon impact.
Perspective
Thought-provoking opinions from the most trusted minds in sustainability.
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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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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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Finding the Building Products You Need to Do WELL
Blog Post
The WELL Building Standard has stringent transparency and health criteria for products and materials. Here’s how to find what you’ll need for certification.
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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.
Learning Resources
Syllabus supplements and CEU content, with automatic reporting for AIA and GBCI.
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Finding Products for LEED v4 and v4.1
Spotlight Report
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Sustainable Design 101: A Syllabus Supplement
Syllabus Supplement
College professors: here’s a curriculum module you can use to introduce students to sustainable design using BuildingGreen articles. Feel free to cherry pick content that fits your syllabus.
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Green Building Materials 101: A Syllabus Supplement
Syllabus Supplement
College professors: here’s a curriculum module for introducing students to healthier and lower-impact products and materials using BuildingGreen articles.
Just For Fun
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