Championing the
Changemakers

In an attempt to find healthier materials, the building community has relied on everything from material safety data sheets (which focus primarily on worker safety) to VOC testing results (which only predict certain types of emissions) and product certifications (whose underlying methodology may be difficult to find or understand). Instead of... Read more

Advances in chemistry help to provide a wide variety of high-performance, sustainable building and construction materials at reasonable costs.

From roofing membranes that reflect light to window systems that help better regulate internal building temperatures to caulks and sealants used to keep... Read more

As loyal shoppers at our local food co-op, we’ve gotten used to personal care products with full ingredient disclosure. A Tom’s of Maine toothpaste tube lists “every ingredient, its purpose, and its source.” If you’re not satisfied with that, you can go online and see a lengthy description of each substance, including the... Read more

Update: This article was revised on April 25, 2019, to reflect updates to the HPD standard and reporting format.

A Health Product Declaration (HPD) is a document shared by manufacturers to disclose product ingredients and any health hazards associated with these ingredients.

Once you know what’s in a product, you can’t pretend not to know. And a Health Product Declaration (HPD) not only tells you what’s in something but also leaves a paper trail to prove that you knew, or should have known.

Some groups have found that threatening and predict that HPDs will get manufacturers, architects, and... Read more

Are Health Product Declarations (HPDs) relevant to actual building projects?

Yes, but not necessarily in the way you might expect. Some manufacturer groups have expressed a fear that project teams will use HPDs in a ham-handed way, preferring products with fewer perceived hazards while ignoring other performance... Read more

Editor’s Note: We all know product selection is complicated. Some people compare it to juggling, while others talk about “balancing tradeoffs.”

The first time I heard architect John Amatruda and industrial hygienist Catherine Bobenhausen talking together about how they incorporate HPD information into... Read more

Make up your minds already!

That’s a message many design and construction firms are hearing from building product manufacturers when requesting information about hazardous ingredients.

In addition to the multiple frameworks endorsed by LEED v4—a “manufacturer inventory” that’s... Read more

After years of anticipation, Health Product Declarations (HPDs) are finally started to appear in larger numbers. So … what now?

Many building owners and professionals are still pondering how to use the information—but not at Google Real Estate and Workplace Services.

Here, Google employees have... Read more

With demand growing for product ingredient reporting through the Health Product Declaration (HPD), the Resilient Floor Covering Institute (RFCI) has introduced a competing format it... Read more

CalStar Products, manufacturer of a wide assortment of bricks and pavers made from fly ash, has ceased production after failing to secure financing to keep operations running, according to former CEO Craig Ratchford.

In 2010, CalStar started manufacturing bricks made from type C fly ash, local aggregates... Read more

Designers gather information from a variety of sources in their quest to understand the health and environmental impacts of building materials—but even if they get all the information they want (rare), the data can be difficult to understand in context.

A new database, which is free and open for public... Read more

Ten years ago, bamboo flooring was the definitive green building product. It was—and still is—rapidly renewable, versatile, and naturally strong.

Since then, low-quality bamboo flooring products and poor installation have led to floors cupping, warping, denting, and scratching easily, which has hurt... Read more

Zero energy building (ZEB): it is not a new term, but it has been a confusing one.

First there’s the question of whether it is measured by site energy, source energy, cost, or emissions.

Then there is inevitably debate around what area counts as “onsite” for renewable energy... Read more

Designers looking to make green buildings not only respected but also loved have turned in recent years to concepts like biophilia, biomimicry, and beauty.

A new interest in a Danish cultural tradition might have us looking not to the natural environment but inward—at human culture and at what makes us... Read more

The green construction industry will be responsible for 38% of all construction jobs by 2018, according to a report that Booz Allen Hamilton recently prepared for the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).

Its forecasts predict huge increases in green construction spending, rising to the tune of $224.4... Read more

We don’t normally conceive of buildings as disposable. Yet cultural and economic undercurrents make it all too easy for our buildings to become trash.

The typical service life of a commercial building in North America is less than 50 years—and many structures are lucky to hit the ripe old age of 20.... Read more

As cities and states begin to require building owners to disclose energy use, government agencies are evaluating the labels and rating systems that facilitate such transparency and wondering which is best.

In response, ASHRAE is proposing a standard that outlines the characteristics of a valid rating... Read more

Faced with an obesity epidemic and rising pedestrian fatalities, the U.S. Surgeon General recently issued a “call to action” urging designers and other professionals to do whatever is in their power to support walkable communities.

People who are physically active have about a 30% lower risk of early... Read more

By Candace Pearson

Peter Yost lives and breathes by the motto “There’s no hygrothermal free lunch” (a phrase borrowed from his friend and mentor Joe Lstiburek). Any student of Peter has that phrase as fundamentally entrenched in their brain as ’I’ before ‘e’ except after ‘c’.

That’s the... Read more