Until
recently, the Forest Stewardship Council has had a lock on what has been
generally recognized, in the United States at least, as the only legitimate
sustainably harvested wood products label organization. All that is coming to a
rather abrupt end with the United States Green Building Council’s proposed
changes to its Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design green building rating
system and the Green Building Initiative’s Green Globes rating system just now
entering the fray.
There aren’t many products on the market these days that don’t have a green story to tell, a green attribute to highlight. It seems that every company makes green products. The truth is that all products have environmental impact.
The
popularity of sustainable design has spawned a number of “green” things within
the industry; green materials, green building consultants, green roofs, green
wash, and yes, even green specifications. What are green specifications,
anyway? Who writes them? Where can one get them?
I first learned about
waterless urinals around eight years ago and was immediately intrigued, and
soon became an enthusiastic user. That’s about the time I began working for
arguably one of the greenest architecture firms in the Northwest. In addition
to my duties as specifier for the firm, I also was allowed to spread my green
building wings, one of the major reasons I decided to work for the firm.
It is an unwritten rule among green building enthusiasts that no building can truly be sustainable without also being durable. Most readily agree with this basic principle, intuitive and straightforward as it seems but defining building durability has proven to be very challenging for the drafters of green building rating systems.
It’s the eleventh hour and all the documentation has been gathered and is ready to be submitted to the USGBC for that LEED rating that the entire project team has worked long and hard toward. But what is this? One of the coatings used far exceeds the allowable VOC limit established in the low emitting materials credit for paints and coatings? Panic sets in with the realization that an entire point may be lost due to a simple mistake.
