Course: GFM 101 Fundamentals of Green Facilities Management

Reading

(2/4)
Evaluating and Selecting Green Products Can Be As Easy (or As Difficult) As You Make It

Please click on the links as they are part of the reading assignment.

The following terms are integral to the discussion on environmentally preferable materials.

Closed-Loop Recycling

Embodied Energy

Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS)

Post-Consumer Recycled Material

Pre-Consumer Recycled Material

Certified or Sustainably Harvested Wood

Third-Party Certification

Volatile Organic Compound (VOC)

Tools and Resources

A wealth of information has been developed (and continues to be developed) pertaining to green building materials. To effectively evaluate and specify green products, designers and specifiers must familiarize themselves with a number of the available resources. The topics below represent a wide range of green product information, from broad concepts (guiding principles that define sustainability goals for materials), down to project specifics (product listings and specification guides).

Guiding Principles for Sustainable Materials

Several organizations and private companies have defined principles based on the concept of sustainability to be used as long-term guidelines in the development of new or reformulated products. These guidelines define goals such as closed-loop recycling and the elimination of products with bio-accumulative toxins. Although there are few products that currently meet these sustainability goals, the criteria are useful for assessing current materials in comparison to an ideal, rather than in comparison to other available products. Examples of guiding principles can be found at:
The Natural Step and GreenBlue.

Related to, but not to be confused with life-cycle economics, LCA is a methodology for evaluating the environmental impacts of a material through its entire "life cycle"—from its initial production through to its eventual reuse, recycling, or disposal. LCA attempts to identify and quantify all relevant environmental impacts for materials so that comprehensive comparisons can be made. Although LCA reports are often complex and technical in nature, current tools such as the BEES 3.0 software from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the ATHENA® Environmental Impact Estimator and EcoCalculator tools from the ATHENA Sustainable Materials Institute, attempt to summarize LCA information in a manageable format specifically targeted to design professionals (further details are provided under the ADDITIONAL RESOURCES section).

The American Institute of Architects Environmental Resource Guide, while no longer under development, can also be a useful document for reviewing the environmental impacts of various construction products.