If you’re confused about green building products and the claims their manufacturers are making up their performance, product selection will continue to be one of the most critical challenges you will face in meeting your green missions – you’re not alone.

Certainly that you don’t like anyone, especial trader or commercial agencies persuase when you think about Green building products, you would like to be smart buyer with the most reasonable resources to identify green claims for doing your product research. Just do relaxing and easing your self, here are typical guidelines and resources to tidy up your smarter choices.

Green building interest trends

PRODUCT LABELS OR CERTIFICATIONS REFERENCED BY THE NAHB AND LEED

Here are some of the most widely used labeling and certification programs referenced by LEED and the NAHB Model Green Home Building Guidelines.

Efficiency Standards

1. Energy Star, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency www.energystar.gov/products. Besides being referenced for its certification of homes in general, both NAHB and LEED reference Energy Star for a variety of other products, including appliances, roofs, and equipment.
2. Solar Rating and Certification Corp. www.solar-rating.org
3. WaterSense, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency www.epa.gov/watersense

Material Content

1. Recycled Content, Scientific Certification Systems www.scscertified.com
2. USDA Certified Biobased Product, U.S. Department of Agriculture www.biopreferred.gov/Catalog.aspx

Indoor Air Quality

1. Greenguard, Greenguard Environmental Institute www.greenguard.org
2. Green Seal, Green Seal Organization www.greenseal.org
3. Indoor Advantage Gold, Scientific Certification Systems http://www.scscertified.com/gbc/indooradvgold.php
4. FloorScore, Scientific Certification Systems www.scscertified.com/gbc/floorscore.php

Multiple-Attribute Certifications – General

1. Cradle to Cradle (C2C), McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry www.c2ccertified.com
2. SMaRT Consensus Sustainable Product Standards, Institute for Market Transformation to Sustainability http://mts.sustainableproducts.com/SMaRT_product_standard.html

Carpet

1. California Gold, California Department of General Services www.green.ca.gov/EPP/standards.htm
2. Green Label or Green Label Plus, Carpet and Rug Institute http://www.carpet-rug.org/commercial-customers/green-building-and-the-environment/green-label-plus/index.cfm

Responsibly Managed Wood and Wood Products

1. Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), Forest Stewardship Council www.fsc.org
2. Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), Sustainable Forestry Initiative www.sfiprogram.com (NAHB references FSC, SFI, and three other specific wood certifications.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

In addition to labels and certifications, here are a few third-party resources that provide general guidelines for green product selection.

1. BEES: A life cycle assessment–based side-by-side product comparison tool created by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. www.bfrl.nist.gov/oae/software/bees.
2. BuildingGreen and the GreenSpec Directory: An independent media source that thoroughly investigates product claims. (Subscription required for detailed information.) www.buildinggreen.com.
3. Green2Green: Though still in the information-gathering phase, Green2Green’s goal is to provide side-by-side comparisons of green building products based on basic characteristics, installation requirements and experiences, environmental attributes, and performance. www.green2green.org.
4. Green Building Alliance: An affiliate of the USGBC, GBA works directly with green building product manufacturers to help them improve their understanding of the green building marketplace. GBA’s downloadable matrix compares certifications in terms of cost to manufacturers; number of products certified; first-, second-, and third-party designations; etc. Version 2 will be out this summer. www.gbapgh.org.
5. Rate It Green: Online community sharing information about green building products; includes a directory of products and services, as well as a rating system driven by users. Its Green Building 101 Resource Guide is an encyclopedia of green building and green product resources. (Free to join. Online Resource Guide access is $19.95.) www.rateitgreen.com.
6. EcoHome magazine: Print and Web resource featuring a wide range of green building product categories and certified products used in case study projects. www.ecohomemagazine.com.
7. Earth Advantage Institute: Earth Advantage Institute is a nonprofit organization that works with the building industry to help implement sustainable building practices. www.earthadvantage.org

FUTURE RESOURCES

More product selection help is on the way. Here’s what you can expect in the near future.

1. Environmental Product Declaration: A popular method of disclosing detailed environmental information about products in Europe. The Green Standard has created the first system for the U.S., which it has dubbed the “Gaia Product Profile.” www.thegreenstandard.org.
2. Life Cycle Assessment: LCA is a holistic assessment of the economic and environmental impacts of a product or process over its entire life cycle (raw-materials extraction, transportation, manufacturing, installation, use, and end of life). LCA is more of a category of information than an exact resource. However, the NAHB and Green Globes already reference information obtained through an LCA; LEED is adding this component this year. Look for more products to start referencing or providing LCAs to back up the environmental information about their products. www.lcacenter.org/LCA/begin.html.
3. Pharos: The Pharos lens attempts to translate complex product information into a visual guide consumers can use to assess whether or not building products are truly sustainable, based on 16 criteria. www.pharoslens.net; www.pharosproject.net/wiki.

Resource: http://www.ecohomemagazine.com/green-products/claim-check.aspx