Will environmental product declarations end greenwashing for good? Not so fast.

This is Part 3 in our series on transparency.

Part 1: Why We Care About Product Transparency

Part 2: Why We Need "Nutrition Labels" for Building Products

We developed this visual tool to help us keep track of what EPDs really are--and what they aren't. Click the image for a larger version. Click here for a printable PDF.

We all want to know more about where our building products come from and what's in them. Finally, with the emergence of environmental product declarations, we're going to find out!

Aren't we?

Contact with nature is not just an amenity: it's important for well-being. Green walls liven up urban spaces while improving building performance.

This green wall covers the exterior of Whole Foods in Vancouver, BC.

I live in Vermont, where agriculture is an integral part of our culture. I drive past the farms as the seasons change and see when the corn is high or when too much rain has made plowing impossible. And the family sees the results at the local farmer's market. Whenever I visit urban areas, I inevitably end up at the local park or waterfront for my early-morning runs.
I value this connection with the natural world--or biophilia--and maybe it's more than just a lifestyle choice. Biophilia has been shown to have tangible benefits, including reduced stress, improved productivity, and faster healing, to name a few, but integrating greenery among limited--and expensive--urban real estate is no easy task. Maybe the answer is to think vertically.

There are more than 20 different standardized tests manufacturers can invoke to "qualify" as a code-accepted weather-resistive barrier (WRB); with our GreenSpec section on WRBs, we've picked just one that we think does the job.

It's not easy being a weather-resistive barrier (WRB): it has to stop liquid water, be tough and not tear, but also be flexible to wrap around building elements. And it often needs to be vapor-permeable to promote drying.

Finally, water-tight standards

In the past, manufacturers could cherry-pick the standardized test to use to "qualify." That's how we ended up with industry acceptance of perforated and cross-woven housewrap that literally leaks like a sieve.

BIPV has yet to reach its full potential in the U.S., but a couple companies are giving it a shot.

Soltecture's Corium thin-film CIGS BIPV is installed on the company's headquarters in Berlin.

Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV)--photovoltaic (PV) modules integrated into functional building elements, such as roofs, glazings, and building façades--are fairly common in Europe and Asia. Yet finding commercial BIPV façade products
in the U.S. is nearly impossible. Why is that?

There are a number of possibilities, including lack of suitable new projects due to the economy, a tempestuous PV market, and concerns about reliability and performance, to name a few--but the real reason might be a lot simpler.

Code compliance and bureaucracy

According to Steven Strong, president of Solar Design Associates, architects are not likely to design a façade around a BIPV manufacturer's standard PV panel offerings. The panels usually have to be custom-built for the project, and therein lies the problem.

What's in it? Where was it made? Is the manufacturer socially responsible? These questions about green building products are getting easier to answer.

This is Part 1 in our series on transparency.

Part 2: Why We Need "Nutrition Labels" for Building Products

Part 3: The End of Greenwashing? Five Myths about Product Transparency

There's been a growing amount of buzz recently about "transparency"--a catchy word for giving people more information about products, finances, corporate behavior, and more.

Nutrition labels allow shoppers to compare two bags of chips. The transparency movement seeks that level of transparency for building materials.

This is Part 2 in our series on transparency.

Part 1: Why We Care About Product Transparency

Part 3: The End of Greenwashing? Five Myths about Product Transparency

Building product transparency has been a hot topic in the design and construction world lately.

Pioneering manufacturers like InterfaceFLOR are releasing environmental product declarations (EPDs). Influential firms like Perkins+Will are gathering and publishing more data about what's really in our building materials (if you haven't seen the firm's new Transparency website, check it out here).

Windows, carpet chemicals, spray-foam, and LEED lawsuits: these are a few of your favorite things.

It's been a big year for green building. People are tightening up their buildings even as they tighten their belts. The retrofit market and multifamily housing have taken off in a big way in this new financial landscape.

The most-read Environmental Building News articles of 2011 reflect these new realities. Please check them out below and tell us in comments what you'd like us to cover in 2012! Don't forget that you can also get continuing education credits for reading many of these articles.

(NB: many of our most popular articles are available for BuildingGreen members only. You can check out affordable membership options here.)

For some fun around the holidays, GreenSpec is holding a virtual "open house"--giving you a sneak peek at some cool new products we're reviewing, and our first impressions. We'd like to hear what you think, so please read our first impressions below and then take the quick survey. Happy holidays! Update: Thank you for your feedback. We have closed the survey and are using it to inform our ongoing research agenda.

We're making our GreenSpec list and checking it twice. Crossing ozone depletion off of it feels mighty nice!

By Jennifer Atlee

With the holiday season upon us (yet no snow on the ground here in Vermont since the freak October storm that knocked out power across the Northeast) and the Durban climate deal still largely symbolic, I thought some environmental good cheer was in order.

When hairspray kills

Remember when all the hair spray brands switched to pump bottles in the '80s? It worked!

Remember the ozone hole, and all of the hair spray, propellants, refrigerants, pesticides, and more that were creating it? Well we made a global agreement in 1987--The Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer --and we're actually following through on it.

Grid-tied solar could have a siginificant role in the smart grid--if we can get the lithium ion battery technology right.

People living off the grid using photovoltaics (PV) or other renewable energy to generate power typically depend on maintaining banks of lead-acid batteries and carefully managing the amount of energy they store and use as well as maintaining those batteries for long-term durability.

A California utility is experimenting with using grid-tied solar on individual homes and businesses as a way to meet peak demand in the evening. Incentives could help offset the cost of lithium ion batteries for grid-tied PV.

As the move toward renewable energy gains traction, especially in Europe, an intriguing possibility is beginning to take hold: the use of next-generation batteries in grid-connected systems to store and manage energy capacity.