GreenSpec Helps Make LEED for Homes Easier

The GreenSpec® product directory, published by BuildingGreen, Inc., is part of the U.S. Green Building Council's effort to make its new rating system--LEED® for Homes--more friendly and accessible to builders and homeowners. This new green building rating system relies on the popular and widely available GreenSpec Directory as a reference tool for identifying green building products. To achieve the four points available under Materials and Resources credit 5, builders can use products that have certain specified attributes, or products that are listed in GreenSpec, all of which meet the requirements of the credit.

According to independent surveys, GreenSpec is the most widely respected product directory in the green building field. Unlike most directories, GreenSpec does not include advertising and manufacturers do not pay for listings. "The use of GreenSpec in LEED for Homes confirms GreenSpec's position as the leading directory of green building products," says Alex Wilson, president of BuildingGreen.

Products are listed in GreenSpec at the sole discretion of its editors, based on a set of published guidelines. GreenSpec's editors include Alex Wilson and Nadav Malin, both recognized experts in the area green building materials. Wilson and Malin are also editors of Environmental Building News, North America's first periodical dedicated to green building.

In the GreenSpec screening process, the editors rely on information provided by the manufacturers in addition to their own knowledge of the industry. Product evaluations for GreenSpec are based on "life-cycle thinking," in that the entire lifecycle of each product is considered. GreenSpec currently includes nearly 2,000 listings, representing several times that many actual products. The listings are continuously updated, and verified annually. "Using the GreenSpec Directory, designers and builders can easily find products that are automatically qualified to contribute to the EPP credit in LEED for Homes," notes Wilson.

With LEED for Homes, the U.S. Green Building Council is extending the enormous success of its other LEED rating systems into the residential market. A stated goal of this new program has been to create a rating system that is friendly and usable in the homebuilding industry. LEED for Homes has been in development for over four years, in partnership with green builder programs around the U.S.A. one-year pilot of the rating system was launched in early August, 2005.

The GreenSpec Directory includes products applicable to both commercial and residential construction. It is available in print ($89 plus shipping), as well as online as part of the BuildingGreenSuite™($199/year). All of the residential products in GreenSpec can be found by using the Suite's "Homebuilder Categories" navigation option. A GreenSpec resource for the homeowner is the book Green Building Products: The GreenSpec® Guide to Residential Building Materials, copublished by BuildingGreen, Inc. and New Society Publishers ($34.95 plus shipping). This book contains the residential products from the GreenSpec Directory plus additional information on specifying and building a green home.

All three of the GreenSpec resources are available from BuildingGreen, Inc. (www.BuildingGreen.com or 800-861-0954). GreenSpec Directory and Green Building Products are also available from selected booksellers.

Although GreenSpec is a recognized source of reliable and unbiased information, it is not part of a formal certification program.

-30-