Take Action for Healthier Building Materials

Tom Lent | March 30, 2016 | Policies

The Healthy Building Network posted two articles asking readers to take specific actions that can really help bring healthier materials into building products.

In the first, "Toxic Insulation, Certified? Green Seal Needs to Hear From You," we ask you to submit comments to Green Seal, a leading green product certification program, regarding its new draft standard for building insulation.   HBN is concerned to see Green Seal taking a lower road than LEED on sustainable forestry issues and providing generous exemptions for some of the most toxic substances used in insulation products today. Green Seal's deadline for comments is Thursday, March 31, so please give it some thought, and let them (and us) know what you think. [UPDATE: Comment period has been extended through APRIL 7]

In the second, "HBN Partnering with Cradle to Cradle for Hazard Screening," I invite you to take a look at the latest exciting feature of our Pharos Chemical and Material Library (CML). HBN has teamed up with the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute to provide a screening tool for substances, based on the Cradle to Cradle Certified protocol. These screening profiles provide C2C red/yellow/green ratings for each hazard endpoint where a chemical has been listed on any one of 37 applicable authoritative hazard lists.

The C2C screening profile also complements our other screening tools. We recently updated the GreenScreen® List Translator scores to the newly released GreenScreen for Safer Chemicals Hazard Assessment Guidance v1.3. With these tools together, manufacturers, assessors, and Architecture/Engineering/Construction professionals can find critical hazard screening information in one place, Pharos.

Assessment tools like these are making the evaluation of materials ever more accessible, scalable, and comprehensive. While we hope that certification systems like Green Seal will start to use these tools, there's no need for the marketplace -- consumers and manufacturers -- to wait.

If you are not yet a Pharos subscriber, register today for a free trial. Pharos subscriptions start at a low price of $35/month for one user.