Avoid rainwater style shower heads and other water wasting fixtures

Buy efficient water heaters with an energy factor of 0.62 or better

Choose recycled plastic products as alternatives to precious wood

Divert plastic from landfill by purchasing carpet made from pop bottles

Employ engineered wood products to eliminate lumber waste

Find leaks and seal them up to reduce HVAC air infiltration

Get efficient appliances to reduce water use and electricity costs

Heat water and save energy with affordable solar heating

Install high-performance windows with low-e coatings and gas-fill

Jump on the recycling band wagon by properly disposing of e-waste

Keep dollars in local economy by avoiding imports

Lower energy bills with insulation that has recycled content

Make sure ducts don’t leak to improve heat delivery

Nullify contaminants by eliminating HVAC pressure differences

Opt for exterior finish alternatives to avoid maintenance and replacement

Put energy-saving light bulbs into at least five lamps in your home

Qualify for a lower mortgage based on your home’s energy efficiency

Reduce transportation costs by buying materials locally

Substitute durable and moisture-resistant fiber-cement siding for wood

Temper wasteful water habits with water saving showerheads

Utilize composites that close the recycling loop

Vanquish VOCs (volatile organic compounds) that harm the environment

Waste less heat and improve ventilation with a recovery generator

Xeriscape™ to reduce water waste with drought tolerant landscapes

Yield to the green building revolution to save valuable resources

Zap air pollution emitted by inefficient wood burning stoves

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There are six criteria in the area of indoor air quality (IAQ) that building materials must meet in order to be considered green. Materials must:

• Be low in toxicity or non-toxic, which means they must emit few or no carcinogens, reproductive toxicants, or irritants. The manufacturer must have demonstrated these low or non-existent levels in appropriate tests.
• Emit minimal volatile organic compounds (VOC) and must maximize resource and energy efficiency.
• Not emit VOCs when being installed.
• Be resistant to moisture to inhibit growth of biological contaminants.
• Not emit VOCs during cleaning.
• Promote healthy indoor air quality by identifying indoor air pollutants or by enhancing air quality.

Energy efficiency should be maximized by using materials and systems that help reduce energy consumption. (See Green Building Basics for more information.)

Water Conservation is achieved by utilizing materials and systems that reduce water consumption in buildings and conserve water in landscaping. (See Green Building Basics for more information.)

Affordability is achieved in building product life-cycle costs, as described here.

While these are all the criteria developed for the State of California, CalFinder is presenting them to you as an introduction to Green or Sustainable Building Criteria only. If you are not located in California, your state’s criteria may not be exactly the same. You may wish to request copies of the local and state standards if you wish to be in compliance with Green Building techniques in your own municipality.

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We’ve discussed the benefits of utilizing green building materials and know that they help to conserve dwindling resources, and reduce the environmental impacts associated with every aspect of using green building materials. But, what specifically is a green building product or material and what are the criteria to select them?

First, a green building product or material specifically is composed of renewable, rather than nonrenewable resources. How one goes about selecting green products depends upon a number of important criteria.

Selection Criteria for Green Building Materials or Products

Because we must limit the amount of information we cover, today we will discuss Resource Efficiency, the first of five selection criteria for Green Building Materials. (Please note that we will address the four criteria in the next article of the series.)

In order to have Resource Efficiency, the following criteria of a green building material or product must be met:

• Content must be recycled with identifiable post-industrial or preferably, post-consumer content.
• Content must be natural, plentiful or renewable with materials harvested from sustainably managed sources, and preferably be certified as such by an independent third party.
• The manufacturing process must be resource efficient including reducing energy consumption, minimizing waste, and reducing greenhouse gases.
• Content must be available locally or regionally, saving energy and resources in transportation to the building site.
• Content must be salvaged, refurbished, or remanufactured, including saving used material, or improving an existing product for reuse.
• Content must be reusable or recyclable at the end of their useful life.
• Content must be durable, i.e., they must last a long time or be comparable to conventional products that are long lasting.

Look for the next article in our Green Building Series entitled “Green Materials to Improve Air Quality, Conservation and Energy Efficiency.”

Green Building References

• Alternative Building Services
• California Integrated Waste Management Board
• Green Home Building

Technorati Tags: green building, green building materials, green building products, green home building

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