How Can You Tell What's Green?

When Home Depot invited suPPliers to submit products for the company's new Eco Options camPaign, it was surprised by some of the entries. "In somebody's mind, the Products they were selling us werc environmentally friendly," said senior v.p. Ron

Council Funds Research

The U.S. Green Building Council has committed $1 million to green building research and is encouraging other grouPs to uP their own research commitments.

"The industry needs to take giant steps forward in construction, renovation and operation practices if we want to see large scale imProvements to health and environmental conditions in this generation," said Rick Fedrizzi, president, c.e.o., and founding chair.

"Research will helP us advance the practice of building science," said board member Vivian Loftness, Carnegie Mellon University. "It should also track and validate as quickly as possible the Profound connection between green buildings

Jarvis. "But most of what You see today in the green market is voodoo marketing."

Plastic-handled paintbrushes were called earth friendly because they were not made of wood. while woodhandled brushes were labeled better and human health and productivity." for the planet because they were not made of plastic. As a result, said Jarvis, just 2,500 of the 60,000 products submitted were considered green enough.

A recent USGBC publicationGreen Building Research Funding,: An Assessment of Current ActivitY in the United States-found that research related to high-performance green building practices and technologies is woefully under funded by all sectors. Using this work as its basis, USGBC will identify key research areas for advancing building performance and market transformation.

"Building operation consumes 40Vo of energy andTl%o ofthe electricity in the U.S., and accounts for 39Vo of the country's carbon dioxide emissions, which is directly influencing global climate change," said Peter Templeton, v.p.-research & education.

Even so, environmentalists maintain that Depot included too manY products that really aren't green. They claim that the chain is indulging in its own brand of marketing excess, claiming to be green while continuing to sell powerful pesticide and polluting lawnmowers.

"Everybody is in a mad scramble to say how green they are," said Jim O'Donnell, manager of the Sierra Club Stock Fund.

One reason for the confusion is the lack of verifiable or certified standards for green products. "You almost have to be a scientist with a lab to decipher the dizzying array of claims," said Robyn Griggs Lawrence, editor of Natural Home magazine. "It's hard to get information on what makes a product green."

Jarvis said that he asked suppliers and independent testers for clarification, additional testing, and product improvements. He hopes to offer about 6,000 products in the program, which began in April.