Green Products
No common definition, validation process, or national standard yet exists to define or rate green building products. Consequently, GBA's broad working definition of "green product" takes into account the following aspects:
- Material Content: Recycled, rapidly renewable, salvaged, and/or nontoxic content
- Processing and Manufacturing of Materials: Minimal water and/or energy use, reduction of materials (either in quantity or magnitude), and/or production reduces harmful environmental
- Product Use Reduces Impact: Higher efficiency (e.g., energy systems or sensors), reduces environmental impact (e.g., renewable energy components), and/or products that reduce human health impacts (e.g., air exchange systems or cleaning products)
- Life Cycle: Material reusability, longevity, and ultimate deconstruction or disposal
Defining “Green Building Product”
Because Since no single national definition, standard, or validation process exists to describe or rate all green building products, GBA has compiled the broad categories below into which green building products can be assessed. Holistically, these categories consider a product’s potential for reducing impacts on economic, environmental, and/or social elements of the status quo, as well as the way a product is manufactured, installed, or operated. End-of-life issues should also be considered.
MATERIAL CONTENT: A building product could be green if its material content or components are from a source that is:
- Reused/salvaged
- Recycled from post-consumer waste or pre-industrial byproducts
- Rapidly renewable (feedstocks that can regenerate in less than 10 years)
- Responsibly harvested
- Biobased from renewable plant, animal, forestry, or marine materials
- Nontoxic, whether in material composition or installation
PROCESSING/MANUFACTURING OF MATERIALS: Green building products may have raw material processing, product manufacturing, and product assembly and distribution processes that:
- Minimize:
- Energy use
- Water use
- Air emissions
- Waste
- Improve:
- Water quality
- Reduce:
- Material needs
- Negative production impacts
- Assembly time
- Worker or installation health impacts
- Safety risks
IMPACT REDUCTION DURING USE OR OPERATION: Green building products may improve upon building performance in terms of helping to create:
- More efficiently operated buildings that have:
- Low energy usage
- Low water usage
- Better water quality
- Better site water management
- Reduction of building impacts from a variety of sources:
- Energy
- Waste streams
- Maintenance demands
- Replacement frequency
- Improved occupant impacts due to reduction in emissions or improved indoor spaces and outdoor access, affecting:
- Human health
- Indoor air quality
- Worker satisfaction
- Absenteeism
- Productivity
LIFE CYCLE: Assessing a product’s entire life cycle is an increasingly important process; however, what happens to a product at the end of its life is one of the most overlooked aspects in product development. Factors to be considered include:
- Material:
- Reusability
- Longevity/durability
- End-of-life:
- Deconstruction
- Reuse or salvage potential
- Recyclability
- Upcycle or downcycle potential
- Product and/or packaging takeback
- Natural decomposition or composting potential
- Ultimate disposal
Along with the preceding product considerations, it is also important for companies to consider sustainable business practices such as:
- Net zero energy strategies
- Zero emission strategies
- Net zero water strategies
- Zero waste strategies
- Deconstruction and design for the environment techniques and designs
- Social equity
- Corporate culture/sustainability initiatives
Green Building Product Certification Online Course
This course is an excellent resource for anyone interested in becoming well-versed in green building product labels and certifications.
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