Chris Dixon

Until recently, the Forest Stewardship Council has had a lock on what has been generally recognized, in the United States at least, as the only legitimate sustainably harvested wood products label organization. All that is coming to a rather abrupt end with the United States Green Building Council’s proposed changes to its Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design green building rating system and the Green Building Initiative’s Green Globes rating system just now entering the fray.

There aren’t many products on the market these days that don’t have a green story to tell, a green attribute to highlight. It seems that every company makes green products. The truth is that all products have environmental impact.

The popularity of sustainable design has spawned a number of “green” things within the industry; green materials, green building consultants, green roofs, green wash, and yes, even green specifications. What are green specifications, anyway? Who writes them? Where can one get them?

I first learned about waterless urinals around eight years ago and was immediately intrigued, and soon became an enthusiastic user. That’s about the time I began working for arguably one of the greenest architecture firms in the Northwest. In addition to my duties as specifier for the firm, I also was allowed to spread my green building wings, one of the major reasons I decided to work for the firm. 

It is an unwritten rule among green building enthusiasts that no building can truly be sustainable without also being durable. Most readily agree with this basic principle, intuitive and straightforward as it seems but defining building durability has proven to be very challenging for the drafters of green building rating systems.

It’s the eleventh hour and all the documentation has been gathered and is ready to be submitted to the USGBC for that LEED rating that the entire project team has worked long and hard toward. But what is this? One of the coatings used far exceeds the allowable VOC limit established in the low emitting materials credit for paints and coatings? Panic sets in with the realization that an entire point may be lost due to a simple mistake.

Speech privacy in healthcare facilities is an issue that has long frustrated designers and facility owners.

LEED has continued to make gains, but has not become the powerful market transformation tool it was meant to be.