SORTING THROUGH THE GREEN PRODUCT MAZE

摘要

The green products market has exploded in the past decade, from low-VOC adhesives to energy-efficient lighting, to recyclable carpet. A number of independent product certification and standards organizations have sprung up, offering online directories and other information pertaining to green products (see table). Without these programs, specifiers would be left to sift through piles of product information filled with unvalidated claims from manufacturers to determine which products are right for the job. Despite this progress, the green products market is years away from what can be considered a marketplace for truly sustainable products. The chief obstacle is the lack of a consensus baseline for measuring the greenness of products. The established certification and standard organizations have often widely different criteria for classifying products as green. Greenguard, for example, focuses solely on VOC emissions, while Energy Star looks primarily at energy consumption.