Green Product Certifications

With consumers more aware than ever of the environmental impact and health-related issues surrounding conventional building products, demand has escalated to the point where larger U.S. manufacturers are now jumping on the green bandwagon, putting into production an array of environmentally friendly products. Yet, to cash in on this escalating demand, many retailers and manufacturers “greenwash” their products, making false claims of sustainability to generate new sales. To help prevent greenwashing, and simplify compliance with green standards and guidelines, a number of organizations have taken the lead in developing certification programs, including:

American Lung Association Health House: A collaborative effort of the American Lung Association of the Upper Midwest and the American Lung Association national office to provide quality information for home builders and homeowners regarding home design, construction, renovation and operation with a focus on healthy indoor air quality.

The Carpet and Rug Institute: The national trade association representing the carpet and rug industry. To make sure carpet cleaning products deliver expected results and to help customers identify those products, the CRI’s Seal of Approval program tests solutions and equipment and certifies those that meet demanding performance standards.

Cradle to Cradle: Provides companies with a tangible, credible measure of achievement in environmentally-intelligent design, which means using environmentally safe and healthy materials; design for material reutilization, such as recycling or composting; the use of renewable energy and energy efficiency; efficient use of water, and maximum water quality associated with production; and instituting strategies for social responsibility. A Products can be certified as Silver, Gold or Platinum, or as a Technical/Biological Nutrient (available for homogeneous materials or less complex products).

Energy Star: Established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy to help protect the environment through certification of energy-efficient products and practices. Since its inception, the program has grown to encompass more than 35 product categories for the home, workplace, new home construction, and organizational energy management.

Forest Stewardship Council (FSC): An international organization that operates an Accreditation Program to promote responsible stewardship of the world’s forests. The FSC product label allows consumers worldwide to recognize products that support the growth of responsible forest management worldwide.

GREENGUARD: An industry-independent, non-profit organization that oversees a certification program that establishes acceptable standards for indoor products, environments, and buildings. GREENGUARD currently has third-party certification programs for indoor air quality, interior building materials for schools, and mold prevention during building design, construction, and operations.

Green Seal: Provides science-based environmental certification standards to help manufacturers, purchasers, and end users make responsible choices that positively impact business behavior and improve quality of life. Hundreds of products and services from major companies such as 3M, Benjamin Moore, and Andersen Windows are certified to meet Green Seal standards.

Green-e: The nation’s leading independent certification and verification program for renewable energy. The Green-e logo identifies superior, certified renewable energy options, and is used by businesses to communicate the purchase and / or generation of certified renewable energy.

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) Green Building Rating System™: Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, now the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high-performance green buildings. Promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality.

Scientific Certification Systems (SCS): A leading third-party provider of certification, auditing, and testing services. SCS certification recognizes the highest levels of performance in food safety and quality, environmental protection, and social responsibility in the private and public sectors, and promotes continuous improvement in sustainable development.

(source GreenDepot)

10 Easy Ways to Green Your Office

It’s a lot easier than you may think! Just 5 minutes of your time will make our earth (and your office) greener and healthier.

1.Start spending your green on green products

2.Put a recycle bin next to your garbage can

3.Don’t print your email

4.Turn off the lights when you leave a conference room

5.Turn off your monitor when you go for lunch

6.Reuse old printouts for a notepad

7.Switch off the copier overnight

8.Use print preview to avoid printing mistakes

9.Turn off your printer when you go home

10.Skip the styrofoam cups

(source GreenWerks Project)

Chicago Climate Action Plan

This fall, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley unveiled an ambitious plan that identifies the most significant contributors to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the city and outlines strategies that can be employed by government, businesses and individuals to slow the effects of climate change by 2020 and beyond.

The Chicago Climate Action Plan is a comprehensive and detailed strategy to help lower greenhouse gas emissions and address climate change. It builds upon the many efforts the City and its partners have already undertaken to make Chicago the most environmentally friendly city in the nation.
Community groups, faith-based organizations, businesses, and chambers of commerce helped craft the plan; each has a role in its implementation. The City of Chicago is committed to fostering partnerships to carry out each recommended action. Working together, we can assure that Chicago will continue to be a place where families and businesses come to live, play and work.

Visit www.chicagoclimateaction.org to learn more about the Chicago Climate Action Plan, what you-as a resident or business leader-can do to save money and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and what the City is doing to protect and preserve the environment.

The Chicago Climate Action Plan, which was authored by a special task force of experts from local universities, environmental groups, utility companies, community organizations and the private sector, calls for voluntary participation to achieve its goals, according to Larry Merritt, a spokesperson for the city’s Department of the Environment.

The plan singled out buildings and the energy they release as the biggest culprits of GHG emissions, responsible for 70 percent of the total in the city. The next greatest source was transportation, contributing 21 percent to all GHG emissions.

Not surprisingly, the report focuses many of its recommendations on retrofitting old buildings to make them more energy efficient and building new ones to higher efficiency standards. The plan also calls for specific tactics to get people out of their cars and nudge them toward alternative modes of transportation, including more public transit, biking, walking and car-sharing programs. Two such programs available locally are I-Go Car Sharing and Zip Cars.

The report provides recommendations in three other important areas: finding cleaner and renewable energy sources, reducing waste and industrial pollution, and adapting to climate changes already affecting the way people live and work in Chicago.

To know what safe level of GHG emission targets the city needs to hit, the task force conducted rigorous scientific studies to determine baseline data of GHG emissions from 1990, says Anne Evens, director of CNT Energy, a division of the Center for Neighborhood Technology, a non-profit environmental think tank which participated in the task force. An initial goal of the action plan is to achieve a 25 percent reduction below 1990 GHG emission levels by 2020, she explains.

“The goal is big and it can’t be achieved without significant money and programs from the city and from the private sector,” Evens says, noting the current economic crisis will pose greater challenges to accomplishing that target. However, “saving money will become more important and energy efficiency will be more of a priority for everyone,” she adds.

The city of Chicago has many programs already in the works to reduce GHG emissions. Some efforts include: ongoing retrofitting of its own buildings to make them more energy efficient, installing emission reduction devices on garbage trucks and replacing some of its car fleet for city workers with hybrid vehicles and more fuel efficient cars, says Merritt.

Individuals can reduce their personal carbon footprint too by taking on the action plan’s $800 challenge. By adopting a few small (and mostly free) changes in the way Chicagoans live and move around, the action plan’s authors estimate anyone doing so will shrink the amount of GHG emissions they contribute to their surroundings and save at least $800 a year in the process.

A few suggestions include: reduce the heat setting in your homes to save $129 per year; swap out nine incandescent bulbs for CFLs and save $108 a year; and slash one 10-mile car trip out of your weekly driving and cut fuel costs by about $99.

“We all have a responsibility to get involved,” asserts Marjorie Isaacson, director of research and operations at CNT Energy. “We also have a responsibility to hold the city to the plan they put out and encourage them not to do stupid things.”

(source Fresh Squeeze)i

Cleaning out the Closets in NYC

We love seeing innovative companies that we think our waste and figure out how to turn it to profit. This New York startup called Wearable Collections caught our eye when they followed us on Twitter.

Here is a brief description from their website, hopefully they can bring some of the innovations to Chicago!

THE PROBLEM. According to a recent study, 386 million pounds of textiles enter the NYC waste stream annually, representing close to 6% of total waste.

THE SOLUTION. Wearable Collections provides a no cost, turn-key solution to recycling clothing within residential buildings in NYC. We handle all the logistics from placement of bins and promotion within the buildings to scheduling weekly pick-ups.

THE BENEFIT. Through our established network we distribute your discarded clothing around the world to people who need it, enabling us to raise money for charitable organizations.

Al Gore writes Editorial in NY Times

In an editorial published Sunday in the New York Times, Al Gore outlined the Repower America Plan — how to achieve 100% clean electricity within ten years. We’ve included the editorial below. Vice President Gore describes what’s required to transform our nation’s energy economy.

Can you help spread the word? An easy way to help is to simply write a short letter to the editor of your local paper. If you write today, your letter could get into the Sunday edition this coming weekend. Just go to:

http://www.repoweramerica.org/lte

This is a key moment. President-elect Obama has said that focusing on energy and climate will be a first priority in the new administration. Congress and the new President need to see that they have strong support to “go big” in solving these problems, with clean, homegrown energy — even in the face of the powerful fossil fuel lobbies.

To build this kind of national commitment, we need to clearly expose the “common thread” that connects three of our nation’s major challenges — the economy, national security, and the climate crisis. This common thread is our dependence on dirty coal and foreign oil.

As Al Gore writes, “Here is the good news: the bold steps that are needed to solve the climate crisis are exactly the same steps that ought to be taken in order to solve the economic crisis and the energy security crisis.”

Our simple online tool makes it easy to submit a letter to your local paper. And the letters-to-the-editor section is one of the most widely read sections of any newspaper, because people want to hear what other people think.

You can see the editorial on the NY Times website.