Chemical Information :: GBIG Insight

Chemical Hazard Assessment: A Key Step Towards Product Optimization

By Courtney Yan on 17 Jul 2014 • 3 minute read

USGBC’s LEED version 4 Materials & Resources Credit: Building Product Disclosure and Optimization - Material Ingredients is based on the premise that in order to promote healthier building products and materials, we must first know what ingredients go into a produ …

The Family Tree of Chemistry

By Martin Mulvihill, PhD on 10 Jul 2014 • 5 minute read

The periodic table is beautiful. I have no fewer than three in my office, and you can also find one in the front or back of almost any chemistry textbook. If you want to understand chemistry, it is worthwhile to spend a few minutes with the periodic table. I will spa …

Green Chemistry Innovators Help Advance Dialogue around Safer Building Materials

By Ashley White, PhD on 06 Jun 2014 • 3 minute read

Through the LEED, Materials, and Health Initiative, USGBC has been advancing dialogue around the challenges and opportunities associated with material ingredient disclosure and elimination of chemical hazards in the building sector. Last week USGBC held a workshop on …

Workshop participants, "Advancing Safer Materials in the Building Products Sector."

Standardization and Classification: Two Pieces of the Safer Materials Puzzle

By David Marcus on 27 May 2014 • 4 minute read

Increasing transparency and scientific understanding around the health impacts of building materials is unquestionably a timely and complex topic. The growing number of chemicals and products in the marketplace brings a deluge of new information and opportunities, but w …

The New Chemicals in Products Information Transparency

By Ken Geiser, PhD on 13 Jan 2014 • 3 minute read

One of the most impressive messages of the Materials and Human Health Summit at the Philadelphia Greenbuild Conference in November was how rapidly chemical information transparency in building materials has become commonly accepted. Several hundred designers and build …