materials transparency :: GBIG Insight

Event Highlight: Advancing Safer Materials in the Building Product Sector

By Joel Tickner, ScD on 12 Feb 2015 • 5 minute read

Dialogue regarding materials transparency in the building products sector has increased in recent years through efforts such as the Health Product Declaration, but less progress has been made in designing, specifying, and adopting safer materials. Although knowing what� …

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 …

Leveraging LEED v4 to Spur Market Transformation of Building Materials

By Adam Maynard on 02 May 2014 • 3 minute read

Last month, Tom Lent, Policy Director of the Healthy Building Network sat down alongside Brendan Owens, VP of LEED Technical Development at USGBC, for a lunch talk entitled Building Material Transparency: We Should Care What’s in Our Buildings. It was the second suc …

End of the Rainbow: A Vision for the Future of Building Materials

By Chris Pyke, PhD on 07 Nov 2013 • 1 minute read

The products used to create and operate our homes and commercial buildings have far-reaching consequences for human health and the environment. Today, we are in the middle of revolution in the consideration of the attributes and impacts of the products used in our built …

Is It Possible to Provide an Inventory of ‘All’ Chemicals in a Product?

By Charlene Bayer, PhD on 03 Oct 2013 • 3 minute read

What does it mean to provide an inventory of 'all' the chemicals used in a product? Is it possible? Why? Why not? It is assumed that manufacturers know every one of the chemicals in their products, but in reality this may not be so. Manufacturers do not always have c …

Building Materials: What’s In This Stuff?

By Chris Pyke, PhD on 03 Oct 2013 • 1 minute read

We’re surrounded by stuff: fixtures, furnishings, paint, sealants, wallboard, windows, doors, and wiring to name a few. It seems reasonable to ask a fundamental question: “What’s in this stuff?” While it may seem reasonable to ask, it’s surprisingly hard to …