In sustainable construction, choosing sustainable materials and products can be challenging.
Inferior, traditional building products are chosen based on aesthetics, and value.
However, sustainable building products are evaluated in several different aspects in order to determine its level of sustainability.
One must be careful of products and materials that claim they are eco-friendly by placing a small green leaf on their products.
Many companies are quick to make sustainable claims about their products because a single aspect about an item may be environmentally friendly.
Also, it is important to realize that green, environmentally friendly, products and materials are not always sustainable in practice.
This means a material may have eco-friendly properties, but is not durable and will need replaced in a few years after construction.
These traps can be avoided before construction by researching products and making appropriate selections in the design process.
In reality, since all construction projects are on a budget, the cost is the biggest factor in material and product selection.
The truth is sustainable materials can be more expensive than standard materials, but the cost effectiveness is what makes sustainable materials a better choice.
The initial investment in sustainable materials means less maintenance and lower energy costs.
These savings over time is what makes the investment worth it.
Because initial budgets rarely allow for all sustainable selections to be made, it is important to decide which sustainable decisions make sense for the specific site location.
In other words, which sustainable options will provide the most return? Health and Environmental Impact A product's health and environmental impact is arguably the biggest factor in selecting sustainable materials.
The following are attributes to a product or material's sustainable properties: Local availability, created from recyclable or easily grown materials, durability, weather resistance, aesthetics, and toxicity.
Choosing a product because it excels in one of these categories is a mistake.
The product should be well rounded and maintain sustainable qualities in several of these aspects.
For example, do not select a sustainable insulation product because it is made from recycled materials.
Find out of the material is safely harvested and investigate how it is manufactured.
Also, consider if it is locally recycled and produced or if it is coming from halfway around the world.
Research ratings and product certifications Certified labels such as Energy Star ratings is a quick way to identify a sustainable product of material because qualified research data has been analyzed by the U.
S.
Department of Energy in order to develop lists of certified products.
However, their standards of sustainability may be lower than the desired for many new sustainable construction projects.
For example, there are many energy star rated insulations but many products exist that far exceed the R-values of these energy star rated insulations.
Recently, Underwriter Laboratories has introduced UL Environment.
The UL rating has already established national credibility.
Now products and construction methods can be submitted to Underwriter Laboratories for a sustainable certification.
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is technically a building rating system, but it does identify specific sustainable products and other certifications that will add to a buildings LEED score.
As far as certified sustainable lumber products, the Forest Stewardship Council has been recognized by LEED as a credible forest certification system.
They are responsible for certifying everything from framing materials, to furniture, and flooring.
Finalizing your sustainable selection Once you have made your sustainable selection, it is important to verify that your contractor is capable of installing the product or working with the material.
As sustainable construction is a fairly new industry, many contractors may not have ever used these new innovative products before.
If your contractor is inexperienced with a product it is better to find one who is or choose a different product.
Taking the chance and having an improper installation can be very costly, especially early in the construction process.
Always remember: The overall goal when developing a sustainable product is to use natural material that is renewable and can be recycled, while sustainably providing a building with efficient energy consumption for many years.