Agriboard Industries subjects wheat and rice straw to intense pressure and heat as part of a manufacturing process (below) for panels (above) that provide structural strength and insulation. Photo courtesy Agriboard Industries

 

Material ConneXion has recently teamed up with McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry and the Environmental Encouragement Protection Agency, organizations established by architect William McDonough and chemist Michael Braungart, respectively, to offer their Cradle to Cradle (C2C) material assessment, product development, and certification to manufacturers. McDonough and Braungart argue that when a product is made of appropriate materials and is designed so that its constituent parts can be recovered at the end of its useful life, any waste is "food." The waste becomes raw material for the manufacture of more products, either by composting if biobased or by recycling if synthetic. The approach effectively closes the loop, eliminating the concept of waste.

Diverse standards make it hard for architects to know how to do the right thing. The field is further confused by "greenwashing," or exaggerated claims made by some manufacturers. Tyler recommends that architects seek guidance from third-party certification organizations, such as FSC for sustainably harvested wood, the U.S. Department of Agriculture for organic materials, GreenGuard for building products and furniture with low volatile organic compound emissions, or GreenSeal for building products evaluated by LCA. However, "each program has different criteria and certifies only certain products," she cautions.

Another rating system that seeks to broaden the scope of green certification is The Pharos Project, which encourages participation from design professionals. The project's goal is to cut through the confusing array of green standards and identify products that are good for the world, rather than "issue prohibitions on what is less bad," according to its Web site.

One stumbling block to widespread adoption of sustainable materials is their up-front expense. "Most building products on the market made from rapidly renewable materials today are more expensive than their synthetic counterparts," says Wilson, pointing to linoleum, which comes at a premium over vinyl flooring. However, a complete accounting of costs associated with a product would also include its societal costs, balancing out the pricing of rapidly renewable and synthetic materials, he says.

The laws of supply and demand may also bring the prices of rapidly renewable materials down as manufacturers respond to growing market interest in green products. And if the industry reaches a consensus on comprehensive and consistent evaluation methods, architects will have more choices when specifying sustainable materials and will be able to produce better buildings with smaller environmental footprints.