With Green Claims: Trust But Verify
By Scott Kriner, Green Metal Consulting
Former President Ronald Reagan was famous for his promise to “Trust but Verify” the Soviet Union as part of our nation’s strategy of détente during the waning years of the Cold War. In today’s green economy, we find ourselves facing the same type of dilemma but in less threatening way.
The “greening” of our economy has resulted in over 300 eco labels being featured on consumer products, building products, and even buildings themselves. Yes, ASHRAE’s new Building Energy Quotient, or “Building EQ", is an attempt to label a commercial building’s energy consumption and environmental impact. The program grades design energy use and actual energy performance. The greenwashing that is sweeping the nation is causing consumers and building owners to wonder if the claims are valid. From appliances to household cleaners to roofing products, everything is apparently green and energy efficient. But are they really?
There are several programs in the marketplace that either validate a product’s claims or verify a product’s actual performance. In 2008 the International Code Council Evaluation Services introduced their Sustainable Attributes Verification and Evaluation program (SAVE™) program. SAVE is intended to verify claimed environmental attributes that fall into specific categories. Some of those categories include solar reflectance index and thermal emittance of roofing materials, recycled content, extracted raw materials, and VOCs of paints and coatings.
More recently, UL expanded their efforts by creating UL Environment (ULe), and along with that launched the ULe Environmental Claims Verification program (ECV). That program verifies green and environmental claims made by manufacturers and producers. To-date it has focused on doors, mineral fiber board, ceiling systems, stone, ceramic, clay and windows. ULe expects to expand into more building materials. In another sign of expansion, ULe recently created the Energy Efficiency Certification (EEC) program. The EEC becomes a third party for confirming claims of energy efficiency, certifying that products meet certain energy standards, and in some cases even developing their own energy standards.
ULe saw a growing demand for third party certification of energy efficient products in regulations and in some voluntary programs. The US Department of Energy is moving in that direction, the EPA/DOE Energy Star program is considering third party evaluation, the California Energy Commission is requiring independent testing of products, and even Natural Resources Canada (NRCAN) requires independent certification of energy performance.
The EEC program began by evaluating energy performance of televisions, compact disc players, and video products. They have expanded into lighting, appliances, HVAC and computers. ULe is preparing to extend the EEC program to building products, such as roofing, windows and wallboard within the next few months.
With these programs now validating, verifying and evaluating products’ claims and energy performance, some of the uncertainty surrounding greenwashing may be eliminated. As manufacturers recognize the benefits and selling value of having their products identified with these verification/validation services labels, consumers and building owners may soon be able to trust in the claims without verifying. The market forces may take care of verifying on its own.
Scott Kriner, MCA's Technical Director, is the president and founder of Green Metal Consulting Inc. He is a LEED Accredited Professional who began his career in the metal construction industry in 1981. His company is a member of the U.S. Green Building Council, the California Association of Building Energy Consultants and the Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET). Scott can be reached by email at skriner1@verizon.net, or by phone at (610) 966-2430. You can also visit him on the web at www.greenmetalconsulting.com.
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