Finding Materials for a Healthier House

SustainLane
Last Updated: Monday, March 03, 2008

Just ask the three little pigs (especially the first two): Choosing the right building materials for your house is an important decision with serious consequences.

The wolf might not be at your door, but knowing how to choose sustainable materials can help you protect the environment and your family's health.

As if you didn't have enough to think about when building or buying a home, choosing sustainable materials requires you to consider a few more questions: Are your construction materials sustainably produced? Are they made with chemicals that might be toxic to you and your family? Are they energy- and resource-efficient? Will they be easy to dispose of responsibly?

Fortunately, several organizations make it easier to find those answers.

Good Wood: FSC Certification

Well-managed forests can minimize logging's impact on the environment and help maintain future supplies of forest products. To ensure that the wood that frames and covers your house and floors was harvested responsibly, look for certification by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an independent organization that accredits, monitors, and audits timber concerns.

An FSC seal on a product--whether it's flooring, furniture, lumber, or even paper-- assures you that the wood was harvested in a sustainable manner from a healthy forest, without using destructive techniques like massive clear-cutting and logging in old-growth forests, and that chemical use was minimized or eliminated.
Businesses ranging from national home-improvement chains to your local lumberyard sell certified-wood products. Some furniture manufacturers also use certified woods in many of the products they sell.

Be aware that not all certification programs are credible. Spurred by consumer and wood industry demand, other forest certification programs have sprung up, many of which set lax standards for forest management that allow destructive forestry practices. Be sure to ask for FSC-certified wood only.

From Carpet to Lighting: Green Seal

For a wider range of products, including paint, appliances, carpet, lighting, finishes, air conditioning, and particleboard, look for the Green Seal. Green Seal is an independent, nonprofit organization that identifies and promotes products and services that cause less toxic pollution and waste, conserve resources and habitats, and minimize global warming and ozone depletion.

The best part is that Green Seal balances those concerns with basic consumer concerns like quality and performance. Its rigorous product recommendations are like Consumer Reports without the SUV reviews.

Energy Star for Efficiency

If you're buying rather than building, you can still make sustainable choices and ensure lower long-term energy costs. The Energy Star seal you've probably seen on a refrigerator or TV set also applies to entire homes.

Qualified homes are independently verified to be at least 30 percent more energy efficient than homes built to the 1993 National Model Energy Code, or 15 percent more efficient than the appropriate state energy code, whichever is more rigorous. The savings are typically achieved through features like high-performance windows, controlled air infiltration, upgraded heating and air conditioning systems, tight duct systems, and upgraded water-heating equipment.

Learn More

What makes a product green?

Complete information about FSC certification.

Check out Green Seal's free product recommendations.

Get a home energy analysis and more from Energy Star.

SustainLane.com is the nation’s largest community-powered directory of green products and businesses. SustainLane allows people to easily find and share reviews on anything from organic baby food and fair trade chocolate to eco-friendly clothing  and environmentally friendly diapers. The more people share and participate in SustainLane’s community, the easier it becomes for you and your family to live green.

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