Greenwash – the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service.

TerraChoice’s 7 sins of greenwashing is a useful reminder to think critically when considering the environmental claims of a company, product or programme.

There’s a good article on metropolismag.com on how to source genuinely sustainable products and materials.

They interview ‘ten leading architects and interior designers about their approaches to green spaces.’

– What makes a product sustainable?

– How do you find green products?

– What tools do you use?

– What are the shortcomings of these tools?

– When it comes to independent certification, which do you trust most and why?

– How do you cut through all the greenwashing?

– How does budget play into your green-speccing decisions?

– Is there one material that you can’t seem to avoid even though you know it’s not green?

LEED – the green building certification system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGB) – is something that turns up a few times in the article.

But even LEED is not above critical analysis.

Preston Koerner revisits some of the weaknesses of the LEED system, including the discrepancies between what a building is designed to do, in terms of energy and water consumption, and what it does in reality.

And Preston Koerner again on Nau’s (an American clothing products company) analysis on the pros and cons of achieving LEED certification.

It’s not easy being green, especially if you try and do it on autopilot.

Concentrate!

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Tags: sustainable design