Seeking the green standard

Obviously taking a cue from our coverage of Home Depot's Eco-Options program, today's New York Times  discussed consumers' appetites for green products, the retailer's efforts to identify those that are truly green, and to distinguish them against those that are merely marketed as such. If you're planning a green remodel, you'll certainly sift through a lot of options. We face a challenge similar to Home Depot's when choosing products to feature here at This Old House, in an environment of conflicting standards and certifications that the article summarizes nicely:

Home Depot executives acknowledge that they are navigating largely uncharted waters because the government and private-company certifications that do exist on environmental impact tend to be narrowly focused.

It took weeks, for instance, to choose among a multitude of paint toxicity standards that local governments have set around the country. (Home Depot said it chose the strictest standard, set in Southern California.)

For now, most Eco Options products rely on independent certifications like Energy Star, which measure energy efficiency and is run by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy.

Even though Energy Star is a widely accepted barometer for how much electricity a refrigerator or washing machine uses, it does not measure other factors, like how much energy was used to make the appliance in the first place or whether the manufacturer used recycled materials and encouraged its product to be recycled at the end of its life.

Home Depot is working with Scientific Certification Systems, a private company based in Emeryville, California, that audits and certifies company claims, to develop new broad-based standards. They will grade a product based on its environmental record over its entire life cycle — including the sustainability of its production process, its efficiency and longevity and how it can be recycled when it is no longer useful.

Kudos to Home Depot for using its influence to encourage more responsible manufacturing. We're doing our own evaluations to determine which products will make our October Green Issue—before that, though, you'll see a few of our favorites on the Hardware Aisle in the next few weeks.