According to John D. Wagner, Green Editor, LBM Journal, award-winning author, speaker and expert in green and sustainable building products and pratices, a product is green if......
- It improves the indoor air quality or reduces chemical exposure within a home, thereby improving the health of the people who live in it, or work on it. (This includes all products that reduce mold).
- It lowers pressure on the environment through the use of materials that are renewable and sustainably harvested (harvested in a way that doesn't permanently deplete the source of the material).
- It reduces the use of water throughout a home, thereby lowering demands on freshwater sources and the energy-intensive infrastructure required to pipe, store, and purify it.
- It reduces pressure on the waste stream, by being made from recycled or recycle-able materials. And it should reduce the exposure risks to people working on or living in the home.
- It reduces the "carbon footprint" of a home. The carbon footprint is the amount of energy that will be burned to heat and cool a structure over its lifetime, or the energy burned to generate power for the home or the energy used to manufacture the home's components.
