November 21, 2008—BuildingGreen, LLC, publisher of the GreenSpec Directory and Environmental Building News, has announced the 2008 Top-10 Green Building Products.
This seventh annual award, announced at the US Green Building Council’s Greenbuild Conference in Boston, recognizes the most exciting products drawn from recent additions to the GreenSpec Directory and coverage in Environmental Building News.
Three of the products this year save energy and fully half are green in part because they are made from natural, rapidly renewable, or agricultural waste materials.
The 2008 Top-10 Green Building Products are listed below. They are:
- Integrity Block, a compacted-earth block used as a cost-competitive replacement for concrete masonry units (CMUs). Integrity Block uses 40% less energy to produce and meets ASTM C-90 for load-bearing CMUs.
- Safe N Sound Emerald doors from Masonite, solid-core interior doors with wheat-straw particleboard cores, skins made from composite wood, and stiles and rails made from made from solid wood certified according to Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standards.
- FSC-certified Plyboo Pure bamboo flooring from Smith & Fong, the first bamboo flooring to carry Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification. Available under the brand name PlybooPure, the flooring is also made with low-emitting, non-formaldehyde polyisocyanurate and comes either flat or vertical-grained in a natural or amber color. For more information, go to the Web site.
- Natura Paint from Benjamin Moore, a line of zero-VOC paints and primers for residential and light commercial use.
- PolyWhey Floor Finish from Vermont Natural Coatings, a waterborne wood finish that uses recycled whey protein, a by-product of the dairy industry, as a binder.
- Ecotextiles Natural-Fiber Fabrics, a collection of premium organic textiles that have been produced with careful attention to toxicity (both in the growing of the fibers and the production of the cloth), carbon footprint, and social justice.
- Matrix Total Home System from NTI, an integrated appliance that combines a gas-fired condensing boiler and furnace, condensing demand water heater, and heat-recovery ventilator into a single unit, and is also pre-configured for air conditioning.
- SunCache solar water heating system from Harpiris Energy, an integral-collector-storage (ICS) solar water heater that uses a roof-mounted, water-filled, unpressurized, polyethylene panel and copper heat exchanger to pre-heat water for domestic use.
- Agilewaves Resource Monitor, which provides residential and commercial building owners with real-time data on electricity, gas, and water consumption. Agilewaves can also track, store, and analyze temperature, humidity, air quality, output from PV and solar water-heating systems, utility costs, and carbon footprint information. It can also communicate with certain building management systems to actively manage loads based on real-time usage. By influencing occupant behavior, Agilewaves can help reduce energy, gas, and water consumption by up to 20%, according to the company. For more information, see the Web site.
GreenSpec is the leading national directory of green building products. Products are selected by editors of Environmental Building News (EBN) based on rigorous criteria developed over the past 15 years. Manufacturers do not pay to be listed in GreenSpec, and neither GreenSpecnor Environmental Building News carries advertising.
For information on BuildingGreen resources, see the Web site.
