{"id":3639,"date":"2011-05-11T08:52:33","date_gmt":"2011-05-11T15:52:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unrbep.org\/?p=3639"},"modified":"2011-05-11T08:52:33","modified_gmt":"2011-05-11T15:52:33","slug":"google-drops-red-list-building-materials-vendors-listen-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/google-drops-red-list-building-materials-vendors-listen-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Google drops red list building materials, vendors listen up!"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Jonathan Hiskes<\/a>; Sustainable Industries Magazine<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Anthony Ravitz, Google\u2019s project coordinator for real estate and workplace services, opened his talk in Vancouver, B.C., Thursday with an impressive fact: the world\u2019s largest software company is opening 40,000 square feet of office space a week. Talk about fast growth.<\/p>\n

And none of those workplaces, he said, would use any of the materials on the red list developed by the Living Building Challenge, which include mercury, asbestos, PVC, formaldehyde and lead. That second fact explained why Ravitz\u2019s was one of the most crowded sessions at Cascadia Green Building Council\u2019s Living Future conference. The conference attracts hundreds of architects, contractors, planners, vendors and others with a say in the materials that make up our homes and workplaces.<\/p>\n

And they know that when one of the West Coast\u2019s hottest companies swears off unhealthy products, the effect is sure to ripple outward through their industries.<\/p>\n

Ravitz said Google\u2019s decision stems from two principles: \u201cfocus on health and vitality\u201d of its employees and \u201chealthcare is costly.\u201d In other words, the company wants to avoid illness from potentially dangerous materials. Sounds simple enough, but it\u2019s difficult to know everything that\u2019s in materials like carpet and paint.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need better transparency,\u201d Ravitz said. \u201cWe don\u2019t have complete information about what\u2019s in our products. It\u2019s not readily available. Until we have that, it will be difficult to make the best decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not for a lack of programs addressing building materials. Ravitz spoke alongside Tom Lent of the Health Building Network, which works to promote healthier materials. \u201cThere are a lot of product certifications, \u00a0Ravitz said. \u201cA whole lot. It\u2019s really confusing, even when you know a lot about this topic.\u201d<\/p>\n

He pointed out that the U.S. Toxic Substances Control Act hasn\u2019t substantially changed since 1976. \u201cI used to think that maybe the government was taking care of us,\u201d he said. \u201cI think the EPA would like to, but they don\u2019t have the regulatory authority.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s created the need for other groups to step in. Ravitz said Google relied on the International Living Building Institute and the Healthy Building Network to advise it on what chemicals and materials to avoid. It also drew several off the EPA\u2019s Chemicals of Concern list.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to go out there and say \u2018Google thinks these chemicals are bad and we don\u2019t want them in our buildings,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not a chemist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hence the reliance on the other groups. One of the presenters wrote up a handy list of rules for choosing building materials<\/a>, inspired by writer Michael Pollan\u2019s food rules:<\/p>\n

If they won\u2019t tell you what\u2019s in it, you probably don\u2019t want what\u2019s in it.
\nConsult your nose – if it stinks, don\u2019t use it.
\nJust because almost anything can kill you doesn\u2019t mean our building products should.
\nIf it starts as hazardous waste, you probably don\u2019t want it in your house.
\nIf it is cheap it probably has hidden costs.
\nQuestion the generation of hazardous waste rather than where to put it your building.
\nUse materials made from substances you can imagine in their raw or natural state.
\nAvoid materials that are pretending to be something they are not.
\nQuestion materials that make health claims.
\nUse carbohydrate-based materials when you can.
\nPay more, use less.
\nRegard space-age materials with skepticism.<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s the Living Building Challenge\u2019s list of red list materials and chemicals:<\/p>\n

Asbestos
\nCadmium
\nChlorinated Polyethylene and Chlorosulfonated Polyethlene
\nChlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
\nChloroprene (Neoprene)
\nFormaldehyde
\nHalogenated Flame Retardants
\nHydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs)
\nLead
\nMercury
\nPetrochemical Fertilizers and Pesticides
\nPhthalates
\nPolyvinyl Chloride (PVC)
\nWood treatments containing creosote, arsenic or pentachlorophenol<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Jonathan Hiskes; Sustainable Industries Magazine Anthony Ravitz, Google\u2019s project coordinator for real estate and workplace services, opened his talk in Vancouver, B.C., Thursday with an impressive fact: the world\u2019s largest software company is opening 40,000 square feet of office space a week. Talk about fast growth. And none of those workplaces, he said, would … Continue reading Google drops red list building materials, vendors listen up!<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3639"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3639"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3640,"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3639\/revisions\/3640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}