Bill Walsh | August 19, 2010 | Materials
If you have been working to eliminate mercury exposure and contamination, it is well worth reading the comments filed yesterday by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (http://www.peer.org) objecting to EPA's proposal to promote the beneficial use of coal ash wastes in a wide array of products from cement to cosmetics.
As a PEER w...
Bill Walsh | July 14, 2010 | Policies
Think "transparency" is an established, maturing theme? You ain't seen nothing yet. Trendwatching.com
The news this summer provides more insight into why the assortment of eco-labels and certifications that define green products today is a transitional stage, soon to be eclipsed by an unprecedented convergence of better information a...
Tom Lent | June 24, 2010 | Policies
Last week we described the major reductions in VOC content we are seeing in paints (Paint Industry Drives Toward Zero VOCs -- Will Certifications Catch Up?). But does a low-VOC content number mean these paints are actually safe from the perspective of environmental health? Not necessarily.
As we described in an earlier blog (Sorting Out The VOCs),...
Tom Lent | June 24, 2010 | Policies
The US Congress has approved legislation[1] to limit allowable emissions of formaldehyde from composite wood products, specifically hardwood plywood, particleboard and medium-density fiberboard sold in the United States. The new limits in are based on the levels established for the State of California in 2007 by the California Air Resources Board (...
Tom Lent | June 14, 2010 | Policies
Low-VOC labels and certifications abound on the paint shelves today. What do they all mean? Not necessarily what you think. First, let's look at the certifications. Green Seal, EcoLogo, CRGI GreenWise and MPI Green Performance all base their certifications on VOC content -- and 50 grams/liter (g/l) is the magic number. Almost...
Paul Bogart | June 02, 2010 | Policies
As I spend my days within a world of data, certifications, lunch and learns, and labels, I often remind myself why I do this for a living. I think of people living on the front lines of industrial production that I hope will one day benefit from my work. People that I have met in communities struggling for the basic right to clean air and uncontami...
Julie Silas | June 02, 2010 | Materials
There are thousands of paint products on the market today. For interior paint products, manufacturers offer a variety of sheens: flat, eggshell, gloss, semi-gloss. And, for each sheen, the product is offered in a whole host of base tint options: neutral, white tint, pastel tint, dark tint, etc.
In Pharos, we started the standard paint...
Bill Walsh | June 02, 2010 | Policies
A new report released last week concludes, "[LEED] 'platinum,' 'gold,' and 'silver' status conveys the false impression of a healthy and safe building environment, even when well-recognized hazardous chemicals exist in building products," and, "LEED standards are insufficient to protect human health." The...
Bill Walsh | May 19, 2010 | Materials
On May 4, 2010, the US Environmental Protection Agency released a long-awaited proposal that addresses “coal combustion residuals,” known as CCRs, which include fly ash that is frequently used as recycled content in building materials. The EPA proposal aggressively promotes this use of fly ash as a “beneficial use.” To drast...
Sarah Gilberg | May 07, 2010 | Policies
The writing is on the wall for manufacturers of products and processes that use known and suspected carcinogens. Or at least it’s in the President’s inbox. The President’s Cancer Panel, an elite group of experts that has been dubbed “the Mount Everest of the medical mainstream” by New York Times columnist...