Jun 15 2009
The Green Guide to Specification went online a year ago and now has over eleven and a half thousand registered users. These users can access over 2000 specifications and the latest updates include the ratings for floor finishes. BRE Global continues to work with industry to develop and increase the range of materials and specifications included in the Green Guide.
Ratings on the Green Guide provide very useful guidance but it is not intended that specifiers should make decisions based on this information alone. The embodied environmental impacts of building materials and components measured in the Green Guide are just part of the overall sustainability of a building as measured in Industry standard schemes such as BREEAM and the Code for Sustainable Homes.
BRE Global is continually enhancing the Green Guide online and is actively developing many areas including:
Presenting Green Guide Ratings for manufacturer specific products allowing them to differentiate themselves away from the generic profile rating.
Releasing Ecopoint values for generic and manufacturer specific profiles thus providing further evidence for ‘Best in Category' product profile over a Generic profile.
Allowing users to compile their own bespoke specifications and determine the environmental performance of these with the forthcoming launch of the Green Guide Calculator
Information Papers later in the year which will include "Performance and Service life in the Environmental Profiles Methodology and Green Guide to Specification" and "The Green Guide Explained".
In addition to the online version, the fourth edition of The Green Guide to Specification has been published in hardback and provides more detailed background information than is available on the free online version of The Green Guide. Copies are available from http://www.brebookshop.com/