Now that green building is closing in on the mainstream, or at least being widely promoted by well-known organizations like the NAHB and NARI, major manufacturers, national production builders, and just about every cable channel, it’s hard to miss all of the claims being made about the environmental performance of many green building products, components, and systems. And frankly, some of these claims are either naive or blatantly misleading, methods of overstating performance that have been dubbed “greenwashing.”
This has become such a problem that the Federal Trade Commission is updating its Guide for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims to regulate deceptive claims. For example, companies aren’t supposed to use phrases like “eco-safe,” “eco-friendly,” and “Earth Smart,” without providing substantiation.
We want to know if you agree that this has become a problem. Please take our brief survey and let us know what you think about greenwashing.
