October 22, 2009

Environment for success
How NH is building its green industry

We’re told that green jobs are the next big thing.

From finding sustainable energy and material sources to finding more energy- and resource-efficient ways to do everything from heating a building to running a hotel, it’s likely that the next few decades will see an increase in opportunity for those looking to do things in a more environmentally friendly way.

And all over New Hampshire, people are working to make sure the state isn’t left behind in this new trend in business. Several colleges and universities in the state are offering “green” degrees. Many business groups are helping their members learn green practices. Businesses that have “green” as a part of their mission are banding together to get people excited about their part of the “green” movement and to learn from each other — such as with Concord Green Drinks, members of which appear on this week’s cover.

The environmental degree
Educating the green workers of tomorrow
By Jeff Mucciarone jmucciarone@hippopress.com

As the world begins to demand a focus on all things green — renewable energy, energy-efficient everything, organic goods, local goods — the country and the world will need an environmentally educated workforce.

Area colleges and universities are pitching in. Schools are offering more environment-related courses and many are creating new green degrees.

Antioch University New England in Keene offers a green MBA program. Lakes Region Community College offers a program in energy services and technology. The University of New Hampshire at Manchester offers courses in sustainable business, sustainable development and green chemistry. (Students in UNH-Manchester’s sustainable business course run a business, called Millyard Soaps, selling locally made products to the Manchester market.) Students at the University of New Hampshire in Durham can double-major in eco-gastronomy. UNH also offers an environmental and resource economics program and a program in natural resources and the environment.

Dr. Patricia Wild at Lakes Region Community College is developing a certificate program in green design for current interior designers, builders, artists or current LRCC students looking to specialize. Requirements will probably include a few classes from LRCC’s Energy Services and Technology program, such as Introduction to Energy Management Principles. Other courses might include designing for large spaces, 2-D design, and a green products course.

 “[Schools] are really coming up with great learning opportunities for students,” said Sarah Cleaves, associate director of the Office of Sustainability at UNH.

From businesses to retired people to communities, there’s more demand for classes on certain issues, such as climate, energy and food, from well beyond the traditional student body, Cleaves said.

Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) is greening its campus and its programs. The University has been honored for being carbon-neutral and it’s trying to become carbon-negative, said Michele Goldsmith, associate professor of science. It’s also creating an environmental science major to be offered next fall.

The school, which has considered moving to a wood pellet heating system or geothermal heating, just constructed two new buildings with many green features. SNHU hands out stainless steel water bottles to incoming freshmen each year to help reduce use of plastic bottles. SNHU does offer an environmental degree but it’s more focused on law and policy. The new major would offer a wider berth of green, Goldsmith said.

“I think some are looking for a program with more application,” said Goldsmith, who advises a sustainability group on campus, which has about 30 members. Membership cuts across academic disciplines, including graphic design, creative writing, business and marketing students. Goldsmith takes students in her environmental science courses  to the Merrimack River to test water quality so students have hands-on experience to back up classroom work. (The river is pretty healthy according to her class results.)

Goldsmith hopes the program can provide not only coursework but also internship opportunities for students.

“I do see more environmental consciousness,” said Goldsmith, who has been at SNHU for seven years. She said she used to ask incoming students on their first days what the top environmental issues were. “I’d get blank stares. Now they come in and they know about global warming, they know the importance of recycling, fossil fuels. They’re definitely more aware.”

Of all the science courses, environmental science fills up the fastest, Goldsmith said.

Ultimately, Goldsmith said the university wants to be a model of greenness. Officials would like to have a tour that highlights the school’s attempts at sustainability, she said.

Polly Chandler, chairwoman of Antioch University’s Department of Organization and Sustainability, said students in the school’s green MBA program (www.antiochne.edu/om/mba), officially a degree in organization and environmental sustainability, focus on the “triple bottom line.” The focus isn’t just on profits but also on impacts on people and the environment, or “people, planet, profits.” Students can obtain the degree through three delivery methods: a weekend model where students meet for five intensive weekends per semester, an online version and an accelerated program that takes one year, Chandler said.

 “It’s a big difference from a traditional MBA that’s just focused on profit,” Chandler said. “We try to teach how to integrate the language of the environment into business discussions.”

The program, now in its third year, reaches a variety of adult learners, including entrepreneurs, farmers, construction workers and project managers.

 “For some businesses, it’s still about the bottom line, but they’re making the shift because consumers are demanding it,” Chandler said. “It’s no longer just a luxury. Consumers are making choices about how they want to purchase things.”

At the University of New Hampshire in Durham, sustainability has been a way of life for a long time, Cleaves said. UNH recently received the highest score on the College Sustainability Report Card 2010 from the Sustainable Endowments Institute.

The new eco-gastronomy program allows students to pick a major in any discipline and supplement it with eco-gastronomy coursework. The program, which began a year ago, looks at food holistically, which helps students understand the food system from farm to fork to human health, Cleaves said. The program works in a “very interdisciplinary, experiential, hands-on way,” Cleaves said. “A lot of times when we study one particular facet — farm or restaurant management, but not the other pieces — we really don’t understand how it all connects.”

Green educators seem to echo Cleaves’ sentiment for all things green; it seems to be about connecting all the dots, from start to finish.

Graduate students at UNH are also studying climate science, climate policy, environmental education and marine sciences. The school tries to find ways to let students tie a variety of environmental topics into their respective fields, the idea being to take what students are learning in the classroom and apply it. It makes sense to Cleaves that sustainability and the environment can fit into so many different disciplines.

 “[Sustainability] is really about quality of life,” Cleaves said. “The environment, clean air, that’s not the whole story. We need to think about what sustains us. Art, health care, education, human rights. In one sense, sustainability does come from the humanities.”

UNH offers a doctorate program that allows graduate students to essentially pick their focus, whether they’re more interested in social sciences, education, communication or something else, Cleaves said.

Cleaves didn’t have any figures, but said anecdotally her office is seeing more students interested in sustainability. Cleaves is seeing a wide swath of students apply for internships or positions at the sustainability office.

The College of Life Sciences and Agriculture at UNH has a variety of environmental science options that have different focuses, such as social science or policy, Cleaves said. UNH also offers a minor in sustainable living. There’s also plenty of environmental engineering work happening at UNH.

Cleaves said she’s seeing more and more professors incorporate sustainability into their classrooms, regardless of discipline.

Friends in green places
Green businesses work together to get the word out
By Jeff Mucciarone and Heidi Masek

Green businesses are finding out they have more power when they band together.

Green Concord, a nonprofit alliance of businesses in Concord that offer green products and services, has added several businesses during the course of the past year. Jonathan Gregory, development director for Green Concord and of the green department store Real Green Goods, said the organization is trying to share as much information as possible with the community.

“People are becoming a little more conscious and aware,” Gregory said, adding that Green Concord, which began in 2007, has helped establish recycling downtown. “We’re definitely filling in the gaps.”

“Part of the mission originally was to get together to promote Concord as a destination for this stuff,” Gregory said. But it’s bigger than Concord.

“Green is popular right now,” Gregory said, adding the creation of jobs is receiving lots of attention when it comes to going green and clean energy. “Really, from our standpoint, it really comes down to climate change. It’s really a win-win scenario for America and the rest of the world. When we start adopting green jobs, sustainable practices, we not only save ourselves money and create jobs, we also save the very environment that we live in.”

Gregory said most communities statewide now have local energy or environmental committees. They don’t have any funding, but they can serve as resources for municipalities and residents.

Green groups, initiatives and committees are on the rise in New Hampshire. Some of these include:

• Build Green NH (www.buildgreennh.com) is a green building and remodeling program offered to home builders, remodelers and industry professionals to promote green building. It is the only nationally approved program for building homes to green and code-approved standards. Members of Build Green NH “dream green,” said Rick Bouchard, chairman of Build Green NH and president of Queen City Remodeling. Along with promoting green practices, the organization, which began in January, offers training and education opportunities for its members. Builders are seeing more and more interest from customers looking for more environmentally friendly practices, Bouchard said. Builders working under Build Green NH standards must also obtain third-party verification, ensuring homes are truly as green as builders say they are, Bouchard said. The initiative is part of the Home Builders and Remodelers Association of New Hampshire.

• The New Hampshire Sustainable Energy Association (www.nhsea.org) works to promote renewable energy as a way to reduce dependence on foreign oil. Clay Mitchell, president of the board of directors, said it’s going to take a wide spectrum of initiatives to address creating more sustainable energy in this country. The organization, which has broad membership, acts as a resource for residents, professionals and legislators by providing workshops, open houses and legislative alerts. “We need a revolutionary change in how we think about energy,” Mitchell said.

• New Hampshire Businesses for Social Responsibility (www.nhbsr.org ) is an organization “driving the social responsibility agenda” in the state. Established in the 1980s, the group of more than 170 businesses and entities works to promote socially and environmentally responsible business.

• The New Hampshire Energy and Climate Collaborative, a public/private partnership, stemmed from Gov. John Lynch’s Climate Change Policy Task Force. The 29-member Task Force developed initiatives aiming at Lynch’s goal of having 25 percent of the state’s energy come from renewable sources by 2025. The Task Force released a plan in March that contained 67 recommendations for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The primary purpose of the Collaborative is to track and facilitate implementation of the Task Force’s recommendations. It includes representatives from business, public entities, nonprofit organizations and educational institutions. The Collaborative is also looking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent below 1990 standards by 2050.

• The Green Drinks concept started 20 years ago in the U.K., and no, it doesn’t refer to “perpetual St. Patty’s Day,” said Barbara Morris, sales and marketing associate of Zetland Homes LLC, who is one of the organizers of Green Drinks Concord. Green Drinks now happens in more than 600 cities worldwide, five in New Hampshire. It’s an opportunity to talk with others interested in “all things green,” Morris said. “It’s pretty free-flowing,” but Green Drinks Concord makes sure to carve out 10 to 15 minutes for a speaker to give a brief presentation, she said. So far they’ve heard from Amenico about vegetable oil-fueled heat recovery, Westchester Modular Homes, the Good Chemistry campaign of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, and about building energy audits and incentives from Energy Audits Unlimited. “It’s open to anybody interested in any aspect of green. It’s supposed to be fun as well as a good chance to network and good chance to learn a little bit about different things,” said Steve Reddy, operations manager for Zetland Homes, which was the corporate sponsor for the first Green Drinks Concord and continues to act as an organizer. “We’re hoping it grows,” Reddy said. Green Drinks Concord usually meets on the third Tuesday of each month at the Barley House, 132 North Main St. in Concord, from 6 to 8 p.m. Attendees are responsible for their own bar tabs. James Robb of the New Hampshire Business Resource Center (www.nheconomy.com) was scheduled to speak Oct. 20 for the fifth event, about state efforts to assist local companies to become more energy efficient, such as the Ocean Bank Energy Efficiency Program, offerings from the USDA Rural Development office and even New Hampshire’s annual Greenerpalooza event at Meadowbrook, where an educational green expo is combined with a concert.

Morris said Zetland Homes learned about Green Drinks while setting up a home show booth with a Westchester Modular Homes representative who told them about the thriving Green Drinks Portsmouth. He was “shocked there’s nothing like this in the capital of New Hampshire,” Morris said. Visit www.greendrinks.org for more.

• The New Hampshire Sustainable Lodging & Restaurant Program gives hospitality businesses a road map for going green. It’s under the New Hampshire Lodging and Restaurant Association and is managed by Michelle Veasey. The program has partnered with the New Hampshire Dept. of Environmental Services to tweak their green certification manuals, because “restaurants that achieved Environmental Champion wanted a more rigorous program,” Tara Mae Goodrich, M.S., DES Pollution Prevention Specialist, wrote in an e-mail. They are using a tool Peter Cooke, pollution prevention program manager for Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection, shared with other states that estimates the carbon reduction and money businesses are saving, Veasey said. In Maine, participating lodging businesses so far have saved more than $1 million in energy costs, Veasey said.

NHSLRP (www.nhslrp.org) held a New England Eco-Hospitality Expo in April and will hold a sustainability conference Nov. 2 (see www.nhlra.com).

• The New Hampshire Dept. of Environmental Services is obviously full of green initiatives. Visit des.nh.gov to learn about them. One unique Pollution Prevention Program initiative is NH Green Slopes, which helps ski areas reduce environmental impacts.

• The Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce’s (666-6600, www.manchester-chamber.org) Green Committee consists of a 15-member steering committee with subcommittees on things like green building, laws and regulation, and green business, said Mike Skelton, GMCC staffer. About 250 Chamber members are on its mailing list. The Green Committee held a Green Summit earlier this year on current and future energy production in the state. Its second Green Summit, with a focus on green buildings and energy efficiency, is Wednesday, Nov. 18, from 7:30 to 9 a.m. at the Derryfield Restaurant. The panel includes green designer Chris Drobat, AIA, of Lavallee Brensinger Architects; Tom Sullivan, of Sullivan Construction of Bedford; and Chris Norwood of the Norwood Real Estate Group.

• The Joint Sustainability Committee was formed this summer with members from the GMCC Green Committee and department heads from Manchester city government. David Preece of the Southern New Hampshire Planning Commission (www.snhpc.org) chairs the partnership. Skelton believes this kind of joint effort is unique. Many individual department heads already had plans in the works, and the Chamber sees the Green Committee’s role as helping to garner public support. The JSC is finalizing a list of short- and long-term goals under several categories, like waste reduction, energy management, transportation, habitat restoration, city beautification (in cooperation with Intown Manchester) and green jobs. In the long term, the goal is to improve economic vitality and quality of life, Preece said.

• One of the related groups Preece mentioned is Manchester Moves, which encourages creating networks of “trails, sidewalks and on-road biking facilities” and sports helpful Manchester trail maps at www.manchestermoves.org.

• The New Hampshire Carbon Challenge has morphed into the New England Carbon Challenge (necarbonchallenge.org), a joint initiative of the University of New Hampshire and Clean Air-Cool Planet. They provide services and support to households and communities that want to reduce residential energy consumption, said co-director Denise Blaha. Their online carbon calculator, called the New England Carbon Estimator, offers “practical, real-world ideas” for reducing energy consumption. It usually only takes about 15 minutes to go through this online form and about a half hour to implement the changes, yet an average household saves about $750 per year through this exercise, she said. NECC can link households together, so a church or school or bowling league can show their collective efforts. Many town energy committees are using NECC as an outreach piece, so towns don’t need to invent a new program. They are charged a nominal $50 fee to participate, but using the site is effectively free to households. There are between 80 and 100 local energy committees in New Hampshire. About 296 towns are taking the Carbon Challenge in New England, and probably about 200 New Hampshire towns have at least one household taking part, she said.

Because of a RGGI fund grant through the NH Public Utilities Commission, NECC is going to be rolling out new tools over the next couple years or so. One allows households to find reputable vendors and contractors near them for related energy-saving products or work. The UNH Cooperative Extension and New Hampshire Sustainable Energy Association are partnering. Another tool will identify monetary incentives available to households. NECC is also developing a tool that will identify homes around you that use renewable energy systems and are willing to offer tours. Many people want to “take the vendor out of the equation,” and talk with people who actually use photovoltaic, for example, Blaha said. The NHSEA’s October Green Building Open House is successful, but only happens once a year, Blaha said.

• Clean Air-Cool Planet (www.cleanair-coolplanet.org) started out in the Northeast in 2000 and has offices in Portsmouth, but has programs of national and international reach, Bill Burtis said. It advises corporations and communities on energy-efficiency and renewable energy programs. CA-CP recently received RGGI funding to help 48 New Hampshire communities form or augment local energy committees, he said. CA-CP’s other area is contributing to federal policy and legislation through its climate policy center in Washington, D.C., Burtis said.

• Nashua’s Green Team formed in June 2006. Current co-chair Lucy St John said it flourished for a while, working on projects like reducing energy at City Hall. After staff turnover, the group is trying to get back on track, focusing on taking part in the New England Carbon Challenge, she said. The Green Team is an advisory committee appointed by the mayor that includes aldermen, representatives of city departments, businesses and citizens who are interested in green initiatives. They meet on the third Thursdays of the month (www.nashuagreenteam.org).

What it means to build green
How companies improve energy efficiency and more in homes and offices
By Jeff Mucciarone jmucciarone@hippopress.com

There are national green standards. There are LEED standards. There are EnergyStar standards. There are standards on top of standards, but what it really comes down to is constructing more energy-efficient buildings that preserve air quality with less environmental impact.

“Green covers a lot of areas,” said John Ela, CEO of modular home builder Epoch Homes in Pembroke. “It starts with minimizing the use of resources, both in building and operating a home. A very energy-efficient, well-insulated home is a part of green building. Offering faucets and fixtures that minimize wasted water. An element of green is offering a heat recovery system. Proper ventilation providing good air quality.... It covers a lot of areas.”

The National Green Building Certification Program and LEED (Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design), a program of the United States Green Building Council, are point-scoring systems that allow for trade-offs to achieve a green home allowing consumers to quantify the building’s greenness. “People can pick and choose what is important to them,” Ela said.

Rick Bouchard is the chairman of Build Green NH (www.buildgreennh.com), an affiliate program of the National Association of Homebuilders carrying a tag line of “We Dream Green.” As of January, Build Green NH works under national green standards, the only code-approved building and remodeling standards in the country. The program allows builders and remodelers to learn about green building techniques, Bouchard said. Interest among builders is growing; Bouchard said Build Green NH certified more than 30 green professionals in the last year.

“State and city governments are very, very heavily into energy-efficiency,” Bouchard said. There are federal and state programs available to homeowners looking to improve the efficiency of their home. Utility companies are even offering rebates to help customers improve efficiency. Builders will test homes to give owners an idea of where their energy weak points are, Bouchard said.

“Yet the consumer is really not aware of all the stuff,” Bouchard said, adding Build Green NH has received grant money to educate consumers about green building. “The consumer is not aware of all the tremendous amounts of money available.”

There are four levels of green performance for homes through Build Green NH: emerald, gold, silver and bronze. There’s also a third-party verification process to make sure homes are as efficient as builders claim, Bouchard said.

Bouchard said while the economy is challenging for all right now, going green is becoming more cost-effective for people.

Steven Reddy, a green builder with Zetland Homes in Hopkinton, said prices are coming down in the green world.

“We’re able to build a pretty aggressive Energy Star home with several green features for about 5 percent more,” Reddy said. “When we start talking about oil at $2.50 per gallon or even natural gas, that has a pretty quick payback, usually under five years. After that, the money goes in the pocket.”

Zetland Homes got involved in green building in 2007 when it constructed a demonstration green home. Reddy said it was the second home in New Hampshire to be built under LEED. LEED has been around for commercial and industrial projects since about 2000, but LEED for homes is fairly new. Energy Star guidelines are solely concerned with energy efficiency, while LEED encompasses all aspects of building, Reddy said.

Epoch Homes has a different take on building homes — it builds all its homes in house — a process Ela says is inherently greener. Epoch Homes has been building modular homes in a green fashion since before it was even called green. It all began with a housing project in the late 1990s in Cambridge, Mass. Today, the company has built more than 4,000 homes across New England. It recently finished a dormitory project at Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, Mass.

“Since then, we’ve continued to try to push the envelope and try new technologies,” Ela said, adding modular homes have a green advantage since they’re built in a more efficient, controlled factory environment.

Every project Zetland does has a green component. Zetland constructs homes all over New Hampshire. It built a home in Meredith this year that was the second built under the Build Green NH program. Today, indoor air quality is receiving more attention. Green standards have to form a connection between tightening up a home to prevent air leakage and still allowing proper ventilation to prevent mold, Reddy said.

That’s part of how green building has become almost a primer in thinking about homes in terms of a system. In that way, green building is slightly different than traditional building. Green building is a little more difficult as it requires a systems-based approach to construction, Ela said.

“You’re building a system rather than just a box,” Ela said, and that requires training.

Elaine Bello, director of interior design at Berard Martel Architecture in Bedford, said a window itself isn’t going to make a home or building energy-efficient. The building’s efficiency is reliant on the whole package.

Ela said green building has started slow. People weren’t interested in the initial investment green building required. But now, Ela said, people are seeing the social, economic and environmental benefits — and they’re starting to see benefits in resale value.

Reddy is seeing more interest in deep energy retrofits — taking a house right down to the studs and putting in modern insulation. He said it is more expensive but the payback is fairly quick.

The Samuel P. Pardoe Building at the Prescott Farm Environmental Education Center in Laconia offers 2,500 square feet for the Center’s programs and operations. The building opened in 2005 and features a geothermal heating and cooling system, solar-generated electricity and slate floors that store heat during the day and provide heat after the sun has set, said Kimberly Drouin, office and communication manager at Prescott Farm. The building was constructed by local contractors using local products. Drouin said the Center is able to save considerably on energy costs.

Peterborough’s Nubanusit Neighborhood and Farm was recently named one of Natural Home magazine’s top 10 greenest co-housing developments in the country. The 29-home community conserves farm fields, riverfront and woodlands, while each individual home is LEED-certified. The community relies on a wood pellet boiler for heat and builders utilized low-toxicity building materials and implemented fresh-air ventilation systems.

Shelter-Kit (www.shelter-kit.com), a Tilton-based company specializing in kit homes, launched a green home kit that provides a framework for customers to gain points toward the National Green Building Certification Program. The green kit allows customers to customize their homes to their own needs while implementing the green aspects that are important to them.

Making green from green
Businesses are making the environment a key issue
By Jeff Mucciarone jmucciarone@hippopress.com

Green businesses come in all shapes and sizes today. There’s the big, like organic dairy producer Stonyfield Farm. But there are lots of smaller companies that emphasize green products or green practices.

Salons, printing companies, grocers, clothing stores, department stores and even auto salvage yards are finding ways to go green.

 “People want to get away from the harsh chemicals on their skin and hair,” said Julie Johnson, who co-owns Salon Thairapy, 1100 Hooksett Road in Hooksett, with Christine Sheldon. “We feel better as stylists....We use these products every day. We have to breathe these products, so we feel a lot better as well.”

Many salons are making the shift to greener products. Verde in Nashua is an entirely green spa and salon. Salon Thairapy, which opened about a year ago, uses an organic product line from AVEDA, Johnson said. Customers are treated to organic hair and skin care. Salon Thairapy recycles everything it can and sends hair clippings to a company in California to be turned into mats that help soak up oil spills, Johnson said. (Visit www.matteroftrust.org.) Vikki Antonellis, owner of Mango Salon and Spa in Londonderry, also participates in the hair recycling program.

Salon Bogar in Londonderry, which also uses AVEDA products, is working with AVEDA on a bottle cap recycling project. The salon has kick-started an initiative to provide a place for people to recycle bottle caps. Leaving caps on plastic bottles can contaminate a whole batch of recyclables, according to Salon Bogar owners Amy and Alfredo Lamparelli, so the shop has a recycling bin devoted solely to bottle caps.

Johnson said it hasn’t been difficult to get into the green swing at the salon. “Like anything else, once it becomes a habit, it’s just part of your lifestyle,” she said.

Nationally, Johnson has seen more national hair care companies coming out with green products.

 “So they’re kind of getting on the bandwagon as well,” Johnson said. “They realize there’s a want and need for it.”

For Scott Manning, who owns the clothing printing company 603Clothing, 941 Elm St. in downtown Manchester, going green means no chemicals, no plastics and at least 70-percent cotton. The only thing that isn’t green is the electricity, said Nick Theisen of 603Clothing. Manning said he first became involved in the T-shirt printing industry in high school. He interned at a screen printing shop as essentially a cleaner. He said cleaning the screens was the worst end of the business, because the screens became full of chemicals. When he started, people needed to wear full body suits to the clean screens.

Manning, who opened his shop in January, wanted a cleaner, safer company and no screens. With no chemicals, custom-made T-shirts are safer for customers and safer for the workers designing them, he said. And his screen-free method helps him cut costs. Manning said while “going green” wasn’t his original goal, the interest in green practices has caused him to shift the focus of his business to practices that are more environmentally friendly, even down to his business’s footprint. The shop operates in about 300 square feet, which is considerably smaller than typical printing companies that need up to 5,000 square feet.

Little River Oriental Rugs (www.nhrugs.com) at 10 North Main St. in Concord has long featured hand-sheared, hand-spun, hand-carded oriental rugs. The company uses only vegetable dyes, which only about 3 percent of the rugs in the world are made with, said Gerry Carrier, who co-owns the shop with his daughter Tressa Kosowicz.

 “The only machinery is the ship that brought it over here,” Carrier said.

For Carrier, going green creates a uniqueness in each rug. Large pieces can take two or three weavers up to a year to make, including more than four million knots. Vegetable dyes date back hundreds of years. They create a “true traditional rug,” Carrier said, adding that the dyes do not create a consistent coloration, which gives rugs character and individuality. “The subtle variations in color ... [customers] fall in love with them.”

The shop supports Barakat (www.barakatworld.org), a nonprofit organization that supports refugee weavers and works to provide education in South and Central Asia, Carrier said.

Carrier has noticed more people becoming aware and interested in green business.

 “We’ve definitely had a lot of new customers,” Carrier said.

Little River takes rugs to a company in western Massachusetts because it is the closest green cleaning company, Carrier said. Rugs are submerged in a neutral solution that is more environmentally friendly than typical rug-cleaning products.

Marie Kim, who owns the organic dry cleaning company Vitto’s Cleaners at 659 South Mast Road in Manchester, started using a solution called Gen-X about a year ago. The solution, which is fully biodegradable, has been popular in California and New York for years. Kim said she’s noticed her customers are becoming more interested in being green. She doesn’t have to worry about the EPA monitoring her shop since she’s using Gen-X, which she said is more expensive than typical dry cleaning solutions. It also eliminates hassles in disposing of the solution, she said.

“Some customers really love it,” Kim said, adding Gen-X seems to work better at lifting heavy sweat stains from garments. She said it produces a fresher smell as well. And she likes that she’s now working in and around an environmentally friendly product.

New Hampshire also has a program to work with auto salvage yards to make them more environmentally friendly — salvage yards can often leak harmful substances, such as oil, into the ground. The state has 23 certified “green yards.”

Jeff Kantor, who is president of the New Hampshire Auto and Truck Recycling Association, said auto salvage yards in the state recycle more than 50,000 end-of-life vehicles each year, according to an article at www.recyclingtoday.com. Kantor also owns Car Wold (www.carworldused.com) in Candia, where he’s able to recycle about 85 percent of a vehicle. Kantor has implemented a number of environmentally friendly measures at Car World, including collecting and storing car fluids prior to processing, selling batteries for lead content, and cataloging and saving parts — and the shop, which is a state-certified green lawn, uses a furnace that burns waste oil.

Park Avenue Auto Parts in Salem recently obtained the certification. The company has developed a storm water pollution plan and installed an environmental mat that catches any liquids spilled from vehicles.

Separating the ‘many shades of green’
Two experts explain greenwashing

Berard Martel Architecture, Inc., of Bedford, has to keep an eye out for greenwashing when it is choosing products and design techniques to recommend to clients. One of the firm’s partners, Rob Martel, is LEED-certified. Berard Martel worked on the new Sullivan Construction home base in Bedford, which is seeking LEED platinum certification. The Hippo talked with architect Nicolai A. Calabro, AIA, and Elaine Bello, director of interior design, about greenwashing (and a host of other issues in architecture).

Bello started Boston Architectural College’s interior design program and still serves on the faculty after 30 years. BAC offers green design courses and researches experimental procedures, so it’s a great information resource, Bello said. Students there “all seem to be very passionate about green building and green design,” she said. 

Can you give a short definition of greenwashing?
Bello: Greenwashing really is … an offshoot of the intense marketing efforts taking place now for manufacturers to align themselves with the green movement. And there are many different reasons why a salesperson can tell you their product is green or try to use that approach to selling it …. Sometimes it’s true, sometimes a little bit true. There are very many shades of green. The trick is to figure out if what they’re telling you is really accurate and what aspects of greenness are really important to your project ….

Calabro: And to your client.

Bello: Everybody’s trying to do the right thing. I don’t think people are out there to lie. But salesmen are trained to depict their products in the best light. So they may say it’s green, and only one aspect of it’s green and it’s shipped from thousands of miles away but it’s made from bamboo. They may not tell you about the binders or about the adhesives that are used in installation. So our job in dealing with greenwashing is to learn how to ask the right questions.

What are some of the correct questions to ask?
Bello: One thing you can ask for is the materials safety data sheet from the factory. It’s technical and hard to read, but it will include a list of toxic components. And every factory has to prepare one of those.

You can ask questions about where it’s made. How far it’s being shipped. About what compounds are involved in installation. What types of adhesives are required? There are more and more new products being made that don’t require any adhesives because so many of them are toxic to the environment.

Is it made with post-consumer recyclables? What are their recycling programs?

Calabro: What’s the percentages of that recycled content? Is the product what they call a “cradle to cradle” product? ... Basically a product all the way from its conception all the way to its end, and then how it gets recycled. A lot of products are cradle to ... grave, which means it ends up in our ... landfills. Cradle to cradle means it gets reuse. Recycled in some manner. Sometimes all of it. Sometimes a percentage of it. The carpet industry is starting to come around....

It doesn’t mean that the manufacturer’s going to come at the end of its life...you still have to get it back to them somehow.

Bello: We’re finding particularly with recycling claims in the greenwashing world, they’ll tell you it’s recyclable, but it’s very expensive to get someone to take it. Or there’s only one recycler in the region, or there’s none in our region.

Calabro: Or the ability for them to actually recycle it takes a manufacturing process that is just too expensive to make it worth them doing it. We had that one carpet guy who had warehouses full of the stuff, but they couldn’t recycle it because it was too expensive, and the only plant that could do it was backlogged.

Bello: So the practicality of recycling still needs to be addressed.

Do you have any egregious examples or blatant examples of greenwashing?
Bello: ...Fluorescent compact lamps, they have mercury in them. And an awful lot of people didn’t know that. So it’s touted as a product that’s just so good for the environment, but if people are throwing those things into the landfill, we’re putting mercury into the soil. People are onto that now...

Window salespeople. That’s a big one. We’re told all the time these windows ... are going to reduce your energy bills by 20, 30, 40 percent. They can’t possibly say that without knowing what the components around the windows are made of and how they’re insulated.

This brings me to the most important point that I wanted to make, which is that we need to look at things as part of a system.

We need to look at the larger picture. So a window in itself is not going to get you a rating.

Calabro: [Bello] said it better a little earlier, in that basically as architects we assemble a whole bunch of products into a system that keeps the weather out, keeps the heat in. And all these products butt up against each other and transition.

Bello: And they have to be compatible.

Calabro: Right. Their one system of a weather barrier that they’re trying to sell you — by itself, a square foot in the middle of this thing may be perfect, but where it transitions up against the window, that’s where all the leakage is going to occur.

Bello: So the window is only as good as all the other components that abut it ... we’re trained to think about the big picture.

Are there any sort of green certifications that you trust more than others, or any that you don’t trust at all?
Bello: Well, we’re learning to be a little more critical of LEED. This practice of being LEED-certifiable instead of LEED-certified may not be such a bad idea. Although I hate to downgrade LEED because I think it’s educated us all and given us, as Nic says, a roadmap for buildings that performed better than what we had before. [Calabro later pointed out “LEED isn’t the only game.” Dartmouth College has developed its own criteria; people are starting to pick and choose from LEED recommendations.]

But you know, it’s expensive, and I believe that one of the biggest roadblocks to clients allowing us to design more energy-efficient buildings is the expense.

Calabro: Well, we have to prove to them that the expense is worth it.

You can put something down on the floor that’s cheap, right? For a client? Or you can put something down on the floor that’s more expensive but lasts a lot longer, but what’s the value to ... a developer that’s never gonna use the building? If it’s just a one shot, turn-it-over, then they’re probably looking for less expensive products, and let the next person who moves in there worry about the upkeep.

Whereas the end user ... [is] more apt to pick products that are less maintenance in the long run.

We’re there to educate them and give them the full spectrum ... let them make the choice, and we tell them the pros and cons.

A building isn’t just the dream of one person. It’s input of a whole team of people....

So certifications?
Bello: One that I do trust a lot is Green Guard. First of all it’s a third-party certification .... First-party certification involves the manufacturer making a claim of their own. The second-party certification, the manufacturer sets a standard but others verify that products meet those standards....The third-party certification is a nonprofit agency that’s totally unbiased looking at a product through its own eyeglass.

If there’s any kind of government inspection, is that considered third-party then?
Bello: Yes, a nonprofit agency ... one of the problems is that the U.S. government’s [definition] of environmentally preferable products is really loosey goosey. And so we all base a lot ... on this beginning. It says, quote, “products having a lesser or reduced effect on human health and the environment when compared to competing products that serve the same purpose.”

So there’s nothing really quantifiable, or measurable?
Bello: Not at all. But building codes are stepping up to the challenge every day. And even cities like Boston — the mayor’s just announced that everything has to be LEED-certified. So there are some governmental edicts that are coming along.

Places like Harvard University have decided that every building has to use geothermal heating and cooling. This thing is growing all around us every day. And sitting in the middle of it all, our responsibility is to stay up to date on what the certifications mean, and what they don’t mean, and ask all the right questions of the vendors and other systems designers, and then bring this information to our clients so they can make informed choices. With those efforts in place, greenwashing is effectively reduced or at least counteracted.

Do you feel like you have a moving target?
Calabro: Yes.

Bello: I guess so … we want to use bamboo floors because they are a rapidly renewing resource for wood, but they get shipped thousands of miles from Asia. And that’s a huge carbon-producer, the shipment.

Calabro: That’s all part of the LEED process — you have to consider products that are more locally produced, grown, compared to others. They have this 500-mile rule...

Bello: It supports the local economy. It uses materials that are indigenous to us here.

Calabro: So we should be specifying maple or oak trim, rather than mahogany.

Bello: American native hardwoods.

Calabro: Or if we’re going to specify exotic woods, it has to be from...

Bello: F.S.C. [Forest Stewardship Council]

Calabro: Which is very hard to figure out if that’s true or not.

Bello: The claims are written, but sometimes we just don’t have a way to check them.

What about product life-cycle, like cradle to cradle, is that something that people are understanding more now?
Calabro: We just had a lunch-and-learn. [One person] was saying if you said that even five years ago, nobody would know what you’re talking about. Now he says, 50 percent, or something like that.

This whole systems approach ... you can’t just put a product out..., you have to think about its death and how you reintegrate it in.... We have to kind of rethink that whole process, and come up with things that if they are just going to go into the landfill that they should probably decompose more quickly.

Like peanuts, you know for packing. Now they’re all in the ocean in a big cesspool.

Bello: Yep, the size of Texas, off the island of Midway. Under the surface of the water, there’s just a huge cloud of particulate plastics. You can actually see it on a Web site. There are a couple of really good films about it.

Calabro: Why don’t they make it out of puffed rice or something?...You can eat it afterwards.

Bello: Well, now they are making them out of corn starch.

Calabro: So we’ve got our radar out for...anything to do with that. Even a traditional building way ... buildings that are built in Italy and have been around for thousands of years, I mean that’s called sustainable buildings.

Bello: They’re still standing.

Calabro: [laughs] They’re still standing. They behave well, you may have to replace the windows, but ....

Bello: It’s the same with furnishings, too. I mean the throwaway furniture that you see on trash day is just appalling to me. If you buy higher-quality things, for people who can afford to...they last a lot longer, and they’re more easily repurposed later.

...Same with light fixtures and wood trim. If it’s made well, it can be reused more easily without having to go into the waste stream.

Calabro: The way trims are, the way buildings are built, the life-cycles of the users of buildings and products is a lot quicker than what it was 100 years ago. A building may only last for that particular use for five years, maybe 20, 50. So that building is out of date already. So the thing is if you’re going to build buildings like you did thousands of years ago out of stone ... it doesn’t make sense for a modern economy. It makes sense to build out of materials that maybe can be assembled quickly, and then reassembled ....

Bello: It’s the way the Japanese did it for a long time. They built out of wood, because it naturally degenerates and they replace it with another structure of wood. And it’s not a toxic substance when it leaches into the groundwater, and it allowed for a changing aesthetic.

But especially in industries like hospitality and healthcare, they typically renovate their interiors every five years. They need a new look. A few years ago, if I were to walk into one of these clients’ offices and say we’re gonna make this last for 15 years, they’d say “We’re out of here.” So now I think it’s getting easier, because people are more well-educated about the need for sustainability.

Calabro: Well, the whole United States economy has moved from manufacturing into a service-oriented economy anyway. So what is service? You to present a face to your customers that’s fresh, very updated...

Bello: But the answer to that problem is that we can develop design systems that can easily be recolored or resurfaced without having to change the substrate. For instance, office panels can come apart and be reconfigured in a lot of different ways without throwing anything away.

Calabro: And they can be refabriced.

Bello: They can be reconfigured, resurfaced, recolored ... and you’re not throwing the furniture away anymore, and you’re suiting the needs that arise every five years as they change.

Are more clients starting to look for that?
Bello: Maybe not yet.... More clients are getting that crammed down their throat.

It’s our job to sort of show them the way, and as we introduce the ideas they’re not falling on deaf ears anymore because of all the hoopla about green design. They’re a little more receptive, like Sullivan Construction down the street where we just did their offices, and we used cork flooring and bamboo desks.... Adjustably, flexibility, is another big answer to this problem. And multipurpose space planning.

On the greenwashing topic, are there things where you question if there’s a trade-off?
Both: All the time.

Calabro: Well, it’s the difference between something that would give you some LEED points ... there’s consequences to some of these ... sometimes they fall in the face of best practices, standard things that have been known to work, tried and tested over the decades. Sometimes certain LEED aspects may undermine some of that if you’re not careful.

Bello: One of the most common problems is they seal them up so tight and insulate them so heavily that you end up with condensation and liquids and water inside and mold and mildew.

Calabro: You have to pay really a lot of attention to the climate that you are in. The HVAC system.

Bello: We were just reading that the LEED recommendations are based on a very forgiving climate ... so while many of the things they recommend for use are good, they weren’t exactly designed for use in our climate. So if you follow all the recommendations, you can end up producing mold and mildew.

I’ve often wondered about that...
Calabro: Well, the problem with the new envelopes is that they’re becoming so tight that you basically have to introduce a mechanical system for make-up air.

Bello: There’s a balance in there. There’s a nice way to make a house breathe. As Nic points out, there are some tried and true best practices that people have used for a long time. And sometimes they get abandoned because LEED’s in the picture. So again it’s looking at things as a whole system, and balancing out the pros and the cons ….

So climate is something that may not be considered in LEED?
Calabro: No, it’s considered. Let me give you an example. There’s a process during construction, when, as you’re putting all the materials together, it has a certain amount of offgassing of certain products. One of the LEED points is called flushing .... It’s kind of like opening the windows and letting it breathe. But what happens is if you do that and you shut everything, you could have trapped a lot of moisture.

Can you go over why moisture and mold are a bad idea?
Calabro: Well, mold is a very big health problem. ... The problem is you have heat in your building or cooling … so moisture travels in the form of vapor either from in to out, or from out to in, depending on whether it’s cold outside and warm inside — then the moisture wants to go out. If it’s hot outside and cool inside than the moisture wants to come back in, through vapor. And that vapor might get trapped somewhere in your wall if you’re not careful. So you have moisture, the food that they usually eat — the stuff on sheetrock, the paper, they’ll eat that — and because it’s in the building and somewhat warm, it’s gonna grow. So a building has to be able to either somewhat block the moisture from coming in or going out, or be able to vent enough so that the moisture even if it does come, only stays for a while, then dries up.

And there have been buildings that have had to be taken down completely?
Calabro: Oh yeah.

Bello: They call that sick building syndrome.

Calabro: That’s what we’re trying not to do.

Now, if you wanted to talk about best practices, when did the sick building syndrome come into being? I mean we never really talked about this 20 years ago. So we must have been doing something best practice-wise or our buildings must have breathed fine back then that the mold just didn’t grow. So how were those being put together for all those years? And now we’re putting all these new products that we’ve never known, never used ...

Bello: And they’re meant to last for a long time …

Calabro: And they haven’t proven themselves.

Bello: But I’ll tell you how buildings were put together before. It didn’t seem to matter if there were air leaks or gaps in the flashing and the insulation, and you ended up with the need to just pump a lot of heat into a space.

[Bello shows infrared images of heat loss in a wall, and they discuss blower door tests.]

Bello: The key is that it [testing] gives you surprises. We really didn’t have ways of telling before how our buildings leaked, and now we do. So how would we tie all this into green-washing? That someone could say, “Use our insulation and it’s going to save your heating costs,” and you look and the installers forget to put it here, and so it didn’t save on the heating costs...

Calabro: Or it did what it said it’s going to do, but created another problem in its place. And that’s the trade-off.

About greenwashing, is there anything readers should take away?
Calabro: As in anything in America, buyer beware.

Bello: Consider all the factors.

Calabro: We live in a product-consumer-driven society. There’s few people looking at the whole picture.

Bello: But we’re trained to do that. And understand the marketplace. We know how things are working out there. We understand why a vendor would be here saying this is green … and we can take it with that grain of salt that’s required in order to help our clients make good decisions. — Heidi Masek

Green events
Have an upcoming green event? Let us know at listings@hippopress.com. Put the words “green event” in the subject line.

• An International Day of Climate Action is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 24, by 350.org, a group founded to bring international awareness to global climate change. About 10 local events are planned on the day. Vendors, speakers and music are planned at the Statehouse plaza in Concord from 9 to 11 a.m. The Concord Farmers and Arts Markets will be open during the event as well.  The festival is centered on the 350 campaign, which is focused on 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide as the safe upper limit for the atmosphere. Attendees will hear from environmental officials at the event, which is put on by the League of Conservation Voters, 1Sky, Green Concord, Environment New Hampshire, www.350.org and the Concord Energy and Environmental Committee. In Manchester, go to Livingston Park at 3 p.m. to carve pumpkins (BYO pumpkin) with 350-themed designs. The Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Milford will hold an event from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. including a multi-faith service, a parade, a party, lunch, speakers and more. See www.350.org and click on “Day of Action” to find more events.

• The University of New Hampshire at Manchester, 400 Commercial St., will screen selected films from the Pare Lorentz Film Festival that address issues of social justice, societal problems and green themes. Four of the films are by documentary film-maker Pare Lorentz (a filmmaker during the 1930s and 1940s). The schedule includes Burning the Future: Coal in America (2008) on Wednesday, Oct. 28, and Island Out of Time (2001) and Oil on Ice (2004) on Wednesday, Nov. 4, at 7 p.m.

• Epoch Homes, a green modular home company based in Pembroke, is hosting a two-hour seminar for custom designing homes Thursday, Oct. 29, from 7 to 9 p.m. at 107 Sheep Davis Road in Pembroke. The seminar will focus on several topics, including the benefits of modular homes, green building, financing, the building site and specifications and features. Call 225-3907 and ask for Dave or send an e-mail to dave@epochhomes.com.

• The “Greening NH Hospitality” Sustainability Conference Monday, Nov. 2, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at AMC’s Highland Center in Bretton Woods includes sessions on sustainable travel trends, saving energy and money, reducing waste, and more. E-mail mveasey@nhlra.com for details. New Hampshire Sustainable Lodging and Restaurant Program (www.nhslrp.org) members pay $35 for the conference and lunch. Nonmembers pay $40. Stay overnight at the Highland Center (call 466-2727 and mention the conference for a discount) and visit the “Green Aisle” at the New Hampshire Hospitality Expo 2009 Nov. 3 at the Mount Washington Resort (www.nhlra.com, 228-9585).

•  Red River Theatres and Green Concord are teaming up to present a “Green Living Series” of films starting with No Impact Man from Nov. 13 through Nov. 16, in which an environmentalist documents his attempt to have as little impact as possible for a year, while his wife figures out how much she can sacrifice. A screening and panel discussion are Friday, Nov. 13, at 7 p.m., with Jonathan Gregory of Real Green Goods and Josh Trought of D Acres. The series is expected to run monthly at Red River, 11 South Main St. in Concord (224-4600, www.redrivertheatres.org).

• The New Hampshire Sustainable Energy Association will hold its third annual Home Energy Conference Saturday, Nov. 21, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., at Plymouth State University. The conference offers workshops on energy efficiency, renewable energy, energy policy and incentives, and more. Visit www.nhsea.org/hec/ or call 226-4732. It’s useful for anyone interested in the subjects, including homeowners, those in related industries, students and public leaders.

• Concord Green Drinks is usually held the third Tuesday of the month at The Barley House, 132 N. Main St. in Concord, from 6 to 8 p.m. See www.greendrinks.org/index.php?country=USA&city=Concord.

On the bookshelf
The leaves are turning orange and red, but on the shelves of area bookstores, things are getting pretty green. Here are some of the books with green themes that have hit the stores in the last few months and some to look for in the coming months.

September
• Green Metropolis: Why Living Smaller, Living Closer, and Driving Less are the Keys to Sustainability, by David Owen (hardcover, $17.13, Riverhead, 368 pages, Sept. 17) New Yorker staff writer argues that Manhattan is the greenest place in America.

• The Sacred Universe: Earth, Spirituality, and Religion in the Twenty-first Century, by Thomas Berry (hardcover, $15.61, Columbia University Press, 200 pages, Sept. 28) A collection of essays from 1971 to 2001 addressing what the world’s religions have to say about the environment.

• The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems, by Van Jones (paperback, $10.11, HarperOne, 272 pages, Sept. 29) The president of Green For All describes how green investment can save the planet and the economy.

October
• Power Trip: From Oil Wells to Solar Cells—Our Ride to the Renewable Future, by Amanda Little (hardcover, $17.15, Harper, 464 pages, Oct. 13) Longtime energy reporter visits cornfields, oil rigs, the Pentagon, Talladega and other power-producing and power-using places across the U.S., looking for the most promising clean-energy ideas.

• Whole Earth Discipline: An Ecopragmatist Manifesto, by Stewart Brand (hardcover, $17.13, Viking Adult, 336 pages, Oct. 15) Lifelong environmentalist argues that the keys to sustainable society are urbanization, nuclear power and genetic engineering.

• Who Turned Out the Lights? Your Guided Tour to the Energy Crisis, by Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson (paperback, $11.55, Harper Paperbacks, 368 pages, Oct. 27) The editors of PublicAgenda.org use pop culture to explain the basic concepts and the pros and cons of various proposals for reforming our energy usage.

• The Living Planet: A Collection of Writing on the Environment, by Mary Green (paperback, $9.60, Cambridge University Press, 240 pages, Oct. 31) Fiction, non-fiction, short stories, poetry. An entry in the Cambridge Collections anthology series.

November
• Science as a Contact Sport: Inside the Battle to Save Earth’s Climate, by Stephen H. Schneider (hardcover, $18.48, National Geographic, 304 pages, Nov. 3) “Genius Grant” winner and co-winner of Nobel Prize (with Al Gore) examines why we have twiddled our thumbs for 40 years despite knowing global warming posed a threat.

• Practically Green: Your Guide to Ecofriendly Decision-Making, by Micaela Preston ($10.11, Betterway Home, 224 pages, Nov. 3) Minneapolis author of Mindful Momma blog offers tips on DIY projects for greening your domestic arts.

• Building an Emerald City: A Guide to Creating Green Building Policies and Programs, by Lucia Athens (paperback, $30, Island Press, Nov. 10) The story of how Seattle went green and how others can too.

• The Big Book of Green Design, by Suzanna Stephens & Anthony B. Stephens (hardcover, $31.49, Collins Design, 384 pages, Nov. 17) Showing graphic designers how to create a greener image for their clients.

• Hot Flat, and Crowded 2.0: Why We Need a Green Revolution—and How it Can Renew America, by Thomas L. Friedman (paperback, $10.88, Picador, 528 pages, Nov. 24) New paperback version of the New York Times columnist’s bestseller.

• Green Town USA: The Official Story of Greensburg, Kansas, and the Lessons Learned for a Sustainable America, by Daniel Wallach (hardcover, $12.82, Hatherleigh Press, Nov. 24) A companion book to the 13-part Discovery Network television series offers advice for greening your community

December
• Climate Change in Africa, by Camille Toulmin (paperback, $23.95, Zed Books, 160 pages, Dec. 8)

• Storms of My Grandchildren: The Uncensored Scientific Truth about the Coming Climate Catastrophe and Our Last Chance to Save Humanity, by James Hansen (hardcover, $16.50, Bloomsbury USA, 320 pages, Dec. 8)

• Rewilding the World: Dispatches from the Conservation Revolution, by Caroline Fraser (hardcover, $18.15, Metropolitan Books, 416 pages, Dec. 22)

• Green Architecture for the Future, by Poul Erik Tojner et al. (hardcover, $26.40, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 144 pages, Dec. 31)

• How to Design and Build a Green Office Building: A Complete Guide to Making Your New or Existing Building Environmentally Healthy, by Atlantic Publishing Group (paperback, $16.47, 288 pages, December 2009)

2010
• Climb the Green Ladder: Make Your Company and Career More Sustainable, by Amy V. Fetzer and Shari Aaron (hardcover, $18.45, Wiley, 288 pages, Jan. 19)

Greenwashing defined
TerraChoice Environmental Marketing developed a list of the Sins of Greenwashing — the six they named originally were expanded to seven in their “Greenwashing Report 2009,” which you can download in full at sinsofgreenwashing.org. The seven sins, however, are reprinted here: 

Sin of the Hidden Trade-off: A claim suggesting that a product is “green” based on a narrow set of attributes without attention to other important environmental issues. Paper, for example, is not necessarily environmentally-preferable just because it comes from a sustainably-harvested forest. Other important environmental issues in the paper-making process, such as greenhouse gas emissions, or chlorine use in bleaching may be equally important.

Sin of No Proof: An environmental claim that cannot be substantiated by easily accessible supporting information or by a reliable third-party certification. Common examples are facial tissues or toilet tissue products that claim various percentages of post-consumer recycled content without providing evidence.

Sin of Vagueness: A claim that is so poorly defined or broad that its real meaning is likely to be misunderstood by the consumer. ‘All-natural’ is an example. Arsenic, uranium, mercury, and formaldehyde are all naturally occurring, and poisonous. ‘All natural’ isn’t necessarily ‘green.’

Sin of Worshiping False Labels: A product that, through either words or images, gives the impression of third-party endorsement where no such endorsement exists; fake labels, in other words.

Sin of Irrelevance: An environmental claim that may be truthful but is unimportant or unhelpful for consumers seeking environmentally preferable products. ‘CFC-free’ is a common example, since it is a frequent claim despite the fact that CFCs are banned by law.

Sin of Lesser of Two Evils: A claim that may be true within the product category, but that risks distracting the consumer from the greater environmental impacts of the category as a whole. Organic cigarettes could be an example of this Sin, as might the fuel-efficient sport-utility vehicle.

Sin of Fibbing: Environmental claims that are simply false. The most common examples were products falsely claiming to be Energy Star certified or registered.

Climate report cards
Climate Counts is a brainchild of Gary Hirshberg, CE-Yo of Stonyfield Farm in Londonderry, Wood Turner said. Turner is the executive director of Manchester-based nonprofit Climate Counts, which now scores 153 companies in 56 sectors and 22 categories annually, using publicly available information. Consumers can look up the scores at www.climatecounts.org, which launched in 2007.

Key areas assessed are whether a company is measuring its climate impact, setting and achieving goals to reduce its impact, engaging in public policy and being open and transparent about its climate actions. Climate Counts will update scores for 93 companies before Thanksgiving, in time for holiday shopping, Turner said.

Climate Counts’ “choices and voices campaign” lets consumers use www.climatecounts.org to send e-mails to companies or “tweet” about scores, he said. 

Scoring is labor-intensive, so Climate Counts has limited itself to companies well-known to consumers. It is also starting a Climate Counts Industry Innovators program to give companies that aren’t scored a way to opt in. Another new project is an iPhone application that lets consumers check scores while they are out shopping.

“The heart of the matter ... is getting consumers to really vote with their dollars,” Turner said. Consumers can have an impact by supporting companies that align with their values. “If they are concerned about climate change, then they should be aligned with companies concerned about climate change,” Turner said. The concept is supposed to be “more carrot than stick” for businesses, he said.