Architect Magazine: Green-product databases can be a boon when you’re working on a sustainable design project, but not all are created equal. Some are incomplete or lack rigor while others may be outdated or defunct. Determining what’s useful is not always easy. To get you started, here are nine resources that are still going strong.
2 comments:
This a a great article, and it point’s out a number of resources for architects and end users, but the reality of the situation is that unless a project is supposed to be green from the start, nobody is going to use these products. They are more expensive, hard to source, unfamiliar to use, and unfortunately, generally inferior.
The one good thing about the scenic fabrication industry is that we are more-or-less used to using strange, new, and different materials. If a green material solves a problem for us, we would definitely use it. It just has to solve a problem in a cost effective and visual acceptable way.
People won't adopt greener products until it makes sense financially.
This is a really great resource list. I hadn’t know there was so much information published about products to assist in making environmental-conscious and sustainable choices when deciding on a material to use. I think making this information accessible is extremely important. On top of that, the information needs to be clear and easy to follow, and the information also needs to be practical. Sure, you could construct something out of entirely post-consumer recycled materials, but that might be really expensive or not allow you to achieve your original goals. I think some of the most important, and potentially most helpful information is that on chemicals, disposable products, and expendables, since they end up in the waste-stream so quickly and can have serious effects on the environment.
The entertainment industry as a whole is very wasteful. Theatre especially produces a lot of waste. Yes, we are finding ways to be more environmentally conscious, but there is still a ton that can be done. I’m very interested in the idea of a sort of “Green OSHA” which provides guidelines and best-practices for theatres. Many times, people just don’t know that there are better ways of doing something, or they don’t know how wasteful or potentially harmful they are being. Oftentimes, being green can even save you money! (Which is tight in this industry!). As this article presents, a lot of information is out there. We need to start pulling the relevant info together so that we can be more informed and conscious in our theatre-making.
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