[Greenbuilding] Big Green: Fw: Green Seal and "Green" Paint (and stains)

[David Bergman]

At 02:08 PM 5/29/2008, Andrew Pace, CSI wrote:
>That mentality is akin to believing that Œfat-free¹
>potato chips in any quantity are healthy for us as well.
>
>
>Andrew Pace
>http://www.degreeofgreen.com


Darn, you mean that's not true??

Seriously though, what should our gauges and 
standards be for choosing paints and finishes? 
How can we make educated comparisons without 
having chemistry degrees or spending tons of research time.

I do spend a lot of time researching (time for 
which clients do not usually pay me...), but 
can't know enough or keep up. So I sometimes have 
to rely on oversimplified claims such as non-VOC. 
What are our options? We need "nutrition labels" 
or third party comparative reviews or something 
to that effect. Does that exist anywhere?

I've spent this week (somewhat enjoyably) testing 
low flow shower heads because I couldn't find any 
good objective reviews of them. But I can't do the same for paints.

David
DAVID BERGMAN ARCHITECT / FIRE & WATER LIGHTING + FURNITURE
architecture . interiors . ecodesign . lighting . furniture
bergman at cyberg.com    www.cyberg.com
241 Eldridge Street #3R, New York, NY 10002
t 212 475 3106    f 212 677 7291