Eurofins Product Testing - Sustainable or "Green" Buildings
"Green Buildings" is a growing movement in a number of countries, namely in the USA, but other countries are experiencing similar developments towards sustainable buildings.
Building Green means that energy consumption, use of resources, impact on environment and on human health are considered and optimised during planning, construction, use and demolition - throughout the whole lifecycle of the building. This is also called sustainable building.
More and more public buildings and large office buildings are built green, but also some residential complexes, schools and hospitals are following the movement of sustainability. Motivation is either to raise quality and the sustainability of a building in general and to support environmental protection, or to contribute to Corporate Social Responsibility, or to facilitate marketing of the building with green performance.
There are no uniform criteria for what is considered to be "Green" or sustainable. The best known approach is LEED by US Green building council, other criteria have been or are about to be published by Green Building Council Hongkong, German DGNB ("Nachhaltiges Bauen"), UK BREEAM, French HQE, Green Building Council of Australia's (GBCA) , and more. International initiatives can be monitored on websites of the International Initiative for a Sustainable Built Environment (IISBE), World Green Building Council, and in Wikipedia.
Typically each rating system will have a list of criteria, and in the end there is either a judgement "in compliance" or "no compliance", or there are several performance levels such as "silver", "gold", and "platinum", depending on the degree of compliance with the rating system.
Eurofins supports architects, planners and suppliers of construction products to achieve compliance. Depending on the relevant country, we do this either with our own experts or we shall direct you to experienced specialists outside Eurofins.
As regards selection of constructions products and interior finishing, the Eurofins Indoor Air Comfort product certification and similar rating systems may be helpful. Eurofins now partners with SCS (California) on VOC emission testing.
For further information, and for the support issued in your country, please contact our national organisations or our specialists for using Eurofins expertise that may help to establish sustainable and green buildings.