The USGBC, in conjunction with The Home Depot, has launched an online products database at www.leed.homedepot.com that features products geared toward residential green building and that may contribute to points and prerequisites for the LEED for Homes program.
A Product Finder feature on the site will point users to LEED-compliant products in a range of categories. The new program will help to simplify the process of building high-performance, healthy homes, says Lindsay Chason, senior manager of environmental innovation at The Home Depot. Currently, more than 2,500 products sold at The Home Depot are listed on the website.
“We want to show our customers that building green can be easy and affordable,” she says.
LEED measures home performance across a range of categories, and products play an important role in achieving certification, says Nate Kredich, vice president of residential development at the USGBC.
“Consumers and builders alike are increasingly asking questions about LEED-compliant products and we wanted to create a database that communicated the benefits of these products,” he says. “Project teams have lamented for years about how difficult it is to find the right building products; this will make it easy.”
The program does not attach LEED certification to products, Kredich says. Rather, it demonstrates how products can contribute to LEED goals. Customers also are advised that proper installation is a key component to achieving certification.
As new products arrive in The Home Depot stores, they will be screened to determine eligibility for the database, Kredich added. He predicts that the program will catch on with environmentally savvy consumers as well as contractors, architects, and remodelers. “We see a future possibility directing consumers to make better decisions on product selection, whether for a LEED home for just greening their existing home,” he says.
Jennifer Goodman is Senior Editor for EcoHome.
