Leukemia and other cancers of the lymph nodes, blood, bone marrow and spleen… neurotoxicity, reproductive toxicity, developmental toxicity and immunotoxicity… respiratory tract pathology, asthma, and increased allergic sensitization.  A major EPA review of the science on formaldehyde, released in draft form this week,* affirms that the science is conclusive that formaldehyde is linked to all of these health effects in humans. This report further legitimizes longstanding concerns about formaldehyde within the building industry.

The good news is that it is getting easier to avoid formaldehyde in products such as composite wood and batt insulation.  Manufacturers are responding to the growing awareness that formaldehyde-based binders can ...

 Foam board insulation presents one of the tougher challenges for green building. With excellent performance characteristics and high R values - from 4 to 5 per inch or beyond – foam boards have been very popular for insulating foundations, walls and roofs in high performance designs. As we’ve reviewed the chemistry of these foams for the Pharos Project, however, we’ve learned that the chemistry that goes into making the most popular foams - polyisocyanate, such as Thermax, expanded polystyrene (EPS) such as Falcon Foam and extruded polystyrene (XPS) such as Styrofoam – is highly problematic for human...

“Imagine a future where what we build is another part of nature,” neatly sums up the regenerative aspirations of many at the Living Future UnConference last week in Seattle. This annual gathering of building professionals exploring the Living Building Challenge ranged widely over the leading edge of green building design, technologies and activism.

Citing the tremendous purchasing power now wielded by the green building movement, Cascadia ED, Jason McLennan, opened the conference with a strong challenge to the audience to be bold and flex that power for transformation in the industry by taking a united step together on all projects, not just their Living Building Challenge projects. As a first step he called on all firms to just say ‘no’ to specifying PVC backing in carpet anywhere.

The Pharos Project was there joining session topics ranging from water treatment using biomimicry to the role of green building in ending homelessness. Robin Guenther, a principal at...

Have you taken the Living Building Challenge (LBC)?

Launched by our partners at the Cascadia Region Green Building Council, LBC is a set of design criteria for high performance buildings – kind of a LEED Plus – that takes buildings a further step toward truly sustainable design. It shares with the Pharos Project a concern about the toxic properties of the chemicals currently used to make many of our building materials and addresses it in a Red List of chemicals that must be excluded from LBC buildings.

For this reason, Pharos has added the LBC Red List to its suite of filtering options – making life easier for designers and contractors who’ve taken the Living Building Challenge to exclude products containing red-listed chemicals, as well as for anyone trying to eliminate some of the worst carcinogens and endocrine-disrupting chemicals from their buildings.

This month, we are rolling out seven new filters. Two of the filters represent action lists from the...

There is good news from the VOC standard-setting world addressing a big toxic problem in homes. And, the Pharos team has just rolled out new tools to help you take advantage of this development to make all of your buildings healthier.

The problem: VOCs - the volatile organic compounds that offgas from paints, new carpets, wallboard, insulation and many other products - are responsible for a variety of health problems, ranging from asthma to cancer. Readers of HBN News may recall that during our research into formaldehyde insulation binders a couple of years ago, we identified problems with the way VOC standards were being applied in homes. The 01350 Specification standard, which guides the leading VOC certification programs (including CHPS, FloorScore, Indoor Advantage Gold, GreenLabel Plus, Greenguard Children and Schools, and others), determines if any...