The Pharos Project is a project of the Healthy Building Network. HBN is:

In Vermont:
Melissa Coffin, Bill Walsh

In California:
Tom Lent

In Washington, DC:
Larry Kilroy, Sarah Gilberg, Sarah Pickell, Susan Sabella

In Maine:
Jim Vallette

VIEWS FROM THE INTERN DESK

 

Greetings from the HBN Pharos interns, Kelsey Poole and Sarah Lott. For the past eight weeks we have been working with HBN staff to expand the Pharos database. Kelsey recently graduated from American University with a BA in Environmental Studies. Sarah is a junior at James Madison University pursuing a degree in Biotechnology. As our internship draws to a close, the HBN staff has invited us to share our thoughts on the Pharos Project and our experience working on it.

 

Our work with Pharos has primarily been researching and entering new products into the database. We helped open categories for insulations, ceiling tiles and wood flooring. We also conducted foundational research for these and other upcoming categories. Our other project was finding contact information for the companies in the database so that HBN can request further information and invite the manufacturer’s participation. We certainly know a lot more about building products now than when we started!

While we accomplished a lot, most of our time was spent trying to overcome the many challenges facing Pharos. Transparency is a point that has been discussed many times in this blog, and we can attest that transparency is a key issue for the health and sustainability of the buildings we live in. There were many times when researching a product that we found little information or literature available from the manufacturer. Too often we found that the MSDS had no material content information, due to exemptions in the EPA Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Chemical Substance Inventory. This makes it extremely difficult for anyone to effectively judge how safe and sustainable the product really is.

This is the problem that the people at HBN deal with every day and are constantly working to alleviate. By collaborating with manufacturers to disclose more information, Pharos helps consumers make better decisions about what goes into their buildings. The Pharos Project is not so much about the products it scores, but more about making information available about the materials with which we build. There is no guarantee that manufacturers will improve their practices and make safer building materials just because Pharos gives them a bad score—but they certainly won’t change if no one makes such an effort.

We’ve seen the database expand tremendously in the past weeks. Even though we’re leaving, Pharos will continue to grow. After working with the energetic staff of HBN, we believe this project can have a huge impact on green building and are excited to see where Pharos will go in the future.

Kelsey Poole and Sarah Lott are 2010 summer research interns for the Pharos Project.

Comments

There are 4 comments.

  
Carpets? What for? Any cat will tell you that you need cushy feet, not cushy floors. Even rugs are dirt magnets and cause work. (;

  
Here is a certification that I find most interesting. This certification does a complete life cycle assestment of a product. http://www.sustainableproducts.com/mts/smartstandards.html

  
Why doesn't anyone talk about the SMaRT ratings system? This is a ratings system supported by LEED with it's own credits and category based on published LCA's and scored in many categories from VOC's to child labor. Anyone that googles Institute for Market Transformation to Sustainablity can look at the SMaRT ratings system and understand that it is by far superior to anything else out there.

  
Terrific post. Keep up the great work for the environmental health and sustainable economies movement, Kelsey and Sarh. You are important and you are needed.

Add a comment:

Name:

Comment: