Information transparency

GreenFiber offers seven varieties of cellulose insulation, all of them containing 85% recycled paper fiber (55% post-consumer and 30% pre-consumer). The various products are designed for specific applications, including spray, blow-in, and loose-fill insulation for attics, new-construction walls, and wall retrofits. Four are low-dust formulas and three are treated only with borate.

Venstar's ColorTouch thermostats double as high-resolution digital picture frames while still providing advanced controls and monitoring for home HVAC systems. These thermostats can hold photos for use as a slideshow, background, or wallpaper while providing wireless control and monitoring of the system and access to run times and energy use data. ColorTouch can be accessed via WiFi to alert occupants if there is a problem with the equipment or if the temperature has exceeded preset limits. A number of frame options are available.

Cold Spring Granite, an industry leader in sustainability, offers dimension stone in granite sandstone, limestone, and marble. The company owns a variety of stone quarries and processing facilities across the U.S. and has worked to make its practices more sustainable by recycling all of its industrial water, quarrying stone on demand, using diamond saws instead of explosives to minimize waste, and updating to more energy-efficient equipment. The company also participates in Declare.

The German company SIKA offers a small point-of-use water meter that can be attached directly to a shower, urinal, or other fixtures to track and display water usage data. The information can then be downloaded via optical sensor or sent wirelessly and accessed remotely via any Internet-connected device. Often used in multi-tenant buildings, offices, and hotels, these water meters can be used in hot or cold water and can be attached to pressure flushers. They are available in white or clear and in a “split” version, where the mechanism and display are separate for easier installation and viewing. A 10-year lithium ion battery is standard.

Agepan, manufactured in Germany by Glunz AG and imported in North America by several Passive House building product dealers, is a line of vapor-permeable wood fiber products. Agepan THD, an insulation appropriate for both interior and external applications, contains no added formaldehyde, though it is bonded with PMDI, an isocyanate. Agepan THD has an R-value of R-3 per inch. It is available in a variety of sizes and thicknesses, as well as in either square edge or tongue and groove styles. Other products include floor and roof panels, OSB, and cellulose insulation. An EPD was conducted for Agepan in accordance with ISO 14025 and is available for review via the German Institute of Construction and Environment here (PDF).

Kingspan's interlocking roof panels consist of a polyisocyanurate core between steel skins available in different lengths and thicknesses. Intended for slopes as low as 1/4:12, Kingspan insulated weathertight panels work in cooling, heating, and mixed climates. Kingzip standing seam panels are faced with pre-painted Galvalume or Zincalume steel and mechanically seamed with the KingZip Power Seamer. These 42"-wide panels have R-values of 15 for the 2" panel and 48 for the 6". Kingspan 900 High Rib Roof Panels are faced with galvanized, pre-painted steel, installed with overlapping ribs, butyl tape, and sealant and through-fastened with screws. The 40" panels achieve from R-15 (2") to R-49 (6").

Kingspan has a UL-certified Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) for its panels, available for download on their Path to Net Zero website.

Eaton's Power Xpert meters monitor energy consumption, circuit loading, and power quality in high-density applications such as factories, office buildings, and universities. Data is stored on the embedded server for analysis via web browser or the meter's LCD display. The three Power Xpert systems (4000, 6000, and 8000) vary in the level of power-quality monitoring offered, from the 4000's basic capabilities to the 8000's 6-MHz sampling to detect very brief transient events.

The Smart Circuit allows sub-metering, remote monitoring, and automatic reduction of energy consumption. Its embedded server allows wireless access to real-time usage data in table or graph format. The Smart Circuit is designed for permanent hard-wired applications such as electric water heaters, HVAC systems, or outlet circuits with loads drawing power when not in use.

Triacta's PowerHawk meters are available in multiple models for various applications. The PowerHawk 4000 Series monitors remote loads, multi-tenant buildings, and other applications that need to integrate with building automation systems. The PowerHawk 6000 Series provides similar submetering features, but its sealed meters include circuit covers to prevent tampering. PowerHawk Manager monitors multiple metered resources, including electricity, water, gas, and derivatives such as greenhouse gases.

EcoDog’s Fido Energy Watchdog monitors real-time home energy use from room to room. The Fido software factors in current pricing from the utility and calculates personalized recommendations for reducing spending. Fido can also monitor energy input from solar installations, tracking kWh produced and utility dollars saved.

The PowerDash Web-based energy monitoring platform accepts data from devices that produce or consume energy, including solar and wind systems, from the scale of single-family home to commercial-scale solar energy installations. The PowerDash data logger collects and transmits data wirelessly to the company's servers, where it can be accessed remotely and analyzed for usage patterns, changes, and system comparisons.

EnergyHub offers energy management tools for homeowners, service providers, and utilities. Its basic device, the Home Base, provides an in-home display of energy use both from the home's electric meter and from EnergyHub's own sockets, which monitor individual appliances. Through the MyHub online feature and mobile app, these devices may be remotely switched on and off and the home's energy configuration can be set to modes including "At Home," "Goodnight," and "Away."

Masa drawer and cabinet pulls from are cast from 100% post-consumer recycled aluminum by Eleek, a Portland, Oregon based company that, as a Certified B Corporation, aims to meet certain standards of social and environmental performance. Eleek sources scrap aluminum from Portland’s ReBuilding Center, a building materials reuse center located less than a mile from Eleek’s shop. It melts the aluminum scrap directly into products, in contrast with conventional recycling, in which scrap is melted into billets (usually after being shipped to China) before being remelted into products. All of Eleek's manufacturing is in Portland, with 80% of its supplies and materials coming from within 50 miles of its facility. While GreenSpec normally encourages recycled content in products, we do not normally give weight to recycled aluminum due to its high embodied energy and research showing that use of recycled aluminum does not reduce overall demand for virgin aluminum. Eleek’s manufacturing process, bolstered by its overall approach to sustainability, makes its products an exception to this rule.

Eleek's interior and exterior luminaires are cast from 100% post-consumer recycled aluminum. Eleek, based in Portland, Oregon, sources scrap aluminum from the ReBuilding Center, a building materials reuse center located less than a mile from Eleek’s shop. It melts the aluminum scrap directly into products, in contrast with conventional recycling, in which scrap is melted into pellet (usually after being shipped to China) before being remelted into products. All of Eleek's manufacturing is in Portland, with 80% of its supplies and materials coming from within 50 miles of its facility. While GreenSpec normally encourages recycled content in products, we do not normally give weight to recycled aluminum due to its high embodied energy and research showing that use of recycled aluminum does not reduce overall demand for virgin aluminum. Eleek’s manufacturing process, bolstered by its overall approach to sustainability—as a Certified B Corporation the company aims to meet certain standards of social and environmental performance—makes its products an exception to this rule. GreenSpec's listing of these luminaires is based on their reduced embodied energy; select energy-efficient lamps for best performance, and design interior and exterior lighting to avoid light pollution.

Solar Gard offers an applied window film that blocks solar gain and heat loss while maintaining high optical clarity. Solar Gard is one of the applied window films listed by GreenSpec that have achieved an NFRC rating, which provides third-party, standardized reporting of U-factor, visual transmittance (VT) and solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC). NFRC lists performance data of Solar Gard and other window films on its website. For additional information on a variety of interior and exterior window treatment options, see GreenSpec's partner site WindowAttachments.org. Solar Gard also has an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) detailing the material content and environmental impacts of its films.