All of us are experiencing a shift in building products where manufactures want to make sure to say that their products are “Green”. What do they mean by “being green”? Are they telling us the truth about their products? Some of them are environmental friendly products, but others are just trying to “Green wash” or fool you.

    Certifications are a good strategy to help you identify environmental friendly products, but you have to be very cautious with them as well. Today there are more than 400 environmental labels, and most of them are meaningless. Unfortunately the meaningless labels are affecting the validity of the credible ones. To help you go about certifications you have to truly understand and research them. Ask questions like:
•    Where does this certification come from?
•    How it came about?
•    Are they accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)?
•    Is it a third- party certification? Third-party certification is the most rigorous type when compared to first or second-party. Third- party has no financial interest or other bias in certifying a product.    

    I found a really good chart about Product Certifications on “Green Source Magazine”. It is a good starting point for you to start understanding this “complex world of product certifications”, but do not forget to research and be critical about them.
(http://greensource.construction.com/features/other/2009/03_Green-Certifications.asp)