The Green Guide to Specification: An Environmental Profiling System for Building Materials and Components (BRE Report, #351)

by Jane Anderson, David Shiers, and Mike Sinclair

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Book cover for The Green Guide to Specification

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How can you tell if the materials and components you are specifying have a low environmental impact? A full life-cycle assessment is a complex, time-consuming and expensive process; the environmental ratings summarised in this Guide provide a quick and easy way for designers and specifiers to assess their options.


The relative environmental performance of over 250 materials and components have been assessed in this guide, using carefully researched, quantitative data derived from the BRE Environmental Database. A wide range of alternative specifications are provided for:


* walls
* floor systems
* floor finishes
* roofs
* windows
* doors
* ceilings
* paints
* insulation
* landscaping.

The performance of each specification is measured against a range of environmental impacts including:

* climate change
* toxicity
* fossil fuel and ozone depletion
* levels of emissions and pollutants
* mineral and water extraction.

Environmental performance is indicated by a simple to use A-B-C rating system. To further aid specifiers, guidance on capital coasts, typical replacement intervals and information on recycling is also provided for each material and component.

An important part of BREEAM, the BRE's widely accepted scheme to improve the environmental performance of buildings, The Green Guide to Specification is an essential tool for architects, surveyors, building managers and property owners seeking to reduce the environmental impacts of building materials through informed choice.

  • ISBN10 0632059613
  • ISBN13 9780632059614
  • Publish Date 8 January 2002 (first published 1 January 1998)
  • Publish Status Out of Print
  • Out of Print 15 June 2021
  • Publish Country GB
  • Publisher John Wiley and Sons Ltd
  • Imprint Blackwell Science Ltd
  • Edition 3rd Edition
  • Format Hardcover
  • Pages 112
  • Language English