By Liz Switzer
Today’s built environment is awash with green claims, or greenwashing, as the practice of whitewashing ecological truths about products has come to be called. But no matter what the product back story, in the absence of uniform standards most designers have developed their own green criteria.

From energy reduction to the vetting of products, designers today expect suppliers to deliver on green claims. A few of the nation’s top green designers share their definitions of greenwashing here — and how to avoid it.

MELISSA MIZELL is a senior designer at San Francisco-based Gensler, the executive architect firm of CityCenter in Las Vegas, the world’s largest LEED development. Gensler has been at the forefront of sustainable design for years with more than 900 LEED accredited professionals now on staff. In 2005 it received the Leadership Award for Organization Excellence from the U.S. Green Building Council for its commitment to the advancement of sustainable design.

“Greenwashing involves exaggerated or misleading claims of greenness or eco-friendliness,” Mizell said. “Sometimes it’s very intentional and sometimes it’s just naïveté on the part of the person making the claim. Manufacturers are eager to market something, and there is pressure on everyone to be green now.”

The most prevalent form of greenwashing in the market today is misleading statements around LEED credits, when products claim to have an impact on LEED credits but really don’t, according to Mizell. “That happens because manufacturers get requests from designers to help them understand how products can help in the goal to be certified. They try to help but they mislead us in the process,” she said.

For that reason, Mizell doesn’t pay much attention to brochures or magazine ads. “That’s just marketing,” she said. “I go to the web site for more information and usually talk directly with the manufacturer’s rep about the specifics.”

Reps need to be educated about sustainability but most major companies now seem to have a handle on that process, Mizell said. “There has been tremendous improvement in the past few years. It’s like we are all growing and learning about what is important together. When the whole sustainability thing first started everybody focused on recycled content. Then it became about what happens to a product at the end of its life, about transportation impacts and the toxicity. It all became more complicated. I ask for proof of the certification or standards to back up a claim. We like to know what they looked at to measure the product.”

Beyond proof, Gensler requires transparency from its vendors. To that end, European suppliers have what is called a product declaration form that explains details such as raw material sourcing, manufacturing processes, transportation and end of life. Mizell said U.S. suppliers could supply a similar documentation that would go a long way toward not only answering her long laundry list of sustainable product questions, but providing transparency up front and inspiring trust rather than skepticism.

DAN HEINFELD is president of LPA, the California-based design firm with the highest percentage of LEED accredited professionals in the nation with 78% of its staff having achieved the certification. Since 1986, Heinfield has lead the design direction of the firm, resulting in more than 135 design awards from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) on national, state and local platforms. More than 80% of LPA’s work has received a design award of some kind during Heinfeld’s tenure. As a result of his leadership, LPA has completed 10 LEED certified projects, more than any firm in the state of California, with more than 30 additional buildings in the design or construction phase.

For Heinfeld, greenwashing comes in the form of projects that find ways to talk about sustainability but don’t really have reductions in energy and don’t look at materials in a smart way. “There is a lot of talk about a project’s sustainability that does not take into account its real energy performance, or it barely meets code and may be only 10% better or something like that,” he said.

Such claims miss the point of sustainability entirely in Heinfield’s view. “Sustainability is more than a scorecard. It’s understanding the integration between mechanical systems and structures and finding ways that buildings do three things better than they are doing now: energy use, material use and doing more with less. We look at those things on every project we do.”

While products are a very small increment of what Heinfield personally looks at on a project, LPA is paying close attention and its vendors are held accountable for all claims they make. “If they are not up front and truthful, I’ll remember that next time,” Heinfeld said. “There is general acknowledgement in the marketplace that if you can’t tell a sustainable story, you are going to have a real hard time selling a product. That’s a real danger in our industry right now, and I’m concerned we are focusing too much on the scorecard.”

SONJA BOCHART is a senior designer in the Phoenix office of SmithGroup, the oldest continuously practicing architecture and engineering firm in the U.S., and 15th largest architectural firm in the world. The firm also ranks among the nation’s most sustainable companies, according to Engineering News Record magazine.

“SmithGroup takes a holistic approach toward sustainability, and many manufacturers’ reps don’t understand that,” Bochart said. “Greenwashing happens both intentionally and unintentionally when a manufacturer makes claims that can’t be substantiated or reps don’t understand the holistic approach we take because of a lack of education on their part.”

Among the offenders are some vinyl companies, according to Bochart. “A floor that is 90% virgin vinyl and comes from overseas with less than 10% post-consumer recycled content is not green,” she said. Generic green claims also send up a red flag for Bochart. “Somebody who just claims to be sustainable and offers nothing more tells me I need to dig deeper. I need to find out how it is made, what it is made with and what happens at the end of the product life,” she said.

In dealing with larger manufacturers, greenwashing tends to be less a problem than it does with smaller firms, she added. But whatever the size of the supplier, sustainable certifications schemes have become a necessity and it is crucial to have credible backing, such as third party verification offered with labels such as Energy Star, Greenstar and the Forest Stewardship Council, in Bochart’s view.

DEBORAH FULLER is a senior designer in the Dallas office of HOK, voted the No. 1 green design firm in the country by Engineering News Record. “For me, greenwashing happens when a manufacturer claims to provide a product or service that has some environmental benefit but in reality is just a best business practice and doesn’t deliver,” Fuller said. “Like my bank where they say they are going green but all they are doing is providing an option for paperless statements.”

Like Mizell, Fuller said there is a lot of confusion in the market surrounding certifications and LEED, mixed messages from vendors about what contributes to LEED points. She too believes suppliers need to do a better job of educating their sales forces. “Most manufacturers get it but they don’t effectively pass the information down the line to the sales level,” she said. “Information just doesn’t trickle down accurately; it becomes diluted, distorted and erroneous.” Fuller avoids those products altogether, calls the supplier on the claim and presses the salesperson for details. Still, communicating about sustainable products can be a frustrating process, so she put together a PowerPoint on certification schemes for fellow designers titled, “In God we trust, all others bring data.”

CHRIS MUNDELL is the sustainable design coordinator in the Dallas office of HKS, ranked fifth among the nation’s top 100 green design firms by Engineering News Record. HKS has 40 million square feet or $11 billion of LEED-certified and LEED-registered projects to its credit.

A lot of greenwashing is obvious, Mundell said, broad sweeping claims that cannot be backed up. He uses a skeptic’s eye when looking at products. “I always want to know what the hitch is,” he said. “Claiming to be green is the buzz, but does it meet the standards it claims to meet? It has to perform.”

HKS puts its sustainable standards in project specs. “If the product is not valid we don’t use it,” he said. “It’s that simple.” Mundell also asks competitor sales reps for insight and buzz about a supplier’s products — green “counterintelligence,” he calls it. “Reps are a good source for information,” he said. “Some of them have been in a trade for years and they know the history of all the products out there.”

Lastly, HKS participates in the sustainable products trade show, the North Texas Sustainable Showcase, where vendors are thoroughly vetted. “For every one truly green product at the show,” he said. “there are 30 that are not let in because they are not.”