Want to do more “green” work but need some help? One useful tool is the “Green My Project” area of RegreenProgram.org.
Regreen was created through a partnership between the American Society of Interior Designers Foundation and the U.S. Green Building Council, and the tool, or “strategy generator,” is an interactive version of the book REGREEN, Residential Remodeling Guidelines, which can also be downloaded from the website as a free PDF.
From several drop-down menus you can plug in your project type; choose a topic such as water efficiency, materials resources, or indoor environmental quality; and fill in the design/construction stage information. The system then filters helpful strategies.
For example, select kitchen, materials and resources, plumbing, and your strategy is MR122: “Consider environmentally preferable piping material.” The topic is then broken into five tabs of easily digestible information: explanation, potential issues, references, related strategies, and images. The site also offers real-world case studies that further reinforce the strategies.
“Even accomplished people in the field are challenged by green remodeling,” says sustainability consultant Carl Seville, who helped work on the original book. “This is a tool that can really help people.”
—Stacey Freed, senior editor, REMODELING.
