Regreen, a residential remodeling program created in 2008 through a partnership between the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) Foundation and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), offers green remodeling guidelines. Now it also has a Strategy Generator on its website where users can research green strategies for projects including kitchens, baths, additions, basements, and gut renovations.
Thom Banks, ASID’s deputy executive director, says program organizers always planned to provide Regreen’s written guidelines in a more interactive format. “We have a number of case studies where we reference strategies by number,” he says. “[With the hard-copy document,] you have to flip to the back to look them up. We recognized [that’s] not the most user-friendly way to reference this stuff, especially because so much of it is interrelated.”
The Strategy Generator has a tab for each project type and offers explanation, references, related strategies, and it pinpoints potential issues. For example, Banks says, “A change in wallboard or exterior shingles affects the moisture properties of the building shell. A simple switch might have implications you haven’t considered.”
Though the Strategy Generator is more likely to be used by building professionals, it can also be useful for savvy homeowners interested in doing their homework.
—Nina Patel, senior editor, REMODELING.
