Green Products and IT Collide
A number of sustainability validation services and third-party certification companies are working to certify green building products for the construction market. But how do you find the best LEED (leadership in energy and environmental design) and green construction products on the market? Web-based technology can help on the search for energy-efficient materials.
GreenWizard, www.greenwizard.com, Charleston, S.C., a provider of a Web-based system to search, compare, and document green products, recently partnered with TerraChoice, www.terrachoice.com, Ottawa, Ont., a group of companies that combines science and business expertise.
TerraChoice includes TerraVeritas, sustainability validation services; EcoLogo Program, third-party certification; and TerraChoice Environmental Marketing for green promotion.
The new business alliance with GreenWizard focuses on the EcoLogo program for environmental standards and certification. With thousands of products certified by the EcoLogo program, contractors now have the ability to search for these sustainable products on the Web-based system from GreenWizard.
According to the companies, EcoLogo-certified products will be easy to search, compare, and document online.
“GreenWizard reaches a rapidly expanding user base of elite specifiers who are focused on building with the greenest products available,” says Scot Case, vice president, TerraChoice. “With this alliance, we are able to put the full range of EcoLogo-certified products right at their fingertips to be used for both research and procurement.”
The Web-based system from GreenWizard is an SOA (service-oriented architecture) model, which is delivered via the Internet, for process automation, communications, business analytics, and an interactive marketplace.
This is one example of how architects, engineers, and contractors can look to Web-based software to search for green building materials. The technology can help the industry analyze and select green materials based on preferences and inputs, reducing the amount of time spent in the procurement process.