News

Posted on Jun 30, 2020

Healthy Building Network Welcomes Roberto Valle Kinloch as the new HomeFree Manager

HBN is thrilled to announce new leadership of our HomeFree program. Please join us in welcoming Roberto Valle Kinloch!

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Posted on Jun 30, 2020

How Do We Know? A Peek Inside HBN’s Research Process

When we know better we do better. For 20 years, HBN has been a source of the truth in building materials contents and the associated hazards and impacts of those materials. How do we know this information? This article offers insights into the research methodology that help us “know better”.

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Posted on Jun 30, 2020

Materials Transparency: Past, Present and Future

Our colleagues at the Health Product Declaration Collaborative recently implemented the newest version of the Health Product Declaration Open Standard, v2.2. At HBN, we thought we’d take the opportunity to consider where we currently are with respect to transparency in the built environment, reflect upon how far we have come and look forward to where we are headed.  

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Posted on Jun 1, 2020

We Stand With Black, Brown, and Indigenous Communities

We stand with people of color and demand justice and equality. We grieve with you. We share your anger and outrage. We pray with you for the families of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and the countless others who have been killed or oppressed through racist systems and acts. We send our love to you.

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Posted on May 26, 2020

Do Antimicrobial Building Products Protect Against COVID-19?

Countertops, door handles, light switches. Now in the time of COVID-19, we are more aware than ever these high-touch surfaces need to be kept clean. But are building products advertised as containing antimicrobials such a good idea?

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Posted on May 26, 2020

New COVID-19 Resources Page

HBN recently launched our new COVID-19 page. There you will find links to resources from HBN and trusted partners that can help you make informed decisions about how to use disinfectants and antimicrobial products, or not, in accordance with guidelines from the CDC.

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Posted on Feb 27, 2020

Tools You Can Use: HomeFree Specifications for Healthier Paint and Flooring

If you’re an architect, specification writer, or developer and you want to specify healthier paint and flooring materials, the new HomeFree Specifications can help. HBN developed specification language in editable Word documents organized according to MasterFormat® standard divisions. In addition to drop-in specification language, the Specifications also provide examples of products that meet the spec requirements. Lauren Zullo, Director of Environmental Impact at Jonathan Rose Companies says, “The HomeFree Specifications are really clear documents that my team can pass along to our various architects and general contractors to help provide the reasoning behind WHY we’re asking for what we’re asking for, in terms of healthier materials. It not only helps increase awareness, but allows design teams to make more informed decisions with value engineered product selection.”

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Posted on Feb 27, 2020

Petrochemical Companies are Burying Black History. The Building Industry Can Help Resurrect It.

In Louisiana, the factories that make the chemicals and plastics for our building products are built literally upon the bones of African Americans. Plantation fields have been transformed into industrial fortresses. A Shell Refinery1 sprawls across the former Bruslie and Monroe plantations. Belle Pointe is now the DuPont Pontchartrain Works, among the most toxic air polluters in the state.2 Soon, the Taiwan-based Formosa Plastics Group intends to build a 2400-acre complex of 14 facilities that will transform fracked gas into plastics. It will occupy land that was formerly the Acadia and Buena Vista plantations, and not incidentally, the ancestral burial grounds of local African American residents, some of whom trace their lineage back to people enslaved there.3 Virtually every building product we use today contains a petrochemical component that originates from heavily polluted communities, frequently home to people of color. As the green building movement searches for ways to enhance diversity, inclusion and equity, how might it address the legacies of injustice that are tied to the products and materials we use every day?

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Posted on Jan 30, 2020

Picking a Safer Paint is Easier Than You Think

Selecting the right paint for your project can be challenging and identifying a paint that reduces your exposure to toxic chemicals on top of that can be even more daunting. The good news is that transformation continues to happen in the paint market, providing developers, architects, and consumers more options for choosing less toxic paint products. Moreover, at Healthy Building Network (HBN), we continue working with our partners to help simplify the process of selecting a safer paint.

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Posted on Jan 30, 2020

HBN Helps Guide New Green Communities Materials Criteria

Enterprise Community Partners has just released the next generation of their Green Communities Criteria. The only national green building standard designed specifically for affordable housing projects, the Enterprise Green Communities Criteria has a major impact on how affordable housing properties are constructed. HBN is proud to have contributed to the development of the new 2020 Green Communities Criteria. Krista Egger, senior director of initiatives at Enterprise Community Partners, acknowledged HBN’s contribution, saying, "Significant improvements were made to the Materials section of the Green Communities standard thanks to the leadership of HBN."

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