Green here, green there, green (wash) everywhere! It certainly seems that virtually every product manufacturer and service provider now has a green solution that is promised to be environmentally sensitive and maybe even cost effective. In fact, the proliferation of the “green movement” has fostered a mindset that the path to sustainability is simply including a bunch of “green building” products into a project. While green products are part of the sustainability equation, the mindset the movement has fostered has exacerbated a fundamental impediment to achieving real sustainability.

Just opening up the checkbook, adding green products and services to your project, and getting it certified as “green” won’t make it a sustainable project. Green products in general are unlikely to become a silver bullet and significantly impact a project’s overall sustainability. In fact, the time has come for us all to ask the question, “Is the green movement sustainable at all?”

A product or service, in and of itself, can’t really be ­“sustainable.”

It must interact with other products, services and/or systems in ways that make them such (or not). Achieving a sustainable outcome demands a higher level of communication and integration among all the various stakeholders than is typically implemented today.

Short-term efficiency and long-term effectiveness are key components of sustainability. Green products often lack both. Many of these products carry a premium cost, and if they’re not planned for and implemented correctly, they can eliminate other opportunities for more sustainable solutions and/or hinder the efficient implementation of other solutions on the project. Further, since many green products are either new or innovative, many people throughout the asset lifecycle need to understand what other options were foregone and why, what the products can offer, how they are best implemented, what impacts they will have to other components of the project system, how to properly maintain and reuse/recycle them, and many other considerations too numerous to mention here. All this demands that other professionals involved in the project, from planning, financing, regulating, designing, constructing, marketing, and the eventual owner(s) and maintainers become involved in the understanding, implementation and long-term impacts of these new concepts.

In addition to new green solutions, a new design and implementation process must occur in tandem. It is essential that communication and collaboration occur to a level rarely found today. It won’t be very effective to collect rainwater if there is no plan or information structure in place to reuse the water sustainably. Likewise, it would be a waste to utilize porous ­asphalt and then have a new owner apply a seal coat.

Often, a green solution can be greatly improved with communication among industry professionals. If implemented and maintained properly, combining solar energy collection with geothermal technology and integrating water re-use techniques can multiply the benefits of each individual component ­exponentially.

Silver bullets are worthless in slaying dragons without the right weapons and qualified people to point them in the right direction. Or, perhaps the dragon, appropriately tamed, could help us build a bridge to the castle.

The same is true for green products and services. Without proper direction, integration, understanding, implementation, and maintenance, these new and innovative solutions will just be stand-alone features that may provide some environmental benefits, but they may never contribute meaningfully to true sustainability. SLDT