Why aren't all possible headings of a category included such as erosion control or site furnishings for the Site category, for example?
Our goal is to provide information for those materials and products that play a significant role either by volume, function, or visibility in their contribution to a high performing green building, so you will not see every material commonly used.

How do you select the three manufacturers that are provided for each type of material researched?
Our goal is to identify manufacturers whose product meets the greatest number of criteria on our matrix. These three are not ranked, they are listed. By providing you with the products that meet the greatest number of criteria, we save you the time of searching through huge material and product lists and databases.

How did you come up with the matrix format?
Our matrix is the result of three years of material and sustainability research. There are two driving goals for the matrix: one is for the information to be easily grasped - thus the column layout that shows met criteria shaded (the more shade you see, the higher the product's performance, additionally the darker the shade the greater the capacity to reduce environmental consequences); the second goal is for the information to trigger deeper thinking, to this end we have organized the impact shading and include product information relative to other products across a matrix where you can easily compare the qualities you value across manufacturers and perhaps see impacts and opportunities you were not aware of.

How did you determine what criteria to include in your matrix?
We wanted to provide comprehensive but focused information that would lead to a greater understanding of the potential of green building material and systems to reduce environmental consequences. We chose five overarching categories: Energy, Water, Health, Resources, and Waste to capture criteria. There are criteria that address the functionality of the material which, in addition to highlighting energy and water use reduction, promote consideration of a material's multifunctionality which we are especially motivated to illustrate as it triggers new thinking in addition to use of less material. Other criteria include those commonly referenced in green building such as product emissions, source, and recycled-content; the 3rd-party verification/qualification criteria we felt were obviously useful. We include Embodied Energy criteria which are gaining momentum as they provide a more complete picture of a product's impact - our information within this category is not derived from Life Cycle Assessment methods, rather it is a simplified approach based on easily obtainable information. Additionally, we provide an economic reference, although not always feasible to provide, cost is a much sought after piece of information when considering materials outside of the conventional range.

How often do you update your product information?
Researching for our database is an ongoing process given the rapid evolution in green building materials and systems. Our goal is to review each heading every four months; we note the research date with the title of each researched material or system.

I am a manufacturer and I would like to supply you with information on my product, where do I send that?
We welcome manufacturers to send us information to update our database, you can contact us at studio(a)patternmapping.com, put 'Manufacturer' on the subject line.

How do I provide feedback to you about a product or manufacturer you have listed?
We welcome feedback from your experience, you can contact us at studio(a)patternmapping.com, put 'Feedback' on the subject line.