From: The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/05/garden/05green.html?ei=5090&en=ffd4cbd3b74dc287&ex=1294117200&adxnnl=1&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1136560381Y+CDLJA32S88l3jBjvKzEg

January 5, 2006
Home Improvement
Earth-Friendly Materials Go Mainstream
By ERNEST BECK

YOUR local home improvement store may never be the same again.
In recent years, an organic food revolution has filled supermarket shelves
with products like hormone-free milk. Now, growing consumer interest is
encouraging a new generation of green homebuilding retailers. These
environmentally conscious stores, which sell such items as eco-timber and
insulation made of recycled jeans, are poised to become a national presence.
"The time is ripe, the market is ready, and the products are mature," said
Greg Snowden, the chief executive of Green Fusion Design Center, in San
Anselmo, Calif., which opened in 2004. He says he expects sales at Green
Fusion, which is described on the company's Web site as "a unique retail
store, gallery and education center," to double, to $2 million this year,
compared with 2005.

Just a few years ago, green-minded homeowners were relegated to buying
supplies in small stores with a limited selection of merchandise, most of it
imported. But today the idea of green homebuilding is becoming more
mainstream.

At Green Fusion, environmentally friendly wares like plant-based paints,
organic bedding (an all-wool king-size mattress costs $2,000) and cork
flooring from Portugal (sustainably harvested from the outer bark of oak
trees and selling at $5 to $8 a square foot) are laid out to allow customers
"to experience the lifestyle in a place that was created with healthy
materials," Mr. Snowden said.

He is so confident that he has secured the Web address greenhomedepot.com
with an eye to expanding Green Fusion to a regional, and possibly national,
chain in the next few years. But he is not the only green retailer thinking
big.

Timothy N. Taylor, chief executive of the Environmental Home Center, a large
green building supplier in Seattle, says his company has national ambitions,
too.

"There's no question where this is going; it's hot," Mr. Taylor said, noting
that his company has grown from an 800-square-foot storefront in 1992 to a
multimillion dollar business today with a 30,000-square-foot facility.
Across the country, there are several established green retailers, like
Environmental Building Supplies, in Portland, Ore., and Environmental
Construction Outfitters in the Bronx, both of which have been around for
more than a decade. Newcomers include a. k a. Green, in Scottsdale, Ariz.,
and Greenmaker, in Chicago, which opened last year.

Not to be outdone, Home Depot is testing a green theme in all of its
Canadian stores. EcoOptions, as it is called, is part of a marketing effort
that promotes environmentally friendly products, including natural
fertilizer and mold-resistant drywall.

If Canadians respond, "we could imagine rolling it out in the U.S.," said
Ron Jarvis, a merchandising vice president at the Home Depot in Atlanta.
Wendy Liebmann, the president of WSL Strategic Retail, a retail consultancy
in New York, says the Home Depot's flirtation with green reflects a
fundamental shift in consumer attitudes.

"There is a growing sensibility and sensitivity about taking care of
ourselves, our homes, and our earth," Ms. Liebmann said. "It's not a fringe
movement like we saw 15 years ago."

But as green building supplies go mainstream, consumers must confront new
terms, such as off-gasses, and confusing product names.
What, for example, is Kirei board? (Answer: a construction material for
cabinetry made of reclaimed agricultural fiber: it sells for $150 for a
3-foot-by-6-foot sheet.)

Alison Kartiganer faced these challenges a few years ago, when she built a
weekend home on an island near Seattle. While researching the advantages of
recycled steel gutters and a tankless water heater, she puzzled over
technical issues like the acceptable volume of volatile-organic compounds in
paint.

"You have to dive down deep to really know what they are talking about,"
said Ms. Kartiganer, 33, who is a producer at Cranium, a board game company
in Seattle. Eventually, she says, she modified her greenness and went with
low-V.O.C. paint, instead of one with none at all, for a simple reason: it
was available at a store on the morning she needed it.

Homebuilders need not feel guilty about compromising, however. There is no
such thing as a perfectly green product, according to Mr. Taylor at the
Environmental Home Center. "There's green and not so green and shades of
green," he explained. "If we only sold dark green, we wouldn't have much to
sell."

Unfortunately for consumers, there is no all-encompassing regulatory system
or governmental body that oversees or establishes green standards for the
entire industry. So for the most part, green retailers select products based
on their own criteria, often with the help of consultants.

While most people endorse the benefits of going green, it is unclear how
many are willing to pay extra for it. Green products generally command a
higher price than their conventional counterparts: organic paint from Livos,
a German company, for example, costs $79.15 for 1.3 gallons compared with
$17 a gallon for ordinary Benjamin Moore latex. Still, it is a premium
homeowners may be willing to pay to improve their own health and the
planet's, according to Willem Maas, the publisher of GreenHomeGuide.com, a
Web site on green design.

Buying green products versus conventional ones, Mr. Maas said, "is like
comparing an artisan baguette to a loaf of Wonder Bread."

€ Copyright 2006The New York Times Company