Pharos has initiated the development of a Framework to define this comprehensive view across the life cycle. The Framework proposes categories of environmental concern for analysis, covering health, resource sustainability and social justice (e.g., occupant exposure, renewable materials, and corporate responsibility). Each category is defined by an intent that describes the problem to be solved and an ideal set of attributes that address that intent. Key questions and criteria are then used to establish a rating system to measure progress toward the ideal goal. These ideals and criteria seek to reflect the broad range of categories that make up the impact of building materials on the world and will change over time as our knowledge progresses.

The goal of Pharos is not to supersede other efforts to establish performance standards based on industry consensus, but rather to put those standards in context. Pharos will be designed to reflect the fact that, most current “green” standards are just mileposts, at best, on the road to green and, at worst, they lead the user astray.

View the Pharos Framework >>