Q: What is “greenwashing”?

A: As “green building” becomes a more popular term and method for housing construction, more products claim to provide ecological or resource-efficient benefits. Sometimes such claims are dubious or at least overstated. The term “greenwashing” refers to a product or supplier for which the claimed environmental benefit is minor or dependent on other features or products to deliver on its promise, requires more energy to create and supply than it saves, or is simply unfounded and unproven.