Pharos

Want to know how green a product really is? Pharos is a wiki-based database of information about building products, green and otherwise. It's very much beta: we've hit a few bumps navigating around the site. Still, it's worth a visit, especially if you'd like to contribute to knowledge about green building materials.

So far, there's one page, on carpet, which gives a good overview of how carpet is made and the different materials it is made from.

The long-range goal is a fully fleshed out wiki and product database, with product labeling generated from the data. We like the idea of a grassroots rating system. And the graphic simplicity of the label and of the lens device in particular is brilliant.

However, we worry about the practicalities—not to mention the accuracy—of relying on user input of so much data.