Rate It Green (www.rateitgreen.com) is an online community for everyone interested in finding green building and design products and services. Our objective is to facilitate an open marketplace where everyone can shop for and buy green products and services confidently. Rate It Green features an online Directory and Green Ratings system as well as a Green Forum where members can share their thoughts and ask questions about a variety of green products, services, and related topics. Our hope is that Rate It Green will help newcomers and experts alike discover new products and learn the pros and cons about existing materials and services from those who have actually worked with and used them. The company also publishes a guide to green building information resources, called Green Building 101.      

Part of the inspiration for Rate It Green came from our own struggle to find green building information several years ago. One of our founders could not find the materials she wanted or information she needed to green her residential project.  More than anything else, she just wanted to get advice from people who had "been there" and knew what it was like to work with certain materials or services. Our team therefore decided to try to make it easier for people who followed. We were personally aware that people new to the industry often face a steep learning curve, and we also knew that it’s hard for even experienced individuals to become an expert in every area. We thought that if people would gather and both share what we know and ask questions of each other, we might create a resource that could benefit the whole green building community.   

Joining Rate It Green as a community member is free of charge. Members simply fill out a registration survey as well as periodic updates to help us learn more about the green buying community. We also include all green businesses in our ratings system database free of charge to provide the most accurate and comprehensive information for our members.

Green Building 101:    

The Rate It Green team just completed version 1.0 of Green Building 101, a directory of all of the green building information resources our team has found through our research – over 600 listings and counting! The guide lists consumer resources such as green retailers and strong government and private web sites as well as more trade-oriented industry tools and associations.  Additional resources include green building media, forums, and related resources.  We believe this guide (especially as it grows!) can really help people find the resources to go from 0 to 60 in terms of finding green building information out there. Why waste time looking for resources when people could be spending that same time already building green?

What do Rate It Green Members Want to Know?

Rate It Green members appreciate and are excited by great design and exceptional products and services. We also share a concern about the health of our planet. Current building trends in energy and resource consumption are simply not sustainable. We believe that we can and should do better.  Questions that interest our members include:

• Which green solutions are superior, and which need improvement?
• How green are certain products and services, and companies?
• Which products are the easiest and safest to install and use? 
• Which products can be recycled or reclaimed efficiently? 
• What is the quality level and durability of various green solutions?
• And which products and services are the most cost effective?   

In sum, what do people shopping for sustainable products and services need to know? And, how can we each help increase the momentum of the green building movement, as well as tell manufacturers and service providers what they can do better? Members will both post and respond to ratings and questions, and the whole community will benefit.   

Rate It Green’s Features:

• Green Ratings:   A directory and user-driven ratings system where members can rate sustainable products and services based on their personal experiences working with these items
• The Green Forum:   An open forum where members can offer advice, information, and comments on a range of green building products, services and related topics. 
• Green Building Basics:  Introductory information about green building.
• Green Links:   Links to top green building and related sites.
• …And more features are planned!  Look for our jobs board and referral center soon!

Together we can make better design and purchasing decisions. We invite you to join our community and help us all buy green products and services more confidently. To learn more, visit: www.rateitgreen.com.