While researching exterior doors for the basement, I visited a number of home improvement stores, but not by choice!

I started online, looking for available products. I found some products alright, but little meaningful information on their energy performance. Recently, some stores added eco or green categories to their product lists, which filter eco or green items (in my case qualifying exterior doors). I am still left guessing what eco or green means, because no or little definitions are offered.

Depending on the store, you may or may not learn if the door is Energy Star qualified, but there is no word anywhere on the NFRC rating or the products R-value or U-value. To get this information I had to go into the store and look for the labels and ratings on the actual product.

In these days of a $1,500 Federal Tax Credit, green building programs and incentives, this information (such as the energy performance on a door) determines if a product cuts it or not. Wouldn’t you think that the retailers would fall over themselves, including this information on their product web pages?

I have the suspicion that somebody in the marketing department is sound asleep!