Roofing

Three things: durability, durability, and, you guessed it, durability. Roofs suffer more abuse than almost any other part of your home, and are generally expensive to fix, so you want to put a roof up there and be able to forget about it for a long time.

The green perspective also emphasizes, as always, responsible sourcing— does the material have a significant recycled content, and can it be easily recycled? If you visited the factory where it’s made, would you find a lot of smelly chemicals lying on the ground, or being dumped into rivers or air? If you plan to collect and use rainwater from your roof, you don’t want strange chemicals leaching into your system; asphalt shingles might be really appealing, for example, from a cost and durability perspective, but might add unwanted flavor to your iced tea later on.