The Battle Over “Green” Plastics Continues In The Building & Construction Industry

Those who were once resistant to alternative plastic building materials are now taking a second look! Consumers are realizing the benefits of many plastic building products for both interior and exterior uses. According to this Plastics Today article, builders are embracing these new products as well. 

Plastics Today

This week, David Levine, CEO of the American Sustainable Business Council, took the opportunity to rake the plastics industry over the coals while SPI and other plastics industry groups held their "fly-in" in Washington, D.C. In Levine's commentary, Plastic Industry's Faulty Lobbying Agenda that appeared in this week's issue of The Hill, he chided the industry for what he called "a brazen attempt to block progress."

Levine refers to the plastics industry's opposition to the LEED v4 (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) building standards, and believes that the industry's time would be better spent on an agenda to "move away from toxic chemicals and toward safer chemicals and products using safer plastics."

This is an argument that is almost as old as the LEED standard itself. I can remember when I first began covering the International Builders Show (IBS) a number of years ago, there were a number of presentations from builders over whether or not to even certify any buildings that contained plastics construction materials.

Many would like to disallow a LEED certification to any building containing plastic materials, primarily because in the minds of many, anything "plastic" is a horrible material. The LEED competitor, Green Globes, has its detractors as well, who accuse it of pandering to not only the plastics industry, but to 'big wood' (the lumber industry) as well. We certainly can't have both - the plastics and lumber industries in cahoots in the "green" building industry!

To read more about this article, click here. 

What’s the Future Of Green Buildings In 2014? Industry Leader Offers Top 10 Megatrends

Green Building by quint via flickr.com

Happy New Year's Eve! As we welcome the year 2014, let's take a look forward at one of the most significant building and maintenance issues - being green and sustainable. Today's Facility Manager offers their perspective on green building trends. One surprise might be the focus on making existing buildings more green, instead of only new building. What do you see coming?

What are the major trends likely to affect the green building industry and markets in the U.S. in 2014? As one of the world’s leading green building consultants, Jerry Yudelson thinks he knows the answers. In fact, his Top 10 list of green building megatrends has become an annual event.

At the top of Yudelson’s 2014 list is the prediction that green building in North America will continue its strong growth in 2014, with the ongoing expansion of commercial real estate construction together with government, university, nonprofit, and school construction. “Green building is the tsunami of the future that will inundate the entire real estate industry,” says Yudelson.

The second megatrend on Yudelson’s list is the growing focus on energy efficiency in all kinds of buildings, including the increasing role of building automation…

Read the full article at Today's Facility Manager.