green building rating systems and the scoring of pvc best practice pvc sophi macmillan, chief...

Green Building rating systems and the scoring of PVC

Best Practice PVC

Sophi MacMillan, Chief Executive, Vinyl Council of Australia

Agenda

• Building rating systems• Approaches to PVC

– 2000 Olympics to now

• The “negative Credit”• Best practice PVC products• Moving ahead

Environmental ratings of buildings

• Encourage innovation

• Benchmark performance

• Improve practices

Emergence of building rating tools

BREEAM

CASBEE

DGNB

Green Star

Green Star

IGBC

LEED

LEED

Green Globes

Green MarkGreen Building Index

BERDE

Greenship

Impacts of building materials

• resource depletion/renewables, • waste/recyclability• emissions, greenhouse and energy,• toxicity/indoor air quality• local sourcing• service life, durability

Approaches to PVC in green building

2000 Sydney Olympics

• Green Guidelines encourage PVC minimisation

• Extra cost to replace PVC: A$16.7m

CSIRO reviewed PVC building products and found…

• PVC’s life cycle impacts were no more significant than for alternative materials in its major building uses(CSIRO 1996, 1998, 2001)

• All materials have impacts

Australian Green Star rating tool

• Launched 2003, non-residential buildings

• PVC Minimisation Credit:– Points for NOT using PVC

• Rapid growth in building projects registered for Green Star certification

Australian Green Star rating tool

• Launched 2003, non-residential buildings

• PVC Minimisation Credit:– Points for NOT using PVC

• Rapid growth in building projects registered for Green Star certification

• Expected to become the norm

PVC building products reviewed

• 2007 US GBC TSAC report compared PVC to alternative building applications:– Life cycle and risk assessment based– PVC not consistently worst, sometimes

the best material – No justification for a PVC-specific Credit

2007 GBCA began a review and found…• PVC industry has made

significant progress in last 5+ years– Most issues addressed or well

managed eg VCM• ‘Best practice’ manufacturing

should be encouraged• New PVC Credit released 2010

Refer www.gbca.org.au

Verification

• No mercury• Low VCM emissions• Sound environmental

management practices • No lead or cadmium• Safe phthalate

plasticisers• Product stewardship/

extended producer responsibility

Verification

• No mercury• Low VCM emissions• Sound environmental

management practices • No lead or cadmium• Safe phthalate

plasticisers• Product stewardship/

extended producer responsibility

A level playing field

A level playing field

Fitness

Versatility

Durability

Good energy

And FANS!

Competitiveness

For more information:www.vinyl.org.auinfo@vinyl.org.au