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:[email protected]