[Greenbuilding] [BULK] green building and plastics

[Lawrence Lile]

Good Question, Nitya!

As you may have gathered, many people on this list are not keen on PVC,
because of the environmental and health impacts of some of the
precursors.  You can turn this around, and realize that there is a
potential market for a PVC replacement.  Nobody can count how many
things in a building are made out of PVC, it is so common, and the
market for a PVC replacement plastic would be quite large.  

Other plastics fare better.  While they are made of oil as you know,
which is nonrenewable, the chemistry can also be made of many other
feedstocks, so you could argue that there is as much potential for
producing plastics out of feedstocks like corn, wood and soy as there is
for producing fuel ethanol out of these same feedstocks.  A dozen papers
could be presented about producing plastics from renewable feedstocks
easily. 

Plastics often are used to replace copper pipe, an increasingly
expensive and nonrenewable resource.  If we ran out of copper today our
industrial societies would grind to a halt.  The cost and labor savings
of installing plastic PEX plumbing supply pipes is quite a story.  You
can also argue that the manifold method of installing PEX, with a single
supply line to each appliance, can save energy.  Here's how: in a
conventional system, a large pipe is brought to each bathroom group.
Most people run the tub for a long time until the entire pipe is filled
with hot water, and all this water is dumped to the drain.  A smaller
pipe means less delay, and less water cooling off in the pipes at the
end of a shower, resulting in hot water savings.  This can add up to a
substantial amount over time, if the occupants realize they don't have
to run the tub 10 minutes to get a hot shower.  

There is hardly a house now that is not wrapped in Tyvek.  This is a
success story that you could highlight.  

--Lawrence Lile, P.E.





-----Original Message-----
From: greenbuilding-bounces at listserv.repp.org
[mailto:greenbuilding-bounces at listserv.repp.org] On Behalf Of Nitya
Akeroyd
Sent: Monday, July 17, 2006 10:07 AM
To: greenbuilding at listserv.repp.org
Subject: [BULK] [Greenbuilding] green building and plastics
Importance: Low

Hi Folks
   
  I work for a company that organises conferences for the plastics
industry and we are planning a building material conference. As I have
an interest in green building, i was asked to research ideas for a
section of 3 or 4 papers in the conference on green building.
   
  As well as an overview of the green building industry and the
principles of green building, the idea was to look at some of the
latest, hottest green building products that relate to the plastics
industry.
   
  I know at home I am always looking for ways to reduce plastic, so this
has lead me to think about the key ways in which plastic can be used
effectively that help to reduce environmental impact and improve the
efficiency, durability and "healthiness" of a building. What are the
things that plastic excels at that, that it does better than other
materials and that we actually want to make use of it for???? Would love
to hear from anyone who has any thoughts on this, product
suggestions/recommendations, or any other related suggestions.
   
  Thanks,
   
  Nitya Akeroyd

 		
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