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