The Sad State of our Construction Industry
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 11.30.05
After being so inspired by Bill McDonough, we descended into the bunker to see the Construct Canada trade show and see what is new and green, with a big promotion of products with an ecobuild label. What a depressing experience- little green balloons labelled "GREEN PRODUCT" over products like silicone caulk. Why is it green? "um, it saves energy". ICF's- basements made of stryrofoam and concrete- are called "eco-block". Granite- how is blasting stone out of the Canadian Shield even vaguely green? We needed a shower after all of the greenwashing. Enough of this fake Greenlabelling. Give us real green products and real third-party certification.::"Green" products at Construct Canada
We like this one. Owens-Corning pink fibreglass has certification from
but when you look at thier standards, they permit formaldehyde to .05ppm, admittedly half of the ASHRAE maximum level but when one can go out and buy formaldehyde free fibreglass from a competitor or superior green products like Icynene, how can you call this green?
I agree with you in some ways but I do have to ask because I really don't know. Is styrofoam in use harmful to the environment? I thought it was just the fact that it filled up landfill's that was the problem? Most basements stay even in the building is torn down so that styrofoam will most likely be in use for quite some time. I would think the benefits of energy conservation would out weigh the detrement that may or may not be imposed on the trash system wouldn't it?
LA: there is a lot of embodied energy in concrete and a lot of CO2 released in making it. the styrofoam is made from petrochemicals and is toxic when it burns. It is not the worst system around but it is really hard to call it green.
Silicon caulk insulates better, saves energy, less fossil fuels are burned, less CO2 is released into the atmosphere. Sounds green to me.
Something doesn't have to be flashy, or follow one of the currently fashionable "green" trends to be a good idea.
Lloyd-- have to take a shower poet greenwashing. Very funny. And i gotta say that iwas showcked a month ago to see the pink insulation at a green conference (!) especially like you say there is icenine, or imnsho the even better ex-jeans insulation!
and again, while i agree with you that things generally suck and coudl eb much better-- what u write also behooves me to say that things are better than that and you know it! Weren't you at the Green Building Festival in Toronto in October? (the noth of 40 people said you were...) There were lots of canadian green building techs with booths there withouty the greenwash b.s. look at things like BOMA's go green certification program ok to me & u its prolly not 100% there yet (like kyoto, like LEED, like a prius...) but over 120 buildings have already been certified(!) sure we needbetter & better standards, but let's not throw out teh baby with the bathwater...
i do hope though that you asked the pink insulation people if they like misleading people....
LA: I am embarrassed to say that I got tied up with work and did not get to the Green building Festival....