Plastics Division of American Chemistry Council (ACC) Green Building Guiding Principles
The Plastics Division of ACC endorses the practice of conserving resources and minimizing the environmental and health impacts of buildings.
- Environmental considerations and energy efficiency should become a part of building design and purchasing criteria, consistent with such traditional criteria as product safety, price, performance, and availability.
- Energy efficiency and environmental performance should be evaluated using a “systems” approach during the entire use-phase of a building.
- The process for establishing “sustainable” building/product criteria should include consensus-based decision-making, best available science, transparency, and openness to all relevant stakeholders.
Saving Energy Through High Performance Buildings
Eco-label rating systems based on checklists like Green Globes and LEED can detract from measures that will result in significant building energy savings performance. As a result, some eco-labeled buildings miss the mark in terms of improved and sustained energy efficiency performance.
Cradle-to-Gate Life Cycle Inventory of Nine Plastics Resins and Two Polyurethane Precursors (2011)
This newly revised report provides current data that quantify the total energy requirements, energy sources, atmospheric pollutants, waterborne pollutants, and solid waste resulting from the production of commonly used plastic materials in North America. » full report | » appendices only
How to Build Small Affordable Houses That Use 30% Less Total Energy in the Mixed-Humid Climate, Jeff Christian, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
This report describes how to build a high performance affordable house that will achieve 30% whole house energy savings using proven, commercially available technologies in the mixed-humid climate region.
Impacts of New ASHRAE Standards on Energy Usage and the Environment
A delay in implementing the ASHRAE 90.1-2010P requirements until 2015 would result in losing 1,900 trillion Btu in energy savings (equivalent of 328 million barrels of crude oil) and releasing of 134 million metric tons of CO2-eq. (equivalent to annual CO2 emissions from 29 coal-fired power plants).
Rigorous quantitative Whole Building Energy Analysis and Life Cycle Assessment methodology in this study shows how prompt adoption and enforcement of these enhanced standards will significantly reduce U.S. energy consumption and avoid substantive greenhouse gas emissions. Polyurethane insulation technology—if put in place—can help make these standards and requirements attainable.
Plastic Insulation: A Sustainable Solution
The building and construction industry has a major role to play in reducing energy use and hence the emission of carbon dioxide resulting from fossil fuel generation of energy. Over its lifetime, plastic insulation saves more than 200 times the energy used in its manufacture, and its very high thermal efficiency also adds to savings.
Energy and Climate Solutions Through American Chemistry
Building insulation materials save as much as 40 BTUs of energy for every BTU of energy consumed to make the material. House wraps save 360 BTUs of energy for every BTU used to make the material, and foam insulation can make a home up to 70% more energy efficient.
ACC's Plastics Division supports all Green Building programs that are in accordance with these principles, and will promote change through constructive engagement with those are aren’t.