Sustainability news from Buildingtalk: Summer 2007

Buildingtalk's first quarterly review of sustainability news provides a few examples of what's been happening on the sustainability front in the construction industry during the summer.

With the UK struggling to cut CO2 emissions by 20% before 2020, 9 leading companies, including Coca Cola and Cadbury Schweppes, have signed up to a scheme to measure and reduce the carbon footprint of their certain products.

They will measure ecological impact of each product from the sourcing of raw materials through to disposal.

Two of the 9 companies are regular contributors to Buildingtalk, Aggregate Industries and Marshalls, both of whom will measure hard landscaping products such as paving.

Hambleside Danelaw have produced a useful sustainability checklist which help developers and contractors to choose building materials that meet high environmental standards, part of their support for government measures to encourage the construction of sustainable public and commercial buildings.

The Low Carbon Innovation Network provided Buildingtalk with an exclusive 'eleven-step' guide on 'raising staff awareness to gain commitment to energy efficiency initiatives to reduce carbon emissions'.

This free-to-join Network is well worth signing up to if you have an interest in how innovation and good practice in our industry can help tackle climate change.

Turner and Townsend produced a 'Simple Guide to Sustainability'.

With sustainability at the top of most organisations agendas, this jargon busting guide helps clarify what it all means and how some of these new technologies work.

Interesting sustainability projects include 'green' solar-powered lighting systems for bus shelters being supplied by Carmanah for 'Transport for London'.

Also, Reynaers Aluminium installed the largest number of photovoltaic solar panels in one project in Belgium.

The 3,072 solar panels on the roof of a new distribution centre in Duffel provides all the energy requirements for the warehouse.

It will generate 500,000 kWh of green electricity every year equal to the annual electricity consumption of 166 households.

Other projects included a report that two UK schools are proving a blueprint for sustainability by saving energy and even selling it back to their providers with a little help from Kalzip.

A 200m assembly hall roof provides electricity generated via an 8.7 kW Kalzip AluPlusSolar integrated photovoltaic roof system as well as heating hot water through passive solar panels.

Kalzip standing seam in sustainable aluminium has also been used over many of the roof elements.

A display panel in the school's entrance foyer, indicating the amount of electricity currently being generated, cumulative watts to date and CO2 savings, helps incorporate the school's sustainability features into the science curriculum as part of learning about energy.

In the continuing debate, comparing the green credentials of various materials used in the construction of windows, Veka wrote to counter the popular misconception that PVCu windows cannot be recycled.

They invested in a purpose built recycling plant 14 years ago to deal with offcuts and 'post consumer windows' which offers the prospect of the PVCu staying in a closed loop for centuries.

Kestrel, who manufacture no lead, no tin, next generation of PVC-UE and PVC-U roofline, cladding and window trim products, have also reduced energy consumption by 30% at their Scunthorpe factory.

The Steel Window Association said that steel used by their members comes from 100% recycled steel and so produce the lowest carbon emissions.

Beaufort Secure Design promoted the environmental advantages of aluminium, the most abundant metallic element on earth, including pointing to a recent detailed study by Delft University.

This looked at the demolition of the old Wembley stadium where 96% of the aluminium removed was recycled, demonstrating that even after nearly 50 years on site the product could still be reused.

Recycling can save up to 95% of the energy involved in the original production processes, add to this the relative ease with which aluminium building materials can be segregated and recovered and it is easy to see why aluminium is unlikely to end up as landfill.

On the new window products front, Glas Facades have a range of Swiss-made aluminium clad timber windows with high grade energy ratings, and Jeld-Wen revealed their energy efficient Combi window, developed to enable housebuilders meet new thermal performance requirements of the Code for Sustainable Homes.

British Gypsum are pioneering new 'green' rail trunking service will remove almost 2 million lorry miles per year from the road network, with consequent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.

We had a number of responses to the recent government Green Paper on housing which was issued earlier in the year, including comments from Ian Cox, Chief Executive of The Concrete Centre, explaining the role that concrete can play.

He reminded us that a traditional masonry wall has up to six times more inherent thermal mass than a timber frame wall.

In the light of predicted climate change this could delay the need for air conditioning by some 20 years.

Concrete is also a good flood proof material for ground floor construction in the development of flood plains, is naturally fire resistant, has good acoustic performance and is durable.

We are also beginning to see an increasing use of concrete basements, including retrofitting in London and other major cities, which reduces the call on new land requirements.

H+H Celcon wrote to promote the unique Ra House system and the sustainable properties of aircrete.

Ra House is the combined product and labour package which produces a robust aircrete masonry envelope in a build time comparable to frame systems.

Fast construction combined with a high level of insulation, plus the sustainable nature of the material itself, means the Ra House System is making a significant contribution to sustainability.

Buildingtalk had a call for entries for the 2008 Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy.

They are seeking entries from inspirational and innovative schemes in the UK that use renewable energy, or reduce energy demand, at a local level.

This means schemes that have made significant CO2 savings through the use of renewable energy or energy efficiency measures, and that demonstrate real social and economic benefits to the local community.

All Award-winning schemes must have been consistently successful for at least one year in delivering benefits to local communities and achieving carbon savings and must have plans for future growth.

Closing date for entries is 20 November 2007.

Remember that you can use the search facilities on Buildingtalk to look in more detail at other industry comments.

You can also check out the listing in the Building Industry News section, especially the stories relating to 'Building energy efficiency and sustainability'.

Finally, a reminder that Buildingtalk publishes all relevant stories without charge, and as quickly as possible (usually within a day or two).

However, before I can start publishing news from a company, I need to have a few details entered into our database - this is necessary to allow readers to make enquiries directly to you and so that we can send you reports of reader activity on your pages.

There is an online form and further information available on the Buildingtalk website.

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