New group forms to put plastics back into LEED

By Editorial Staff, Resource Recycling

The American Chemistry Council, the Society of the Plastics Industry and two dozen other organizations have formed the American High Performance Buildings Coalition in response to what they say are biases against plastic materials in the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED certification.

LEED, which ranks buildings based on their carbon footprint, material use and other lifecycle factors, has rapidly grown in popularity since it was first developed in 2000 and has become a popular building standard for many businesses, governments and organizations commissioning new construction. The ratings system is currently undergoing the LEED 2012 revision process, and the AHPBC hopes the revised requirements will eliminate a provision that discourages the use of vinyl in building construction.

In recent testimony to the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, vice president of the ACC's Plastics Division, Steve Russell, argued that the General Services Administration's use of LEED slows job growth and harms energy efficiency.

"Once a standard captures the entire market, there is no competition and no incentive to keep the price of implementing the standard down, so, in the end, the taxpayer pays more," said Russell in his testimony. "The lack of scientific justification in [LEED 2012] should make it unsupportable for the federal government. The recently-proposed LEED update is so poorly grounded in science that the system gives credits for avoiding proven, U.S.-made products."

The AHPBC was mum on specific outreach efforts, but members have been lobbying representatives in Congress with regard to LEED certification requirements.

Approximately 60 members of Congress have sent letters to the GSA requesting it not endorse LEED until the Green Building Council removes criteria calling for the avoidance of plastic roof, floor and wall products, pipe, insulation, sealants and other products.

For its part, the Green Building Council applauded the creation of the new group, saying "If this coalition is sincere in its interest to advance high-performance buildings over the status quo, we welcome them to the table and sincerely look forward to engaging together to make green buildings more valuable to Americans."

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