Some materials provide a better alternative in an application dominated by products for which there are concerns about toxic constituents, intermediaries, or by-products. With the panoply of products made with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and brominated flame retardants, some products are green simply because they provide an alternative. Examples of this are natural wall coverings, drain and vent piping, and roofing membranes. Some green products are free of hazards common to the product category; for example, LED lighting is inherently free of the mercury found in fluorescent lighting sources.
However, it’s worth noting that without transparency about actual ingredients, there’s no guarantee that a product won’t have less common or less well-known hazards that the manufacturer isn’t talking about. We use Pharos’s Chemical and Material Library to assess less well-known hazards, and we encourage manufacturers to review the hazardous properties of all chemicals they use and seek out safer materials.
Earth Shield Chemical Resistant Waterstop
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These products are environmentally attractive because they need to be replaced less frequently or their maintenance has very low impact, both of which can reduce costs as well as environmental impact.
Robust answers on typical service life of products can be hard to come by, however. In GreenSpec we reserve this criterion for products where the material is clearly more durable than alternatives, such as an exceptionally traffic-resistant polyurethane floor finish. We refer to standardized tests for durability when they are available and appropriate.
We also consider “appropriate durability”: long life is more important in a building envelope than in interior finish materials that will be replaced for aesthetic reasons. Here, reduced maintenance can be particularly important. An example is resilient flooring that doesn’t require regular waxing: an unnecessary use of resources and a health hazard.
Earth Shield is a thermoplastic vulcanizate, an alloy of EPDM rubber for flexibility and polypropylene for processability and weldability. It contains no additives, such as fillers, stabilizers, or plasticizers, and is designed to withstand highly demanding conditions. The company claims that Earth Shield is the only embedded waterstop that has been certified to meet NSF Standard 61 for direct contact with drinking water.
Concrete accessories include such items as anchors, inserts, expansion joints, waterstops, and products that prevent soil contamination from truck overages.
Filling the expansion joints in concrete construction is a good use for panels made from recycled newspaper or waste agricultural materials, because the strength requirements are minimal (though for radon control, less permeable joint sealants may be preferable).
Waterstops must be highly durable and corrosion resistant. Plasticized PVC is the most common waterstop material, but PVC is made with phthalates, an endocrine disruptor, and its production and disposal pose a number of environmental problems. GreenSpec lists products using alternatives to PVC such as EDPM and polypropylene.
The wastewater from washing down concrete equipment on the jobsite has a pH as high as 12 (similar to drain cleaner) and can potentially contain toxic metals. Concrete washout systems capture this wastewater for proper disposal, preventing it from entering the groundwater. These systems also minimize solid concrete waste leftover at the jobsite.
Rebar supports for concrete formwork hold rebar in place during pours and have minimal structural requirements. GreenSpec lists plastic products listed here with high recycled content, plastic.
GreenSpec also lists structural elements that serve as thermal breaks between balconies and buildings—a major area of heat loss, and one requiring special attention.
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