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| April Issue Post Date 4/22/05 | www.mcelroy.com | |
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Note From The Editor The USGBC is a coalition of people from across the building industry that promotes building practices that are environmentally responsible, profitable, and creates healthy places to live and work. What they are best known for is their LEED certification. The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System is a rating system where credits are earned for satisfying specified green building criteria. Certified, Silver, Gold, and Platinum levels of green building certification are awarded based on the total credits earned. The five major environmental categories of review include: Sustainable Sites, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality and something the HDPE industry should find very interesting - Water Efficiency. The movement is gaining most of its momentum from mayors and other political figures that are eager to jump on a fresh environmental platform. Recently, the Mayor of Scottsdale Arizona was the first to pass a citywide resolution that says all new buildings in the city must pass USGBC's Gold standard of LEED certification. One recent example of how this development may greatly benefit the HDPE industry is demonstrated in this month's Case Study . It is an article that describes how the city of Seattle decided to substitute 34,000 feet of PVC with HDPE for environmental and human health reasons. The Healthy Building Network is working to educate cities on alternative building materials that are environmentally safe and has done a recent study on pipe. According to the study, high-density polyethylene releases far less persistent toxic pollution than other plastic pipes and is much easier to recycle. Be sure to read this month's State Of The Infrastructure for the full report. The LEED standard has been adopted by a slew of private companies along with federal agencies and state and local governments. The HDPE industry should take an active role in educating USGBC on all of the environmentally friendly benefits of HDPE including its water conservation capabilities, as well as its ability to prevent toxins from entering the water system.Drew L. Wilson; Editor (918) 831-9286 State of The Infrastructure This report was commissioned by the City of San Francisco to identify key attributes of the different plastic pipe types to assist the City in aligning its pipe purchasing policies with its chemical and other environmental concern policies. The study seeks to answer the question of whether there are significant differences between the plastics used to manufacture pipes with a focus on priority environmental health impacts and end of life recyclability. http://www.healthybuilding.net/pvc/SFE_Plastic_Pipe_Alts_Assess.pdf Productivity Tip McElroy In The News Case Studies Links North American Society for Trenchless Technology American Water Works Association American Society of Civil Engineers Foundation Newsletter Links Water World - Receive news from WaterWorld, Industrial Waterworld and Water & Wastewater International. Water Tech Online North American Society of Trenchless Technology Insider and Pipeline Newsletter If you would like a link to your newsletter posted in McElroy Connections, contact Drew L. Wilson at 918-831-9286 or McElroy Connections welcomes your feedback, story ideas, tips, or anything else related to PE Pipe and Pipe fusion. Please email your comments and story ideas to: FOR NEW SUBSCRIPTIONS: To subscribe, visit http://www.mcelroy.com/fusion/forms/newsletter.htm McElroy Connections is published by McElroy Manufacturing Inc. The information contained within each issue is meant as a service to our customers, distributors, and those involved with Polyethylene Pipe applications.
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The mustard colored rectangle on the front page of an otherwise gray website, jumps out at you like a caution sign in a road construction zone. It reads - Welcome to the U.S. Green Building Council 
