CERAM Web Site (Ceram is now called Lucideon)
 

[November 2009]

UL Environment to Develop Additional Green Building Standards

UL Environment (Northbrook, IL, USA) announced at Greenbuild 2009 that it intended to develop standards for sustainability in new industry categories: stone, ceramic, clay and glass building materials and glazing materials, windows and associated hardware and accessories. The standards establish environmental requirements for these building products and the environmental criteria are based on the life cycle impacts and health effects of the associated products.

ULE's new sustainability standards will draw on input from UL Environment Standard Technical Panels (STPs) comprised of stakeholders such as manufacturers, government entities, consumer interest groups, product installers, users, distributors and testing organisations. These standards will set minimum environmental requirements and create a progressive and tiered approach allowing sustainability leaders to highlight their achievements.

The new standards announcement brings the categories in which ULE is driving the development of sustainability standards to five separate categories covering multiple products: stone, ceramic, clay and glass building materials; glazing materials, windows and associated hardware and accessories; doors and related hardware; mineral board, fibreboard and wallboard; and suspended ceiling materials and systems.

Since its launch in early 2009, the company has made several announcements regarding top companies participating in its Environmental Claims Validation (ECV) programme. EcoRock® from Serious Materials was the first company to achieve an ECV from ULE. Most recently companies including Owens Corning and LG Electronics have gone through ULE's ECV programme, providing the market with products that not only say they are environmentally preferable, but carry specific, validated claims.

Owens Corning, an industry leader in residential and commercial building materials, received the ULE ECV for a minimum of 35 percent recycled content in its manufactured stone and veneer products, Cultured Stone® and ProStone®. These products represent the first manufactured stone veneer products to receive third party validation for recycled content.

By the end of the year, ULE will announce the first ever company to complete the ULE Sustainable Product Certification (SPC) programme for meeting the NSF 140-2007 sustainability standards for commercial carpet.

"The building industry is one of the first industries to see concentrated efforts for sustainability including building with sustainable design and energy efficiency," said Steve Wenc, President, UL Environment. "It has been the first to begin to prove out environmental claims within product categories and it makes sense for us to start here in terms of development of environmental standards for the industry."

www.ulenvironment.com




ENDS


» CeramicNews Home Page

» Lucideon Website (Lucideon is the new name for CERAM)