The green guide to specification : an environmental profiling system for building materials and components / Jane Anderson, David E. Shiers with Mike Sinclair.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Anderson, Jane B.A., MSc

Contributor:

Shiers, David.

Sinclair, Mike.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Building materials--Environmental aspects--Handbooks, manuals, etc.

Building materials.

Building materials--Environmental aspects.

Architecture--Environmental aspects.

Architecture.

Genre:

Handbooks and manuals.

Physical Description:

vi, 98 pages : illustrations ; 31 cm

Edition:

Third edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Malden, MA : Blackwell Science, 2002.

Summary:

How can you tell if the materials and components you are specifying have a low environmental impact? A full life-cycle assessment is a complex, time-consuming and expensive process; the environmental ratings summarised in this guide provide a quick and easy way for designers and specifiers to assess their options.

The relative environmental performance of over 250 materials and components have been assessed in this guide, using carefully researched, quantitative data derived from the BRE Environmental Profiles Database. A wide range of alternative specifications are provided for: walls, floor systems, floor finishes, roofs, windows, doors, ceilings, paints, insulation, landscaping. The performance of each specification is measured against a range of environmental impacts including: Climate change, toxicity, fossil fuel and ozone depletion, levels of emissions and pollutants, mineral and water extraction.

Environmental performance is indicated by a simple to use A-B-C rating system. To further aid specifiers, guidance on capital costs, typical replacement intervals and information on recycling are also provided for each material and component.

An important part of BREEAM, the BRE's widely accepted scheme to improve the environmental performance of buildings, The Green Guide to Specification is an essential tool for architects, surveyors, building managers and property owners seeking to reduce the environmental impacts of building materials through informed choice.

Contents:

A global issue 2

How this edition of The Green Guide to Specification relates to other BRE publications and tools 4

Previous editions of The Green Guide to Specification 4

BRE Environmental Profiles of construction materials, components and buildings 5

The Green Guide to Housing Specification 5

BREEAM 5

Envest 5

Ecopoints and weightings 6

Green procurement 6

Life Cycle Assessment 7

Sources of LCA data in The Green Guide to Specification 8

Environmental issues 9

Climate change 9

Fossil fuel depletion 9

Ozone depletion 9

Human toxicity to air and human toxicity to water 9

Ecotoxicity 9

Waste disposal 9

Water extraction 9

Acid deposition 9

Eutrophication 10

Summer smog 10

Minerals extraction 10

Embodied energy 10

How The Green Guide to Specification was compiled 11

How the elements were chosen 11

How the specifications were chosen 11

How Green Guide environmental issue ratings were assessed 11

How Green Guide Summary Ratings are generated 12

Weightings 12

Worked example 13

Part II How to use The Green Guide to Specification 15

Layout of the element sections 16

Functional unit 16

Building pie charts 16

Summary Rating range 17

Significant environmental issues for elements 17

Ratings tables 17

Using the ratings 18

The importance of different elements 19

Arrangement of the building elements 20

Part III Green Guide ratings 21

High-mass elements 22

Upper floors 23

Ground floors and substructure 25

Insulation 25

External walls 27

Superstructure 28

General comments on external walls 28

Insulation 28

Division of external wall specifications into subsections 29

Traditional forms of cavity wall construction 30

'Rainscreen' claddings 32

Cladding and masonry construction 33

Cladding and framed construction 36

Roofs 39

Insulation 40

Division of roofing specifications into subsections 40

Flat roofs 41

'Traditional' pitched roofs 43

Low pitched roofs 45

Medium- and low-mass elements 46

Floor finishes and coverings 47

Hard floor finishes 49

Soft floor coverings 50

Substructural floor systems/floor surfacing 51

Windows and curtain walling 53

Internal walls and partitioning 55

Loadbearing partitions 56

Non-loadbearing partitions 57

Proprietary and demountable partitions 58

Suspended ceilings and ceiling finishes 59

Doors 63

Other materials and elements 66

Internal paint finishes 67

Insulation 69

All insulations (including those using HCFCs) 70

Zero ozone depletion potential (ZODP) insulations 72

Landscaping: hard surfacing 75

Landscaping: boundary protection 77

Appendix 1 General notes relating to the use of specific materials and particular environmental issues 80

Timber 80

Indoor air quality issues 80

Insulation: CFCs, HCFCs and HFCs 81

PVC 81

Appendix 2 Worked example of the generation of a Green Guide rating for an internal wall specification 83

Generation of the environmental profile for the specification 83

Generation of the Green Guide rating for each environmental issue 85

Generation of the Summary Rating for each specification 85

Appendix 3 Production of a BRE Environmental Profile for a material using the BRE Environmental Profiles Methodology 87

Inventory analysis 87

Impact assessment 87

Appendix 4 BREEAM case study 88

Appendix 5 Differences in environmental issues from previous editions 90.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0632059613

OCLC:

49356724