Proposed Ban of PVC in Government Buildings Could Cause Environmental and Economic Harm

Proposed Ban of PVC in Government Buildings Could Cause Environmental and Economic Harm
Breitbart
by Tony Lee


It may be all well and good to set guidelines for buildings to use materials that are not harmful to anyone or the environment.

But sometimes, things get in the way.

Things like inaccurate studies usually produced for Money gains for example.

Or, things like people who may have wild and crazy ideas that simply don't make all that much sense to normal people.

This story may have some of those things.

And of course, it Always suggests possible (or obvious) Corruption !!

Green initiatives and certification often have unintended consequences and can often do more harm than good--not just to the economy but to the environment as well.

And the House the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, on Tuesday, is holding a hearing on the "science behind green building rating systems." Witnesses include officials from the United States Green Building Council and the embattled General Services Administration.

Recently, USGCB has sought to ban Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) from government buildings even though studies have shown that PVC outperforms other alternatives. And the unintended consequences of these “green guidelines” could do more harm than good to the economy and the environment.

Leadership in Energy Development (LEED) is a certification process run by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGCB), a non profit, that certifies buildings as being “green” enough. And the USGBC has announced, in guidelines which can be seen here that it will attempt to stipulate hat builders use "materials that do not contain" polyvinyl chloride (PVC). But the science LEED uses is flawed.

We have to wonder Who gets exorbitant fees and salaries for all this


Maybe the GSA wants more trips to Las Vegas ?
And, they seem to have some kind of "Tax" problem as well

The embattled GSA would adopt the guidelines, which is no surprise since the GSA, which oversees the leasing and administration of all government buildings and properties, has direct ties to LEED. In fact, the GSA’s deputy director of the Office of Federal High-Performance Green Buildings, Donald Horn, is an adviser to LEED’s board of directors.

Recently, the Wall Street Journal reported that the agency is accused of demanding “a share of the federal energy-efficiency tax breaks it was offering to contractors in order to spend money on other projects,” which could have been “special projects” such as lavish trips and conference to Las Vegas.

The proposed regulations will “outright ban the use of all materials containing PVC” and, if approved, could harm chemical, manufacturing, building industries; increase the cost of newly constructed buildings and materials; eliminate jobs; and even harm the environment.

And sometimes it's nutty people making "decisions"

Groups like Greenpeace have waged campaigns to get PVC banned. All this is consistent with the person who founded LEED, a liberal environmentalist named Rob Watson who once proclaimed, “buildings are literally the worst thing that humans do to the planet.”

Read further and see an argument that PVC may actually the safest !!

In 2007, a USGBC study found that “PVC outperforms a number of alternative materials in ecotoxicity, eco depletion and contribution to climate change.” The study found that “relative to the environmental impact categories (acidification, eutrophication, ecotoxicity, smog, ozone depletion and global climate change), PVC performs better than several material alternatives studied,” and alternatives such as aluminum siding or cast iron pipe “could be worse than using PVC.”

reply to post by xuenchen


What's next? Bamboo plumbing...

As one who dabbles in plumbing from time to time... You can't be PVC or any of its "plastic" variants especially PEX (cross linked polyethylene) for running continuous supply lines. PEX could replace PVC in the future

If your politicians are anything like ours, a ban on PVC will have a serious detrimental affect on thier weekend fetish wardrobe too.

CX.