DWM - 2008 - December

Volume 9, Issue 11 - December 2008

Energy & Environmental News

Greenbuild Focuses on Homebuilders
and How to Build Sustainable Homes

The Greenbuild International Conference & Expo, which took place in Boston in November, focused on homebuilders as it hosted the first Green Homebuilder’s Day.

A panel session was held, moderated by Kevin O’Connor, the host of PBS’s “This Old House.” Scheduled panel speakers were Tedd Benson, founder of Bensonwood, a woodworking company specializing in timberframe structures and prefabrication; and Steve Kieran, founder of KieranTimberlake Associates LLP architecture firm. The panel addressed the changing housing market and discussed what needs to change over the next 50 years to ensure homes are sustainable and healthy for those who live in them.

Green Homebuilder’s Day also featured an educational session track targeted specifically at the residential market. Sessions discussed such topics as green affordable housing, ways to address the aging housing stock, the costs of going green, and high-performance renovations.

Green Homebuilder’s Day ended with a closing reception, where seven outstanding projects and builders received awards. Attendees also had the opportunity to meet with LEED for Homes Providers from their areas.

Greenbuild 2009 will be held November 11-13 in Phoenix.

Dow Corning Works to Reduce Waste

Officials at Dow Corning say the company has achieved significant progress in waste reduction, including a cut of up to 80 percent in process scrap at one of its manufacturing sites. The reductions have been achieved in part through the company’s materials conversion program, which converts or recycles its waste, scrap and off-spec silicone materials instead of sending them to landfill or incineration, according to the company. Materials are then reprocessed into new products that meet customers’ specifications.

“Waste reduction emerged as the most important environmental issue facing manufacturing businesses nowadays in an international study we commissioned last year,” says Peter Cartwright, Dow Corning executive director for environment, health and safety. “Like many other companies Dow Corning is actively looking for ways to cut our waste levels.”

The company has made several efforts, particularly at its European locations:
• A reduction in process scrap generated by the emulsions and antifoam production unit of its Seneffe, Belgium, manufacturing site by 80 percent;
• A decrease in the waste generated in its Barry, Wales, site by a factor of 10; and
• A reduction in the overall amount of waste solvent at the Barry site by reusing a different solvent that is generated as a waste byproduct elsewhere in the plant.

Examples in North America include:
• A reduction in consumption of natural gas and carbon dioxide emissions by burning hydrogen at its Midland, Mich., plant;
• A reduction in the amount of solvent used in a coating process in Midland that had been sent to an offsite disposal facility by recycling it; and
• A reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases through energy reduction at its Carrollton, Ky., plant. A wide variety of projects over the past five years have contributed to a 19,800 tons-per-year reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.

Examples in China include:
• Recycling more than 80 percent of the waste at its Zhangjiagang (ZJG) sealant plant, in contrast to the 90 percent of waste that had previously been sent offsite for disposal;
• A reduction of 50 percent of nonhazardous silicone and solvent streams at the Zhangjiagang sealant plant between 2007 and 2008;• The sealants plant also has established a program to focus on further reducing the sealant waste at its point of generation. The plant is committed to moving its waste stream up through the “waste hierarchy” from disposal to recycling, to reduction and elimination.