“Green” Building Material

A “green” building should be constructed of materials that will last the life of the structure itself. Long-lasting construction is the essence of sustainability. The selection of green building materials should follow the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s admonition to balance the value of recycled content as a green attribute with other attributes that contribute to resource conservation and overall sustainability.

While recycled content is the most obvious environmental benefit of a product, being truly green means using building materials that help reduce the environmental impacts associated with the extraction, transport, processing, reuse, recycling and disposal of source materials. To be truly environmentally beneficial, a product must be conceptualized, manufactured, packaged and transported to the jobsite in ways that minimize environmental damage and excel in conserving energy.

Fiber glass and mineral wool insulations are inherently “green”; they conserve energy and significantly decrease the generation of harmful air pollutants to the atmosphere. In assessing the environmental impact of these products over their lifecycle, fiber glass and mineral wool insulations meet many, if not all, of the requirements for green building.