Enviropundit: Green Building Blog

USGBC Releases Draft Report on PVC

The U.S. Green Building Council’s Technical and Scientific Advisory Committee (TSAC) has released a public comment draft of its long-awaited report on polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Commissioned to determine “the availability and quality of the evidence as a basis for a reasoned decision about the inclusion of a PVC-related credit in the LEED Rating System,” the report’s central finding is that “the available evidence does not support a conclusion that PVC is consistently worse than alternative materials on a life-cycle environmental and health basis.” The report also discusses data gaps and subject areas which, “if information became available, could alter the results of the analysis.” The 120-page, highly technical report includes a six-page executive summary outlining the approach and conclusions. ...

To assess the “availability and quality of the evidence,” the Task Group also created a database of nearly 2,500 relevant reports, papers, and other source materials. Many of these were submitted by stakeholders; others were identified through literature searches and other research. These sources are flagged according to the materials, impacts categories, and life-cycle stages that they address, and a matrix view of the database allows users to see how many sources apply to each area of interest.