Vinyl siding sustainable twelve times over
My gut reaction to vinyl siding is a stomach clenching ball of nausea that climbs into my throat. I don't like the stuff. I think that it looks awful (especially on historic homes) and it's plastic for crissakes. Vinyl or Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) releases over 100 different toxins when burned. PVC has also been known to release phthalates.
Now the Vinyl Siding Institute (VSI) has come out with a paper entitled, "A Dozen Things You Might Not Know That Make Vinyl Siding Green." I didn't even know that there was a "Vinyl Siding Institute" and I can't say that the words, "green, vinyl and siding" inspire anything good in me.
Here are few ways that the VSI has found a way to greenwash their product:
Now the Vinyl Siding Institute (VSI) has come out with a paper entitled, "A Dozen Things You Might Not Know That Make Vinyl Siding Green." I didn't even know that there was a "Vinyl Siding Institute" and I can't say that the words, "green, vinyl and siding" inspire anything good in me.
Here are few ways that the VSI has found a way to greenwash their product:
- Generates less was during manufacturing. Sure but what about the resources required to get the oil out of the ground, refined, turned into plastic and shipped to the manufacturing site. Besides, most wood waste in manufacturing is reused or recycled.
- It is engineered to last. Well I can't argue with that one. Vinyl siding will last and last and last even until long after the innards of the house have turned to dust.
- Contributes to less global warming than brick. Ok, I'm trying to figure out how they come up with this one. Bricks are made through several processes from collecting mud and setting it out in the sun to fired bricks (which have been around since thethird millennium BC). Maybe it's the "fired" part that VSI doesn't like. They prefer terms like "toxic, wood rot, and petroleum."
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-26-2008 @ 12:32PM
Phil L. said...
Well - then what do you suggest?
If you like real wood, be sure to count the environmental impact of regular painting.
I like brick - but when did you last see a new house built entirely of brick (i.e., not just a facade)? I haven't seen one in years. It's just too pricey for normal folks. Plus you can't generally retrofit brick on an existing house that wasn't designed for it.
I wanted Hardiplank-style fiber cement siding on my house - but we'd be back to painting (arguable, not as frequently as real wood).
So... We're left with aluminum (back to ugly)? Anything else?
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9-26-2008 @ 3:54PM
Phil L. said...
Item I missed above: When I looked into Hardiplank, material and installation costs ended up being surprisingly high.
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9-26-2008 @ 4:04PM
kelly.leahy said...
Hey Phil, thanks for the comment. I like wood or brick for traditional homes. As for paint, there are more and more eco-friendly brands coming out all of the time. Vinyl color starts to fade itself so one could conceivably replacing the vinyl in a decade or two. Worst of all, the siding can destroy the wood beneath it.
Hardibacker is a great product and great for tropical climates like the one that I live in. In addition, I saw some really innovative techniques for new construction at Global Green's Holy Cross Project.
http://www.globalgreen.org/neworleans/holycross/
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