flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

New white papers offer best choices in drywall, flooring, and insulation for embodied carbon and health impacts

Building Materials

New white papers offer best choices in drywall, flooring, and insulation for embodied carbon and health impacts

Biggest improvements from selecting different product types within a product category


By Peter Fabris, Contributing Editor | October 19, 2023
New white papers offer best choices in drywall, flooring, and insulation for embodied carbon and health impacts
Photo: Perkins&Will

Two new reports offer guidance on selecting environmentally friendly and healthy building materials in three product categories: gypsum drywall, flooring, and insulation.

Embodied Carbon and Material Health in Insulation” and “Embodied Carbon and Material Health in Gypsum Drywall and Flooring,” by architecture and design firm Perkins&Will in partnership with the Healthy Building Network, advise on how to select the best low-carbon products with the least impact on human health.

“Given the sheer volume of these product categories sold each year—which can collectively cover the entire state of Rhode Island and then some—even small reductions in their carbon footprint and improvements in material health would significantly contribute to creating a healthier, more sustainable built environment,” according to a news release. In the U.S., annual sales of gypsum board totals nearly 24 billion square feet. Flooring materials amount to 29.69 billion square feet, and insulation totals about 11.5 billion square feet.

The report’s findings include:

• Products that improve material health and embodied carbon are available across all three product categories.
• It is best to first screen for optimized product types before selecting specific products because the biggest improvements can be made by selecting different product types within a product category.
• Embodied carbon and material health considerations are sometimes contradictory, so it is important to review the provided guidance to make informed decisions.

The reports are available for download at: https://perkinswill.com/carbonhealth

Related Stories

| May 31, 2012

2011 Reconstruction Awards Profile: Ka Makani Community Center

An abandoned historic structure gains a new life as the focal point of a legendary military district in Hawaii.

| May 31, 2012

5 military construction trends

Defense spending may be down somewhat, but there’s still plenty of project dollars out there if you know where to look.

| May 31, 2012

Day & Zimmermann taps Jobe for ECM VP

Ken Jobe, a senior executive with 30+ years of industry-related experience, joins Day & Zimmermann to expand footprint in the process & industrial markets.

| May 31, 2012

Perkins+Will-designed engineering building at University of Buffalo opens

Clad in glass and copper-colored panels, the three-story building thrusts outward from the core of the campus to establish a new identity for the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the campus at large.

| May 30, 2012

Construction milestone reached for $1B expansion of San Diego International Airport

Components of the $9-million structural concrete construction phase included a 700-foot-long, below-grade baggage-handling tunnel; metal decks covered in poured-in-place concrete; slab-on-grade for the new terminal; and 10 exterior architectural columns––each 56-feet tall and erected at a 14-degree angle.

| May 30, 2012

Boral Bricks announces winners of “Live.Work.Learn” student architecture contest

Eun Grace Ko, a student at the Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada, named winner of annual contest.

| May 30, 2012

Hill International to manage construction of Al Risafa Stadium in Iraq

The three-year contract has an estimated value to Hill of approximately $3.3 million.

| May 29, 2012

Torrance Memorial Medical Center’s pediatric burn patients create their version of new Patient Tower using Legos

McCarthy workers joined the patients, donning construction gear and hard hats, to help with their building efforts.

| May 29, 2012

Reconstruction Awards Entry Information

Download a PDF of the Entry Information at the bottom of this page.

| May 29, 2012

Legrand achieves over 20% energy-intensity reduction in Presidential Challenge

West Hartford headquarters announced as Better Buildings, Better Plants “Showcase” site.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category




halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021