Getting green at the grass roots

The concept of being environmentally friendly didn’t just creep up on the construction industry, it came gently jogging over the horizon many years past. The jogging became a sprint four or five years ago and then, with the most recent changes to the Building Regulations, it lunged and we were blindsided.

When one of the UK’s most esteemed (and most name-checked) high street brands took out a series of full-page ads in the nationals outlining its green policy, I think it’s fair to say, a lot of players in our industry did a collective knee-jerk.

Being environmentally friendly has replaced political correctness in recent times. There’s still enough smoke and mirrors to make it safer ground to lay claim to than health and safety in terms of new company policy, and it remains one of the topics most often discussed in our media and among our peers.

Given the time spent considering all issues green, the fact that our clients are increasingly selecting suppliers based on their green credentials, and the expense that is arising from employing eco-friendly solutions, we should really make sure we get it right.

Beware the manufacturers’ marketing spin. How often do we see condensing boilers being presented as a more efficient and environmentally friendly option? In practice, if these are coupled with poorly designed heating systems that have high-return water temperatures, their efficiency will be only marginally greater than traditional boilers. Is the gain worth the pain?

Buildings built to the latest build regulations have to be in excess of 20% more energy-efficient and show that they have reduced their carbon footprint accordingly.

A laudable aim – until you begin to calculate the energy and natural resources required to deliver this carbon footprint reduction.

Think of the lorries needed to deliver the wood chips for all of the potential biomass boilers. And what of the ongoing maintenance of things like solar panels, including the chemicals used to clean them?

More thought needs to be given to the manufacturing process. We need to go right back to basics and evaluate the environmental consequences of the production of some of these eco-friendly initiatives.

Do we offset as much in the use of the equipment and facilities as went into the initial products and material? Can we do more to tackle current energy demands through maintenance and repair? There needs to be far more joined-up thinking if our efforts are to bear fruit in the long term.

Think of the lorries needed to deliver the wood chips for all of the potential biomass boilers. And what of the maintenance of solar panels?

Renewables aren’t always the answer, either. We must remember that for every piece of kit we install and every building we demolish and replace, energy is expended. Carbon is produced both via the manufacturing of new products and materials and the logistics of moving the stuff around.

So many products are now manufactured with a shorter life span in a bid to keep the economy rolling. Built-in obsolescence seems to be the norm, in consumer goods and in industrial manufacturing.

Commodity items made 20 years ago lasted longer, were easier to maintain and repair and were not significantly less efficient overall.

Now we are into the first quarter of 2008, we must also examine whether the green issue will slide in the scale of importance when pitched alongside threats to the economy: whisperings of a recession, inflationary pressures and labour shortages.

In construction, the cheapest solutions have historically prevailed. Will our clients turn a blind eye to less environmentally friendly choices that we make, if feigned ignorance results in a lower price? Or will the righteous pursuit of all that is green win out, regardless of the economic climate?

The greater debate is, of course, whether or not we can afford not to be green. If everything that has been said so far is to be believed, agreed with and adhered to, the answer must be a resounding no.

We will continue to see the specifying of biomass boilers as an easy win in the sustainability points agenda, with little or no regard to the carbon footprint or practicality of sourcing the biomass fuel. If the market tightens further it may yet make hypocrites of us all.

Regardless of whether or not green policies take a back seat at some point – specifically, when the focus swings firmly back to costs – they will never go away. Acknowledging this, we need to penetrate much deeper than our current surface-level of green commitment.

Instead of renewing, maybe we need to focus more closely on repairing and preserving – and we certainly need to reassess our behaviour as consumers.

Prevention may not always be better than cure – but it’s a good place to start.