New Industry Standards for Stone, Ceramic, Clay and Glass Building Materials and Windows Add to Program Milestones NORTHBROOK, Ill., Nov. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- UL Environment (ULE) announces at Greenbuild 2009 that it intends to develop standards for sustainability in new industry categories: stone, ceramic, clay and glass building materials and glazing materials, windows and associated hardware and accessories. The standards establish environmental requirements for these building products and the environmental criteria are based on the life cycle impacts and health effects of the associated products. ULE's new sustainability standards will draw on input from UL Environment Standard Technical Panels (STPs) comprised of stakeholders such as manufacturers, government entities, consumer interest groups, product installers, users, distributors and testing organizations. These standards will set minimum environmental requirements and create a progressive and tiered approach allowing sustainability leaders to highlight their achievements. The new standards announcement brings the categories in which ULE is driving the development of sustainability standards to five separate categories covering multiple products: stone, ceramic, clay and glass building materials; glazing materials windows and associated hardware and accessories; doors and related hardware; mineral board, fiberboard and wallboard; and, suspended ceiling materials and systems. Since its launch in early 2009, the company has made several announcements regarding top companies participating in its Environmental Claims Validation (ECV) program. EcoRock® from Serious Materials was the first company to achieve an ECV from ULE. Most recently companies including Owens Corning and LG Electronics have gone through ULE's ECV program, providing the market with products that not only say they are environmentally-preferable, but carry specific, validated claims. Owens Corning, an industry leader in residential and commercial building materials, received the ULE ECV for a minimum of 35 percent recycled content in its manufactured stone and veneer products, Cultured Stone® and ProStone®. These products represent the first manufactured stone veneer products to receive third party validation for recycled content. By the end of the year, ULE will announce the first-ever company to complete the ULE Sustainable Product Certification (SPC) program for meeting the NSF 140-2007 sustainability standards for commercial carpet. "The building industry is one of the first industries to see concentrated efforts for sustainability including building with sustainable design and energy efficiency," said Steve Wenc, President, UL Environment. "It has been the first to begin to prove out environmental claims within product categories and it makes sense for us to start here in terms of development of environmental standards for the industry." ULE is an official certifying body for BIFMA level(TM) Program, a multi-attribute sustainability standard and for the furniture industry. ULE's validations and certifications also help manufacturers achieve the NAHB Research Center "Green Approved" product seal, which qualifies products to earn points toward National Green Building Certification under the ICC-700 National Green Building Standard(TM). ULE anticipates drafts of all sustainability standards announced in 2009 to be ready by the end of 2010.
