Green Building Guiding Principles

Plastics Division of American Chemistry Council (ACC) Green Building Guiding Principles

The Plastics Division of American Chemistry Council (ACC) endorses the practice of conserving resources and minimizing the environmental and health impacts of buildings.

1. Environmental considerations and energy efficiency should become a part of building design and purchasing criteria, consistent with such traditional criteria as product safety, price, performance, and availability.
2. Energy efficiency and environmental performance should be evaluated using a “systems” approach during the entire use-phase of a building.
3. The process for establishing “sustainable” building/product criteria should include consensus-based decision-making, best available science, transparency, and openness to all relevant stakeholders.

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Saving Energy Through High Performance Buildings Eco-label rating systems based on checklists like Green Globes and LEED can detract from measures that will result in significant building energy savings performance. As a result, some eco-labeled buildings miss the mark in terms of improved and sustained energy efficiency performance.

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Cradle-to-Gate Life Cycle Inventory of Nine Plastics Resins and Two Polyurethane Precursors (2007) Produced by Franklin Associates, this report provides an in-depth look at the environmental profiles for the production of major plastic resins and polyurethane precursors.

ACC's Plastics Division supports all Green Building programs that are in accordance with these principles, and will promote change through constructive engagement with those are aren’t.