(NAPSA)—Sometimes in the world of environmentalism, man beats Mother Nature. Take building products, where consumers might expect to find wood on a homeconsidered “green.” Some might be surprised to learn wood plank is not considered a green product by many standards, and fiber-cement-siding products that look like wood are. One of those standards is established by Built Green Colorado, the country’s largest program for encouraging green construction and publisher of a checklist that rates homes for their environmental attributes. Approximately 13,000 homes are registered with the Built Green Colorado. To qualify, a home must achieve at least 70 points on its checklist of items for energy efficiency, healthier air, preservation of water and resources, improved durability and reduced maintenance. “Many green builders would say you shouldn’t put wood anywhere on the exterior because of durability issues,” explains Ken Slattery, a Built Green Colorado specialist based in Denver. “That goes for wood plank and shingles. Most builders would agreeit’s not a good use of material, and that there are much more durable products to use.” Fiber-cement siding is one exterior-siding material listed on the Built Green Checklist. Its description for the product reads in part, “Long-lasting, lowmaintenance exterior-finish products reduce replacement frequency, which meanscost savings, reduced landfill impact, and fewer iv Some may be surprised to find that fiber cement siding is considered a “green”product. resources devoted to maintenance and replacement.” This is one of the reasons why leading green builder Engle Homes uses Hardiplank siding on most of the homesit builds, says Bob Eikenberg, vice president of operations. Engle is one of about 120 builders on board with Built Green Colorado. Since 2001, the Florida-based Engle has committed 100 percent of its Colorado operations to building environmentally friendly, energy efficient homes. “The primary reason we’ve elected to use James Hardie siding products is to reduce our dependence on wood products,” says Eikenberg. Maximum efficiency was the point of Orlando House, a demonstration home built to educate the public on the latest environmentally friendly and energy-efficient building products and methods on the market. Its guide was the Florida Green Home Standard checklist, written by the Florida Green Building Coalition, which requires at least 200 points for green certification. “From very early on in the project, one of the city’s goals was to meet all requirements of the Florida Green Home Standard,” says Eric Martin. Orlando Housing Development Supervisor Joe Sandley says Hardiplank siding beat out stucco as the chosen siding based on its durability and sustainability in Florida’s extreme climate and conditions. “It has no warping effect, it doesn’t rot and it’s termite proof,” he says. It joins other carefully selected products for the home, Sandley adds, including bamboo floors for bamboo’s resource conservation and steel framing for steel’s recyclability. “The Florida Green Home Standard does give points for the use of fiber-cement products,” says Martin, including less frequent painting and maintenance, as well as non-combustibility, in fiber-cement siding’s list of plusses. “We looked at the meaning of structurally sustainable,” says Sandley of Orlando’s building with Hardiplank. “Even if it had not fit into the ‘green’ building, we probably would have still usedit.” James Hardie has been manufacturing cement-based building products for over 100 years. Its current fiber-cement formulation was developed 20 years ago and has been performing in the world’s most severe climates. For more information, call (866) 4HARDIE or visit www.james hardie.com.
