Ottawa, April 9, 2013

Mr. Gerald Flood Comment Editor Winnipeg Free Press

Letter to the Editor RE: Setting the record straight on the environmental friendliness of building materials

Wood industry proponents are attempting to use some environmental claims related to tall wood buildings in order to increase market share and building opportunities for wood. The environmental claims made for tall wood buildings are being contradicted by a growing body of third-party, peerreviewed research from respected academics at such institutions as MIT and UBC. From a cradle-to-cradle or full life cycle perspective, concrete consistently outperforms other materials on a variety of sustainability metrics including greenhouse gas emissions. Indeed, an excellent example of the sustainability of concrete exists right here in Winnipeg, home to one of North Americas most innovative (and dare I say beautiful) green buildings Manitoba Hydro Place. MHP exploits concretes thermal mass to achieve energy efficiencies upwards of 70% over conventional buildings and in a way that also secures benchmark-setting indoor air quality. Since close to 90% of all the greenhouse gasses associated with a building occur during the operation of that building (heating, cooling, lighting, etc), the climate benefits of MHPs efficiency utterly eclipse the GHGs generated during its construction, including those emitted to make the concrete. That is not to say that the cement and concrete industry are shirking their responsibility to lower their manufacturing GHG footprint we have and continue to make progress on this front. Nor is it to suggest that we shouldnt ever build structures out of wood. But if sustainability is your criteria, as it should be and as it is increasingly around the world, a life cycle perspective will often show concrete as the clear choice.

Michael McSweeney President and CEO Cement Association of Canada