JamesScott

Let's get one thing perfectly clear, vinyl siding has never been, is not, and never will be environmentally friendly or green. The chemicals that leach or off-gas from of all vinyl products are constantly given credit for more environmental concerns and health effects.

It's amazing how we have banned lead paint products and get all up in arms when our pet food is tainted with melamine but when it comes to the health of our home and the effect it has on our family's health we are still blinded.

The only people getting any benefit out of vinyl siding are the chemical companies, the siding manufacturers and distributors. This is because each of us feels we have earned the right to live in over sized "luxury: homes. The process of creating a home in itself is unsustainable, therefore we have to use unsustainable practices to create such housing stock in the first place.

To counter my rant, what's wrong with building a house that is more suitable to the materials that occur locally. There's nothing more sustainable than using local materials, and reusing these materials when the original structure is dismantled.

There is also a Japanese technique called shou-sugi-ban. Japanese cedar (cypress) is charred and then sealed prior to installation as siding. I guess we have to decide if burning cedar is green as well.

I do like the article and that it highlights alternatives. And there are alternatives out there. The problem is can these alternatives overcome the competition from mass produced and distributed products?

Why is it that we so concerned that we get a few extra years out of a deck or a fence or other product that we have to pollute the space we live in.

We see plastic bags and other such refuse lurking within the landscape we cry foul at the atrocity. Hundreds of years to decompose, wildlife endangered, toxins leaching into the soil we get our food from. Yet we're willing to dump this stuff right onto our backyards.

Somehow plastic lumber has risen above all other forms of human pollution. We look at mixing wood (organic) with plastic (non-organic) and we don't foresee the problems that we have to deal with when these materials are no longer needed. What happens with this stuff when it reaches the end of it's lifespan? With the product only being available to the market for the past 20 years there is still no proven track record for dealing with the waste material once the product is discarded.

And what decking are you using. To say it's all the same is to say blue is blue. HDPE, LDPE, Polystyrene and Polyvinyl Chloride PVC, which plastic is in your lumber? Many home building/contracting professionals have no idea what they're selling their customers and the impact it can have on their lives. This is to dangerous a product to leave to landscape designers and consumer aesthetics.

There is much discussion around the value placed on our tools. Maybe the discussion should be about our values and the pride we put into our work. At what point do we say to ourselves there is no room for compromise?

Simply put our tools are a reflection of our values.

It's great to see that there is some flexibility for homeowners but there is only a hint at conservation.

The showers at the local hockey rink have push style activators that have an auto shut-off feature. Are these products readily available for residential applications?