WOODBRIDGE, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Durable, long lasting, low maintenance, attractive and high quality are words commonly associated with vinyl building products made with PVC (polyvinyl chloride). One word not typically used in the same sentence as PVC, however, is sustainable.
Royal Building Products is working to change the perception of PVC and vinyl building materials.
“We have a good story to tell,” said Andre Touchette, regional president for Royal’s Window and Door Profiles in Montreal. “As environmentalists compare the cradle-to-grave impacts of our products and alternative materials, the perception of PVC and vinyl building products is steadily improving.”
Indeed, when the entire lifecycle is considered, PVC and vinyl building materials are environmentally friendly – friendlier, in fact, than many so-called “green” alternatives.
Here are some examples:
PVC consumes less energy during manufacturing than many competing products, saving fossil fuels and reducing greenhouse gas emissions PVC requires little or no maintenance, such as painting or treatment with preservatives; its durability means that PVC needs to be replaced less frequently than other materials PVC building products are energy efficient; ENERGY STAR roofing membranes made of PVC reflect sunlight, ENERGY STAR vinyl window frames conserve energy in buildings, and the smooth inner walls of PVC pipe reduces friction and requires less energy to pump water PVC is lighter in weight than many alternative building materials, thus requiring less fuel to transport the finished product to the site where it will be used
Finally, it is important to note that PVC and vinyl building products are easily recyclable.
“Royal is committed to sustainable manufacturing, and that includes recycling PVC scrap,” said Mark Orcutt, executive vice president-building products at Royal’s parent company, Georgia Gulf Corporation (NYSE: GGC - News).
“We have regrind machines set up in each of our facilities throughout North America,” Orcutt said. ”We recycle 100 percent of our scrap produced internally, and the recycled PVC is then shared throughout our organization and incorporated into new building products. What our Window and Door business can’t use because of the need for higher purity is sent to our Siding business. And what our Siding business can’t use is sent to our Pipe business, which can use all types of recycled PVC.”
For nearly a decade, Royal also has been working to expand the sustainable nature of PVC and vinyl building products by partnering with outside fabricators, building contractors and other organizations to ensure that their scrap and unused inventory is recycled rather than sent to a landfill.
The effort began in 2002 as a pilot project involving Royal’s Pipe & Fittings Solutions in western Canada, the city of Abbottsford and a local contractor in British Columbia to recycle scrap pipe discarded during the installation of municipal water mains and sewage lines. While the pipe “take-back” program generates a limited amount of recyclable material – about 1,500 pounds a year – the effort has successfully demonstrated that the lifecycle benefits of PVC can extend beyond cradle-to-grave.
“By recycling PVC pipe, we now have a sustainable product that offers cradle-to-cradle environmental and energy-saving benefits,” said Lorne Smyth, vice president, business development and marketing, at Royal’s Pipe & Fittings Solutions.
In 2008, Royal’s Window and Door Profiles business rolled out its own take-back program that initially included 16 fabricators in eastern Canada. The program focuses on recycling the scrap materials – “end cuts” – that are a byproduct of the fabricators’ manufacturing process.
“Over time, we want to expand our efforts from post-fabrication recycling to post-consumer recycling,” Touchette said. “There are strong efforts moving forward to put a post-consumer take-back program in place, but there is currently not enough volume of product to justify the investment.”
The primary hurdle, he explained, is that vinyl windows and doors last so long that it could be years before a meaningful volume of material is available to be recycled.
The longevity of vinyl building products, however, has not deterred other Royal operations from doing what they can to recapture and reuse PVC scrap.
At Royal’s Mouldings, Trim and Decking facility in southwestern Virginia, for example, the company has a customer take-back program for end cuts and mitered corners, as well as PVC saw dust. During the first half of 2011, the plant in Marion had recaptured more than 86,000 pounds of recyclable material compared with nearly 52,300 pounds in 2010.
“We view the take-back program as an opportunity to partner with our customers to do the right thing for our communities,” said Brian Thomas, plant manager for the Marion facility. “It can help prolong the life of current landfills and reduce the amount of natural resources that must be consumed to produce virgin products.”
Before scrap that is collected from fabricators in the field can be recycled, all non-PVC material – such as hardware, weather stripping and dirt (if the material is waste from a construction site) – must be removed. Then, the scrap PVC is fed into a grinder, and the small pellets that emerge are combined with virgin PVC compound and extruded into new pipe, vinyl siding, decking, window and door components, and other building materials.
In addition to the environmental advantages, Royal customers are finding that recycling PVC and vinyl building products offers other benefits. In Canada, for example, manufacturers are taxed on waste volume. Royal’s take-back program enables its fabricating customers to receive a tax break – as well as a payment that the company provides for each pound of recyclable scrap that is returned to Royal Building Products.
Similarly, as owners and contractors look for ways to make homes and businesses more sustainable, vinyl building products that are both recyclable and contain recycled content are becoming increasingly sought after.
“We are finding that a majority of fabricators are getting requests from consumers about their environmental footprint,” Touchette said. “Some of our largest customers are now promoting the presence of recycled materials in their products.”
Finally, companies like Royal Building Products are discovering that a focus on recycling and sustainability enhances employee engagement and retention.
“Our employees are proud to be part of a company like Royal Building Products that cares about the environment and that offers products that can make a sustainable difference,” Orcutt said.
About Royal Building Products
Royal Building Products, a subsidiary of Georgia Gulf Corporation (NYSE: GGC - News), manufactures and distributes leading materials for the home remodeling, building and municipal construction markets. For over 40 years, the company’s commitment to quality, innovation and customer relationships has attracted the loyalty of a growing number of building professionals, homeowners, architects, engineers and distributors to its products. With operations throughout North America, Royal Building Products offers the renovation, remodeling and new construction industries a broad range of innovative products including siding, trim, accessories, soffit, rain ware, mouldings, deck, fence, rail, window profiles and patio doors. Royal Building Products also manufactures pipe and fittings solutions for the electrical, municipal, irrigation, plumbing and industrial construction industries. For more information, please visit our website http://www.royalbuildingproducts.com. Follow us on Twitter and “Like” us on Facebook.
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As ‘Take-Back’ Program Enters Its Tenth Year, Royal’s Recycling Efforts Expand the Sustainable Nature of PVC
S&P 500 component Starwood Hotel & Resorts Worldwide Inc. reported its results for the fourth quarter. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide operates in the hotel and leisure business. Its brand names include St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, W and Westin.
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Starwood Hotel & Resorts Worldwide Earnings Cheat Sheet for the Fourth Quarter
Results: Net income for Starwood Hotel & Resorts Worldwide Inc. fell to $167 million (85 cents per share) vs. $339 million ($1.78 per share) a year earlier. This is a decline of 50.7% from the year earlier quarter.
Revenue: Rose 14.2% to $1.53 billion from the year earlier quarter.
Actual vs. Wall St. Expectations: Starwood Hotel & Resorts Worldwide Inc. reported adjusted net income of 71 cents per share. By that measure, the company beat the mean estimate of 57 cents per share. It beat the average revenue estimate of $1.42 billion.
Quoting Management: Frits van Paasschen, CEO said, “We grew worldwide systemwide REVPAR by 5.8%, delivering strong fourth quarter EBITDA and EPS. Each of our nine brands performed well, driving REVPAR index gains for the tenth quarter in a row. Our strong and growing presence in the emerging markets fueled almost 21,000 room openings in 2011, the most in our Company’s history. These openings bring our five year total to 389 new hotels. In other words, over one-third of our 1,090 hotels are newly opened. When combined with a full year REVPAR increase of 7.4%, our fees jumped 14.3%, a strong acceleration from 2010?s growth rate. As we look to 2012, it is shaping up to be another record year of room additions and strong REVPAR growth.”
Key Stats:
The company has now topped analyst estimates for the last four quarters. It beat the mark by 3 cents in the third quarter, by 4 cents in the second quarter, and by 4 cents in the first quarter.
Revenue has risen the past four quarters. Revenue increased 9.3% to $1.37 billion in the third quarter. The figure rose 10.6% in the second quarter from the year earlier and climbed 9.1% in the first quarter from the year-ago quarter.
Looking Forward: Expectations for the company’s next quarter performance are higher than they were ninety days ago. Over the past three months, the average estimate for the first quarter of the next fiscal year has risen to 36 cents per share from 35 cents. The average estimate for the fiscal year has seen a bump from $1.78 per share sixty days ago to $1.79.
(Company fundamentals provided by Xignite Financials. Earnings estimates provided by Zacks)
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To contact the reporter on this story: Derek Hoffman at staff.writers@wallstcheatsheet.com
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Damien Hoffman at editors@wallstcheatsheet.com
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Starwood Hotel & Resorts Worldwide Inc. Earnings: Net Income Sinks
It’s been nearly seven years since the federal government first instituted the most recent series of energy tax credits to encourage consumers to install and use energy-efficient alternatives for home heating and cooling. Many of these credits, including tax breaks and Energy Star-approved HVAC systems, will expire by 2012.
However, a few credits on bigger-ticket items like solar equipment and wind turbines will extend through the year 2016. Perhaps the most popular of these tax-credit-friendly options has been the relatively affordable geothermal heat pump, also known as a ground-source heat pump.
Because the temperature just a few feet below the ground tends to stay at a relatively constant 50 to 60 degrees year round, geothermal heating and cooling systems are able to maintain consistent indoor temperatures with minimal energy use even when outdoor temperatures fluctuate wildly.
According to the California Energy Commission’s Consumer Energy Center, about 70 percent of energy used in geothermal systems is renewable energy directly from the earth. The rest is electric or gas energy used to pump refrigerant or water through the system and heat through the system.
How it works
A geothermal system sinks pipes filled with water or refrigerant a few feet into the ground outside a home or business. A pump moves the fluid into the ground, where it picks up heat in winter or disperses heat in the summer.
The fluid then continues along its path into a heat exchanger in or under the house, where the fluid imparts heat in the winter or removes heat in the summer. A fan and system of ductwork then distributes the heat through the home or business, much like a standard HVAC system.
If you’re constructing a new home, the relatively high cost of a geothermal system can be integrated into a mortgage. If you’re facing a prohibitively expensive monthly utility bill due to outdated equipment or high current costs of energy, you may be able to recoup the cost of geothermal installation within three to 10 years.
Small solar energy and wind energy systems designed for home installation, as well as fuel cell installations, are also eligible for Energy Star tax credits through 2016. These systems tend to be even more cost-prohibitive than geothermal systems, though, so consider your options carefully.
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This article originally appeared on Angie’s List.
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2012 Tax Credits For Heating And Cooling
