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Building Material Certification for Sustainability
Track(s): Codes & Standards, Green (1 GBCI CE hour)

Richard Ferron, FM Approvals;
Karl Meredith, FM Global

Audio Sample:




Today, many construction projects focus on green materials. An often overlooked aspect of a building's greenness is the effect of fires, floods, earthquakes, etc. Building loss from fires/natural hazards can nullify green-construction benefits because of the carbon footprint of disposal/reconstruction. Several criteria for determining the greenness of a construction project relate to material properties, such as thermal properties, recycled content, volatile organic compounds, etc. Still, are the products safe? Are they capable of withstanding fires? Will they survive the life of the building? The range of properties evaluated for truly green construction must be expanded to include properties related to fire and natural hazards. Independent material property certification is necessary to ensure that not only are they green but will also assist in property-loss protection.

Richard P. Ferron, P.E. is an Assistant Vice President and Group Manager of the FM Approvals Materials Group. Ferron is responsible for overseeing the evaluation and certification of building products. The product evaluations performed include fire properties, smoke generation, wind uplift, wind borne debris and hail resistance. Ferron is the company subject matter expert for clean room materials and low smoke wall and ceiling systems and is responsible for the evaluation of green building products.

Karl V. Meredith, Ph.D. is a Senior Research Scientist in the Fire Hazards and Protection Group of the Engineering and Research Division of FM Global. Meredith is responsible for sprinkler-based fire suppression modeling. Meredith holds a doctorate degree of chemical engineering from Brigham Young University.