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Search Sustainability
Producing our products in a safe, efficient and responsible manner that minimizes our carbon footprint and preserves and protects natural resources.
Natural resources are scarce, and the world today is working to reduce use of scarce natural resources to ensure our future generations are not deprived of these resources. Caring for the environment pushes us to identify applications today which use more natural scare resources and replace them with material available in abundance, thus reducing the overall impact on the planet.
TempRite CPVC is derived from petroleum (30-37% of the finished product) and common table salt (63-70%), of which there is an almost limitless supply. Because the material has a relatively low petroleum content, its production process uses less of our non-renewable oil reserves than many other plastics.
TempRite CPVC is used to manufacture end products like potable water piping systems and fire-resistant building products. TempRite CPVC end products like pipes, valves, sheet for plastic fabrication and other products are more sustainable products verses conventionally used products made from metals (Copper, Stainless Steel, Galvanized Iron, Mild Steel, etc.) and other plastic products (made with 90-100% petroleum content) for the same applications.
The total energy needed to produce a given weight of CPVC pipe is much less than that than the energy needed to make an equivalent amount of copper pipe, ranging from 35 to 70 percent less energy, depending on pipe diameter.
TempRite® CPVC is made of relatively low petroleum content and is produced using a very energy-efficient process. Thus, the need for non-renewable energy sources (such as oil and coal) is low compared with traditional materials. Further Lubrizol takes particular care by not selecting raw materials which use environmentally unfriendly fuels (coal) for its manufacturing.
TempRite® CPVC compounds are used as an ideal replacement to metals like Copper, Stainless Steel, and Galvanized Iron and plastics which are used for manufacturing piping systems for plumbing, fire sprinkler, and industrial piping applications. Metals like Iron and Copper are limited in quantity in our planet
Lubrizol management and employees thrive to create benchmarks for the industry and relentlessly work on reducing the impact on environment. A few steps we have taken are:
Energy Requirement: The basic energy requirements of CPVC production are quite low when compared with those of other materials, due primarily to the low petroleum content of CPVC.
Lubrizol backs its claims on sustainability with the Life cycle Assessment or “LCA.” In a life cycle assessment, the true environmental impact from cradle to grave of a product is considered which includes all material, energy inputs, outputs throughout the life cycle of that product.
An LCA helps to show and quantify the impacts from every phase of a product’s life cycle. This is especially important for understanding environmental burden shifting. CPVC benefits society because it makes several ecological and safety-related applications – such as air pollution control and residential fire sprinkler systems – more practical and affordable. The total energy required to produce a given weight of CPVC pipe is much less than that needed to make an equivalent amount of copper pipe, ranging from 35 to 70 percent less energy, depending on pipe diameter.
Lubrizol has completed a FlowGuard® pipe and fittings LCA. Based on this LCA, a report was written comparing FlowGuard® environmental impacts to those of copper. The comparison, which was limited to only a cradle-to-gate analysis through the production of pipe, showed a significant benefit by choosing FlowGuard® Gold CPVC products.
To view the full results and comparisons, download Environmental Product Reports below
With the completion of the LCA (Life Cycle Analysis), FlowGuard® products now contribute to credits under “Materials & Resources: Building Product Disclosure and Optimization, Environmental Product Declarations” under LEED v4: BD+C. Specifiers can earn 1 point for including at least 20 products from five different manufacturers with disclosure material consisting of a product-specific declaration, an EPD, or a USGBC-approved program.
To learn more about how to make LCAs work for you, download our white paper.
In 12 out of 13 environmental impact categories, BlazeMaster® CPVC pipe and fittings outperforms steel (CPVC has a 1/3 higher ozone depletion impact due to the chlorofluorocarbons used in producing the PVC feedstock). Notably, BlazeMaster® CPVC pipe and fittings has half the climate change impact of steel.
In addition to traditional LCA impact categories, water depletion and energy consumption were evaluated and found to be lower for BlazeMaster® CPVC pipe and fittings in comparison to steel.