Sustainability beyond the buzzwords

By Emma Peterson. 

How Elevate is advancing building solutions that are sustainable and resilient.  

For a special Earth Day Coffee Conversations® webinar, Heidi J. Ellsworth sat down with Kim Eckerman, Jay Saldana and David Finn for a conversation about what it takes to build responsibility every day of the year. Kim is the vice president of marketing and communications at Amrize Building Envelope, Jay is a licensed professional engineer and David is the director of corporate accounts for Elevate. All of these positions have given this trio a firsthand look into the skills and knowledge needed for building a more sustainable roofing industry.   

Kim shared a look into the current conversations taking place across the industry about responsible, sustainable building practices, sharing, “I’ve been in the industry for around two decades now and I’ve seen a really great shift towards accountability. We’re seeing action that goes beyond greenwashing and buzzwords and really think about the entire lifecycle of a roof.”  

David echoed her point, adding, “The conversation is moving away from vague green claims and more toward verified, real performance data, because owners are wanting that...In the past, you'd put a roof on, you'd give it a 20-year warranty, you'd walk away and wait for a leak call. Today, owners are using predictive intelligence, leak detection systems and other proactive strategies to maintain their roof. They’re more proactive and they’re looking at that performance data.”   

And when we think about sustainability in terms of performance across a roof’s entire lifespan, the conversation becomes one of resilience. Kim explained, “Sustainability is about what we can do today to use less. But resiliency is about the durability and the long-lasting nature of something. And when you can think about products in terms of lifecycle, that resilience is key to creating something sustainable."  

This is because the stronger a roof is, the fewer replacements and repairs it’ll need, which means fewer resources will be expended on it. Jay explained, “Resilience is sustainability. A building that doesn't last, a roof that doesn't last, it gets damaged, it can't handle the environment that it's in, which means it has to be replaced. And every time someone has to drive out to a roof, you're using gas, you're using gasoline. That's people, that's time, that's effort. None of that is sustainable, let alone the fact that you may have to replace materials on that roof that did not last to their true service life and those materials may end up in the landfill.” 

Kim gave an example of how sustainability and resilience come together in Elevate and Amrize products:  

We have some really great solutions when it comes to low carbon concrete. And then you combine that with our roofing systems, which really help with those long-term operational costs of both the building, you get an efficient and resilient solution that not only is sustainable when you install it, but also sustainable through its lifecycle. 

Overall, products like Elevate’s low carbon concrete, which can be used to improve the resilience of a building over its lifecycle, are prime examples of how the industry is moving beyond simply using buzzwords and truly embracing sustainable practices so we can build resiliently, together.  

Listen to the whole episode or Watch the recording to learn more about modern roofing sustainability and resilience.