Alternative construction materials raking in green despite downturn

[Doondoo]

The housing downturn is leaving one part of the construction industry remarkably unscathed: makers of so-called green building materials. Purveyors of such building components as foam insulation and faux wood shingles are continuing to see gangbuster sales, almost as though the housing boom that ended a year ago were still at full tilt. Materials are considered "green," in industry parlance, when they generally help reduce energy use more than conventional materials or are manufactured in a way that has less of an impact on the environment.

Homes that contain a lot of green features typically cost anywhere from 3 percent to 5 percent more to build than a traditional home, industry officials say, but the homeowner usually can recoup the costs through cheaper power bills. The push toward green construction is driven in part by rising awareness of things such as climate change. Many green vendors, however, say the chief reason they are doing so well is probably that the rising price of oil has driven up the cost of heating and cooling homes.

Nationally, green homes are projected to increase to between 5 percent and 10 percent of U.S. housing starts by 2010, from 2 percent in 2005, according to a report last June by the National Association of Home Builders and McGraw-Hill Construction, an industry research group that is part of McGraw-Hill Cos.

James Hardie Industries NV, which makes fiber-cement siding that is an alternative to traditional wood or vinyl siding because it lasts longer, reported U.S. sales of that product jumped 16 percent in its first six months ended Sept. 30 compared with 2005, even as single-family housing starts were in a nose dive. Hardie, with $1.5 billion in sales last year, has taken roughly a 6 percent share of the total U.S. siding market since starting operations in 1992, according to Freedonia Group, a market research firm in Cleveland. Its executives say they expect to grab even more now.

"In a downturn, that's where we shine," says Robert Russell, general manager of building products for the company, which operates a siding manufacturing plant in Summerville under the name Cemplank Inc.


http://www.charleston.net/assets/webPages/departmental/news/Stories.aspx?section=business&tableId=131881&pubDate=2/25/2007

[kestrel91316]

1. But but but................I thought environmentalism HARMED the economy!

These green product companies must be smoking crack.