JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #77 - December 2012 - 22

education

currently making up less than 0.6% of the $350 billion spent on building materials annually in the United States, there is tremendous room for growth.

Why not faster growth?
Composites easily provide for many of the latest performance requirements desired in building materials. Additionally, architects and designers are always looking for design freedom and flexibility, which can also be provided by composites. On top of that, when it comes to lifecycle cost performance, composites often provide the best solution. So, with all of this going for the composites industry, why are composites such a small part of the total amount spent on building materials? In late 2009, Ashland partnered with the Ohio Bio Innovation Center (OBIC) to research opportunities for composite materials in the green building market, which was just beginning an accelerated growth pattern. The group performed on-line surveys of a large set of architects and homeowners, and also conducted inperson interviews with key individuals. As might be expected, the data showed that any new material – composites or

The original CompositeBuild.com site highlighted the use of composite materials through a guided tour of a building

other – must match the aesthetics, performance, durability and cost hurdles of traditional building materials in order to gain acceptance in the market. While the raw data collected in the surveys did not provide significant revelations, the in-person interviews with architects and builders told a much more interesting story. Almost all of these interviews contained two responses that may help answer the question of why

composites are not more widely used in the building industry: “I do not want to be the first to use a new product.” “I don’t really know what a composite is.”

Raising awareness of composites
For those of us in the composites industry, it may be difficult to comprehend the low awareness of composite materials within the general population. However, the OBIC survey makes it clear that our audience is under-informed, and the composites industry has the opportunity to better educate architects, designers, builders and purchasers, all of whom are critical to the growth of composites in the building and construction market. As a leading global producer of composite materials, Ashland has made a strong commitment to help increase awareness about the use and benefits of composite materials in building applications. The primary method for providing this information has been through the development of CompositeBuild.com and a corresponding CompositeBuild.com showcase for educational use at conferences and trade shows. CompositeBuild.com provides designers, architects, builders, students and others with an interactive opportunity to learn more about composite

LEED is the largest green building programme in the USA. The interest in green building has been significant as shown by the growth in LEED registered buildings. Similar programmes from around the world such as BREEAM, Passivhaus and CASBEE have seen similar growth

22 jec composites magazine / No77 December 2012
http://www.CompositeBuild.com http://www.CompositeBuild.com http://www.CompositeBuild.com http://www.CompositeBuild.com
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #77 - December 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #77 - December 2012
