Sustainability With Sika

By Cass Jacoby, RCS Reporter.  

These Sika products can help you earn LEED® credits and promote greener practices at the same time. 

Sika is committed to sustainable development, encouraging innovations of products that are safer with lower environmental impact that improve upon existing roofing solutions. Sika’s objective centers on supplying customers with innovative solutions that boost the efficiency, durability and aesthetic appeal of buildings and infrastructure constructions. As such, Sika products are certified sustainable and designed to meet LEED standards in order to build a brighter future for our environment.  

What is LEED? 

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building rating program that operates under the umbrella of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), a non-profit coalition of building industry leaders. The aim of the rating system is to reward and encourage sustainable design, and since its inception in 1994, the LEED rating program has quickly become a standard for excellence in sustainability. This four-tiered credit-based system awards points based on compliance within different aspects of sustainability. 

Employing Sikalastic RoofPro and RoofCoat products and accessories within your roofing practice can add to a Building’s LEED® v4 credits and points. There are up to four possible credits for the LEED® v4 rating system that applies to Sikalastic RoofPro and RoofCoat products.  

Cool roof initiatives 

All Sikalastic RoofPro and RoofCoat products come in a reflective white coating that reflects much of the sun’s light. Reflective white coatings helps to cool buildings and lower air conditioning costs as well as reduce the heat island effect in cities. A heat island is the phenomenon where an urban area is significantly warmer than its surrounding rural areas due to human activities.  

These products offer a LEED SS credit for heat island reduction for a high reflectance roof. This means that Sikalastic-641 Lo-VOC White and Sikalastic-646 Lo-VOC White have a Solar Reflectance Index value (SRI) meet a 108 SRI and Sikalastic-500 a 112 SRI initially and qualify for this credit.  

Recycled materials 

Sika Fleece 120, 140 and 170 polyester reinforcing fabrics are made from recycled plastic bottles, which strengthen roofs for longer lasting performance with less maintenance and are an environmentally friendly option. Sika Fleece qualifies for a LEED MR credit in building product disclosure and optimization for sourcing of raw materials. This means these products meet at least one of the responsible extraction criteria as Sika Fleece 120, 140, 170 is 98% recycled content. 

Low-emitting materials  

EQ credit is granted to exterior applied products that meet the VOC limits of California Air Resources Board (CARB) 2007 Suggested Control Measure (SCM) for Architectural Coatings, and South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD), Rule 1168, effective July 1, 2005. 

Environmental product declarations 

MR credit from LEED is applied to at least 20 different permanently installed products sourced from at least five different manufacturers that have a  product-specific Type III EPD — products with third-party certification (Type III), including external verification in which the manufacturer is explicitly recognized as the participant by the program operator such as Sikalastic RoofPro products.  

The only liquid-applied roofing and waterproofing systems that offer a fully disclosed cradle-to-grave EPD are Sikalastic RoofPro products. 

What are EPD’s? 

Environmental Product Declarations (EPD’s) are a third-party verified document that disclose the environmental impact of a product or system while completing a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA). This is a voluntary process. Manufacturers are able to choose between two options of analysis of their product’s lifecycle based on how much they would like to disclose: cradle to gate and cradle to grave. Cradle to Grave discloses the full circle of a product’s life and is more comprehensive.  

Conclusion 

Sika is looking to the future to build products that measure, improve, report and communicate sustainable value creation, and maximize solutions while reducing risks and resource consumption. Bring your practice down to earth with these sustainable solutions. 

Learn more about Sika in their RoofersCoffeeShop® Directory or visit usa.sika.com.