BASF Launches Sustainable Construction Website

BASF’s Green Sense Concrete reduced the carbon footprint of the One World Trade Center by 15,838,267 kg CO2 in the construction of the building’s first 40 floors, according to the chemical company’s sustainable construction website.

In a video on the newly launched site, US Concrete vice president Michael L. Gentoso explains how BASF’s concrete reduced the building’s ecological footprint, conserved resources and increased its structural strength.

It’s one of many best-practices stories on the construction website, which BASF says can help contractors, developers, architects and other building professionals improve water and resource efficiency and indoor air quality, among other sustainable construction challenges.

The company says chemistry plays a major role in designing materials for sustainable construction. As such, the website is designed to inform and equip BASF construction partners with easy-to-access information about what BASF does in the area of sustainability, says Dr. Tilman Krauch, president of BASF’s Construction Chemicals division and head of BASF’s Global Construction Steering Committee.

The website is also designed grow BASF’s share of the market — the construction industry accounts for about 10 percent of BASF’s total sales, the company says.

If visitors are searching for information for specific construction projects, they can use segments such as residential and non-residential buildings and infrastructures as entry points and learn how to use BASF products such as concrete admixtures to build a long-lasting bridge foundation, waterproofing solutions to protect roofs from water damage, and foams to improve wall insulation and reduce energy costs, the company says.

Earlier this week, green building software provider GreenWizard partnered with environmental NGO the International Living Future Institute to promote a more sustainable and transparent built environment.

Under the partnership, the Institute’s Declare program — a “nutrition label” for building products — is integrated into GreenWizard’s Product Management Workflow, a web-based product data and documentation tool that helps builders define sustainability goals, find products to meet those goals, and achieve green-building certification.