James R. Thompson, Executive Editor
It is amazing how politics keeps getting in the way of technology. You may or may not be familiar with the "LEEDS" initiative here in the United States. It is primarily aimed at office buildings and housing. "LEEDS" stands for "Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design." It is a set of standards used by the government and others to promote "green" building concepts. However, those who are the movers and shakers in the LEEDS program are posing some issues with one of our favorite construction materials -- PVC pipe. This first shows up in an article from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) in August 2011. You can read the article here.
In late March, an obviously right-wing internet news site (The Blaze) wrote an exposé on the PVC pipe/LEEDS controversy. This site obviously has its own biases and reading anything there must be done with both eyes open, but this article raises some issues worth considering. The reader is cautioned to use all their practical and scientific skills in evaluating this article. You can read it here.
Our point here, not to be lost in the above, is that some matters, which make perfectly good technical sense, are often lost in public perception and political agendas. The first part, public perception, is an issue we can help manage if we have the will to do so. When it comes to political agendas, it is often the case of "following the money."
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