Cheshire Peaks and Plains Housing Trust has installed Marley Eternit’s EcoLogic tiles on 62 bungalows as part of a major refurbishment programme. Over the life of the roofs, this could remove the equivalent nitrogen oxides (NOx) to that produced by vehicles doing over six million miles on our roads.
The EcoLogic tile works by having a unique granular coating which, when stimulated by sunlight, absorbs NOx out of the atmosphere helping to cut pollution which can lead to environmental damage and health problems.
This application of the EcoLogic tile comes as more and more housing associations look to source sustainable solutions for renovation projects and new builds, both to provide a better environment for tenants and to meet strict government targets for cutting pollution.
Marley Eternit estimates that during its lifetime an average-sized roof with EcoLogic tiles could remove an amount of NOx equivalent to that emitted by a modern car travelling 100,000 miles. In addition to the direct benefits, the tile is manufactured using around 50 per cent recycled materials, making it one of the most environmentally beneficial and highly sustainable roofing products in the market today.
Tim Pinder, chief executive at Cheshire Peaks and Plains Housing Trust, comments: “Cheshire Peaks and Plains Housing Trust is keen to seize opportunities in its improvement programme to use sustainable and environmentally sound products and methods. I was therefore pleased to learn of Marley Eternit’s EcoLogic roof tile.
“The idea of being able to absorb nitrogen oxides from the atmosphere to lessen the risk to our communities of asthma makes the benefits real and helps us to meet future government targets of reducing NOx emission levels to 1.2 million by 2010. It is much harder for us to make our existing rather than new homes sustainable so the fact that this tile is made from 50 per cent recycled material is a great contribution to our aim. So it wasn’t a difficult decision for me – an ordinary roof tile or one that reduces asthma for our tenants, improves air quality and is 50 per cent recycled.”
Diana Bullock, campaign manager at Marley Eternit added: “The use of the EcoLogic tile on the Cheshire Peaks and Plains Housing Trust refurbishment is the largest known application of the tile and Marley Eternit regards this move as a strong example of the trend towards the use of sustainable products as specifiers increasingly consider environmental impact.”
The EcoLogic coating contains special grades of titanium dioxide (TiO2) that trigger a reaction under the influence of the UV radiation in sunlight converting NOx into nitric acid ions. These are then neutralised by the lime and calcium carbonate in the concrete.