“There is a huge, huge interest in green building,” Shepherd told over 200 builders, contractors, distributors and manufacturers attending the three day conference, co-sponsored by Permanent Buildings & Foundations magazine, Kurtz, Createc Corporation, Hirsch Gruppe and SCA Packaging. Shepherd backed up his statement, pointing to a 2004 study by McGraw-Hill which predicts green building will be a $19 to $38 billion market in the residential sector by 2010 and a $10-30 billion market in the commercial sector during the same period. Credit the durability of concrete and the energy efficiencies of insulating concrete forms as the reasons concrete is becoming “a great, great solution to today’s environmental problems,” says Shepherd.

“The simplicity and elegance of an insulating concrete form creates a building system that has no equal,” says Shepherd. “We have a great product that is coming in at the right place at the right time. If you can save 20-30% energy during the operational phase of a building, it makes a really, really big difference for people living in them.”

Consumer interest is translating into sales. In his industry update remarks, Executive Director Joe Lyman predicted ICFA members will sell 104 million square feet of insulating concrete forms by the end of 2006, up 121% from 2000. Of that amount, 70 percent, or 72.8 million square feet, was installed in the residential market. Minnesota continues to lead the country as the state where most ICFs are being installed, with 1.1 million square feet installed in 2006. Other top ICF states include Colorado (734 million square feet); Iowa (620,000 square feet); New York (599,000 square feet); and Wisconsin (560,000 square feet).

A big surprise in the Canadian market was Alberta jumping past Ontario with 879,000 square feet installed in the residential market in 2006, as compared to Ontario’s 685,000 square feet. Ontario held the lead for the past several years as the leading ICF province. Not far behind is British Columbia with 511,000 square feet installed.

Yet, even as the numbers revealed ICFs are moving deeper into the mainstream construction materials market, conversations in exhibit booths contained whisperings of consolidation. Current estimates suggest 70 plus manufacturers produce ICFs –with two more introduced at the convention, including one by expanded polystyrene (EPS) manufacturer Knauf USA. These come on the heels of recent announcements by form molders Airtite Plastics and SCA Packaging, who have molded forms for several leading ICF manufacturers, that they will produce and market their own brands. Now, some industry players are predicting ready-mix concrete producers will soon be buying molds and molding equipment and introducing their own brands for local market consumption.