Standards & regulations

The Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator Tool methodology: Not just what, but why? Not just how, but how big can the impact be?

By Sustainable Minds on November 18, 2019

The Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3) tool methodology takes several bold steps to use what program operators, LCA providers and manufacturers have worked very hard to produce. Product category rules (PCRs) using different parameters to define product categories or groups; inconsistent content and data in an environmental product declaration (EPD), and PDF delivery in non-standardized layouts all make it very complicated to machine read and digitize to put today’s available data to use. Notwithstanding, this methodology delivers, for the first time, a scalable way to compare a single product’s embodied carbon impacts to all other similar products in a category.

Certifications & labeling, Designers, Green Economy, Innovation, Life cycle assessment, Manufacturing, Marketing, Materials & processes, Packaging, Products, Standards & regulations, Strategies, Supply chain

Join us to meet experts on embodied carbon & EPDs @ our Greenbuild booth talks

By Sustainable Minds on November 18, 2019

We’re excited to be announcing several important new partners. Sign up for booth talks.

Sustainable Minds offers the opportunity for demos and discussion F2F with the people doing the work! If you're in Atlanta, come to Booth #1713 to learn from our partners.
Check out the schedule and RSVP >

Certifications & labeling, Designers, Green Economy, Innovation, Life cycle assessment, Manufacturing, Marketing, Materials & processes, Packaging, Product service systems, Products, Software & systems, Standards & regulations, Strategies, Supply chain

Transparency is the New Green in Product Selection and Specification: Using EPDs to create actionable information about embodied carbon in construction

By Sustainable Minds on September 13, 2019

Recorded Tue, Sep 10, 12–1pm ET

Using EPDs to make decisions about which products actually have better environmental performance isn't simple. Introducing the Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (“EC3”) tool.

The EC3 tool is a collaborative, open-source industry-led sustainability platform that helps professionals make better decisions about embodied carbon in construction, and enables supply chain accountability. The EC3 tool is part of an integrated ecosystem of data, tools and knowledge that empowers, informs and inspires low carbon solutions. The EC3 tool is set for formal release in the fall of 2019.

Certifications & labeling, Green Economy, Innovation, Manufacturing, Materials & processes, Standards & regulations, Supply chain, Transparency is the New Green, Webcast

Transparency is the New Green in Product Selection and Specification: Introducing Transparency Catalog v2.1: All Health Product Declarations®

By Sustainable Minds on August 22, 2019

Recorded Wednesday, Aug 21, 2–3pm ET | 11–12pm PT

AND all environmental product declarations (EPDs) in North America, with powerful MasterFormat® filtering

Join us to learn about HPDs and v2.1 capabilities.
HPDs and EPDs are increasingly becoming specification requirements for greener and healthier high-performance buildings. Now in one place, AECOs can find products with environmental performance & material ingredient disclosures in 25 MasterFormat divisions and ~710 sections.

Certifications & labeling, Green Economy, Manufacturing, Materials & processes, Standards & regulations, Transparency is the New Green

Sustainable Minds Announces Transparency Catalog v2.1: Now with all Health Product Declarations® (HPD) AND all environmental product declarations (EPD) for building products in North America, with powerful MasterFormat® filtering

By Sustainable Minds on August 13, 2019

HPDs and EPDs increasingly becoming specification requirements for greener and healthier high-performance buildings

Cambridge, MA, Aug 13, 2019 – Sustainable Minds today announced the availability of the Transparency Catalog v2.1, continuing the company’s commitment to deliver simple, easy to use and powerful tools. With this release, architecture, engineering, construction professionals and owners (AECOs) can now find all manufacturers and the published Health Product Declarations® (HPDs) for their products in each CSI MasterFormat® division and section – in 1 click.

The Transparency Catalog now includes access to all v2.0, 2.1 and 2.1.1 HPDs — a total of 3,175 from 332 manufacturers in 18 MasterFormat (MF) divisions adding ~195 more sections to the Catalog across divisions 03 Concrete, 04 Masonry, 07 Thermal and Moisture Protection, 09 Finishes and 12 Furnishings.

Certifications & labeling, Green Economy, In the press, Innovation, Products, Software & systems, Standards & regulations, Strategies, Supply chain

Sustainable Minds Announces Transparency Catalog v2.0: Powerful MasterFormat® Filtering and Every Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) in North America

By Sustainable Minds on January 23, 2019

The first cloud-based productivity solution for Architecture, Engineering, Construction and Owners (AECOs) to make it super easy to find & specify greener and healthier products for high-performance buildings — and reward manufacturers for making them.

Cambridge, MA — January 23, 2019 — Sustainable Minds® (SM), recognized leaders in customer-centered product sustainability cloud solutions, today announced the availability of the Transparency Catalog v2.0, continuing the company’s commitment to deliver simple, easy to use and powerful tools. Flexible MasterFormat® number filtering, aligned with MasterSpec® sections, enables AECOs to find exactly the brands, products and transparency disclosures, in each division and section, to meet project and green building rating system requirements. This makes it possible to do in minutes what today takes weeks, or wouldn’t even be possible to do at all.

Certifications & labeling, Green Economy, In the press, Innovation, Life cycle assessment, Manufacturing, Marketing, Materials & processes, Standards & regulations

Transparency is the New Green: Meet BREEAM, the world's 1st green building rating system

By Sustainable Minds on October 18, 2018

Recorded Wed, Oct 10 | 2pm ET, 11am PT

BREEM USA delivered by bre

There are now six green building rating systems for North America that reward product transparency. With the increasing demand for products with better environmental performance and material health to build high-performance buildings, it is important to understand all the options for green building certification and how performance is measured to determine which best fits your project.

Certifications & labeling, Green Economy, Standards & regulations, Transparency is the New Green, Webcast

WEBINAR: GreenCE, Elixir Environmental, Sustainable Minds: Product Transparency and Specification – A Guide

By Sustainable Minds on September 10, 2018

Recorded Mon, Sep 10, 2018 12 – 12:30pm EDT
Presenters: Terry Swack, CEO, Sustainable Minds
Tara Blank, Founder, Elixir Environmental

View the recording >

Environmental impact and material health are performance criteria, now part of ‘high performance’ building. Specification decisions for green building projects are increasingly being made based on whether or not products have transparency documentation.

Certifications & labeling, Innovation, Marketing, Standards & regulations, Transparency is the New Green, Webcast

We are extremely proud to be a 2018 Cleantech Open national sponsor.

By Sustainable Minds on July 16, 2018

As an in-kind sponsor, Sustainable Minds is offering a free 6-month subscription to its SM Eco-concept + LCA software for all members of the 2018 CTO cohort.

https://cleantechopen.org/en/page/national-sponsors-en

We kicked things off with the webinar: “Hands-on Training in Life Cycle Thinking & LCA for Cleantech Entrepreneurs.” The webinar provided an introduction to life cycle thinking and LCA and how to use the software in early stage product development to make informed trade-off decisions that can dramatically reduce impacts and drive innovation — in products, business models and systems.

Certifications & labeling, Designers, Electronics, Green Economy, In the press, Innovation, Life cycle assessment, Manufacturing, Marketing, Materials & processes, Packaging, Product service systems, Products, SM in education, Software & systems, Standards & regulations, Strategies, Supply chain, Sustainability paradox, Sustainable Europe, Sustainable interaction design, Teamwork, Webcast

2018 SM Transparency Report™ / EPD Framework – Integrating the international standard ISO 21930:2017

By Sustainable Minds on April 14, 2018

Release notes

Now in its fifth annual release, the SM Transparency Report™ / EPD Framework Part A 2018 has integrated key rulings from the new ISO 21930:2017, as determined by the SM Technical Advisory Board (TAB) and public comments.

What is ISO 21930 and why is it important? ISO 21930: Sustainability in buildings and civil engineering works – Core rules for environmental product declarations of construction products and services is one of the primary standards for product category rule (PCR), life cycle assessment (LCA), and Type III environmental declaration development for building materials. It is specifically named in LEED v4 as one of the two standards for creating conformant Type III environmental declarations. Outside of Europe, this international standard (ISO 21930) is more likely to be used than the European standard (EN 15804), as it applies internationally.

Life cycle assessment, Standards & regulations, Transparency is the New Green

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