Sustainable+materials



Low-impact materials

[] - characteristics of materials, processing flow charts with energy values. []

NIST’s project in Sustainable and Lifecycle Information-based Manufacturing has three primary objectives. First is providing the standards requirements for sustainable manufacturing. This includes analyzing and defining the relevant standards from carbon footprint determination to energy resource management to hazardous material management. The project is also developing a scheme for computing the carbon footprint of any manufactured product -- a critical mathematical “score” that can help resolve concerns such as the issue of reusable versus disposable products.

A model that truly takes into account all environmental impacts would have to include, among other things, the energy costs of making the equipment that is used to manufacture the product and the cost of recycling the product at the end of its lifetime.



Design and manufacturing strongly influence a product's life cycle impacts on the environment and the company's sustainability. Sustainable manufacturing is an approach for the creation and distribution (supply chain) of innovative products and services that minimally use natural resources, contain no toxic substances, produce zero waste, create net-zero greenhouse gases across the entire life cycle of products and services, and are socially responsible.

Sustainability performance indicators in the following five categories. **1) ****Environmental Stewardship ** Environmental stewardship indicators are designed for manufacturing companies to measure environmental impacts per emissions, wastes, resource depletion, and ecosystem detriment for manufacturing processes and products. Environmental Stewardship indicators are designed for manufacturing companies to measure impact on the environment in manufacturing products. Subcategories of the Environmental Stewardship Indicators include Pollution, Emission, Resource Consumption, and Natural Habitat Conservation. **2) ****Economic Growth ** Economic Growth Indicators are designed for manufacturing companies to measure the economic aspect of sustainability performance in manufacturing and products, such as profit, cost, and investment. **3) ****Social Well-being ** Social Well-being indicators are designed for manufacturing companies to measure the impacts on employee, customer, and community well-being by manufacturing activities and products of a manufacturing company. Three subcategories are Employee, Customer, and Community. **4) ****Technological Advancement ** <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Technological Advancement indicators are designed for manufacturing companies to measure and promote technological advancement. <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">**<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">5) ****<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Performance Management ** <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Performance Management indicators are designed for manufacturing companies to measure sustainable and environmental management of a manufacturing company.

The systems approach of sustainability requires life cycle thinking. The life cycle of a product can be described as follows:
 * Raw material extraction and processing
 * Pre-design and fabrication of the relevant semi-finished products
 * Manufacturing and assembly of the final product
 * Transportation
 * Use
 * Maintenance
 * End-of-life operations
 * Recycle
 * Disposal

Reduce Environmental Impact of Materials

 * <span style="font-family: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;">__ [|Recycled Content] __. Per Section 6002 of the __ Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) __<span class="file" style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-size: 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">(PDF), for EPA-designated products, specify products meeting or exceeding EPA's recycled content recommendations. For other products, specify materials with recycled content when practicable. If EPA-designated products meet performance requirements and are available at a reasonable cost, a preference for purchasing them shall be included in all solicitations relevant to construction, operation, maintenance of or use in the building. EPA's recycled content product designations and recycled content recommendations are available on __ EPA's Comprehensive Procurement Guideline __ website.
 * <span style="font-family: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;">__ [|Biobased Content] __. Per Section 9002 of the __ Farm Security and Rural Investment Act (FSRIA) __, for USDA-designated products, specify products with the highest content level per __ USDA's biobased content recommendations __. For other products, specify biobased products made from rapidly renewable resources and certified sustainable wood products. If these designated products meet performance requirements and are available at a reasonable cost, a preference for purchasing them shall be included in all solicitations relevant to construction, operation, maintenance of or use in the building. USDA's biobased product designations and biobased content recommendations are available on __ USDA's BioPreferred website __.
 * <span style="font-family: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;">__ Environmentally Preferable Product __. Use products that have a lesser or reduced effect on human health and the environment over their lifecycle when compared with competing products or services that serve the same purpose. A number of standards and ecolabels are available in the marketplace to assist specifiers in making environmentally preferable decisions. For recommendations, consult the __ [|Federal Green Construction Guide for Specifiers] __.
 * <span style="font-family: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;">__ [|Waste and Materials Management] __. Incorporate adequate space, equipment, and transport accommodations for recycling in the building design. During a project's planning stage, identify local recycling and salvage operations that could process site-related construction and demolition materials. During construction, recycle or salvage at least 50 percent of the non-hazardous construction, demolition and land clearing materials, excluding soil, where markets or onsite recycling opportunities exist. Provide salvage, reuse and recycling services for waste generated from major renovations, where markets or onsite recycling opportunities exist.
 * <span style="font-family: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;">__ [|Ozone Depleting Compounds] __. Eliminate the use of ozone depleting compounds during and after construction where alternative environmentally preferable products are available, consistent with either the __ Montreal Protocol __ and Title VI of the __ Clean Air Act __ Amendments of 1990, or equivalent overall air quality benefits that take into account lifecycle impacts.
 * <span style="font-family: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;">[]

Sustainable packaging []

The BEES (**B**uilding for **E**nvironmental and **E**conomic **S**ustainability) software brings to your fingertips a powerful technique for selecting cost-effective, environmentally-preferable building products. Developed by the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) Engineering Laboratory the tool is based on consensus standards and designed to be practical, flexible, and transparent. BEES Online, aimed at designers, builders, and product manufacturers, includes actual environmental and economic performance data for 230 building products. BEES measures the environmental performance of building products by using the life-cycle assessment approach specified in the ISO 14040 series of standards. All stages in the life of a product are analyzed: raw material acquisition, manufacture, transportation, installation, use, and recycling and waste management. Economic performance is measured using the ASTM standard life-cycle cost method, which covers the costs of initial investment, replacement, operation, maintenance and repair, and disposal. Environmental and economic performance are combined into an overall performance measure using the ASTM standard for Multi-Attribute Decision Analysis. For the entire BEES analysis, building products are defined and classified according to the ASTM standard classification for building elements known as UNIFORMAT II.