Perspectives on greener product development and manufacturing from Sustainable Minds, our partners, customers and contributors.

Life cycle assessment

Greenbuild Booth Talks | Meet Experts on EPDs, Embodied Carbon, Materials

By Sustainable Minds on October 28, 2022

Sign up for Booth Talks
Booth 1442–1444

Everybody’s talking about EPDs, embodied carbon, circularity and healthy materials! We invite you to join us to learn from our partners and friends on these very topics.

Booth Talks offer the opportunity for demos and discussion F2F with the people doing the work! We're excited to be back in person again. If you're in San Francisco, we'd love to see you! Check out the schedule >

Continue reading >
Certifications & labeling, Designers, Green Economy, Innovation, Life cycle assessment, Manufacturing, Marketing, Materials & processes, Product service systems, Products, Standards & regulations, Strategies, Supply chain, Transparency is the New Green

Transparency is the New Green in Product Selection, Specification & Procurement: Understanding Industry EPDs & HPDs

By Sustainable Minds on September 22, 2022

Recorded Thursday, September 22, 2-3pm ET | 11am PT

Industry associations: Copper Development (CDA) & Polyisocyanurate Insulation Manufacturers (PIMA)

Industry associations play important roles in providing a voice for the industry when it comes to regulations and new legislation, networking opportunities among competitors, and tools such as best practices. Members share information, discuss issues, develop standards and establish rules for best practice.

Continue reading >
Certifications & labeling, Life cycle assessment, Manufacturing, Marketing, Materials & processes, Products, Standards & regulations, Transparency is the New Green, Webcast

Transparency is the New Green in product selection, specification & procurement: Understanding the 2022 ACLCA PCR Guidance – Process & Methods Toolkit

By Sustainable Minds on August 22, 2022

Recorded Monday August 15, 2-3pm ET | 11am PT

Creating standardized, consistent, and reliable PCRs & EPDs for transparency, procurement, and supply chain data

With the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act* it's a new world for people that create and use EPDs!

With the increasing demand for using ISO Type III environmental declarations (EPDs) to communicate the potential environmental impacts of products and processes, EPDs are also being used to inform design and procurement decisions. This presents the critical need to create EPDs that are ISO standards-conformant, consistent with life cycle assessment (LCA) best practices and that enable digital communication with construction, accounting, and other reporting tools. Assuring the quality of product category rules (PCRs) ensures that EPD results can reliably inform decisions.

Continue reading >
Certifications & labeling, Green Economy, Innovation, Life cycle assessment, Manufacturing, Marketing, Materials & processes, Packaging, Product service systems, Products, Standards & regulations, Strategies, Supply chain, Transparency is the New Green, Webcast

Transparency is the New Green in product selection, specification & procurement: Understanding the NEW carbon estimating tools for early stage building design

By Sustainable Minds on July 12, 2022

Recorded Thu July 12, 2-3pm ET | 11am PT

Meet the people creating the new crop of carbon accounting / assessment / estimating tools for AECOs to make better decisions about projects. If you've been working to reduce embodied carbon impacts, you're probably familiar with the EC3 tool. It includes a database of EPDs and building impact calculator designed for use in material procurement.

These new tools target early stage design when there’s time to investigate, model and make better informed decisions up front. Each is intended for different project types and provides different types of results.

Continue reading >
Certifications & labeling, Green Economy, Innovation, Life cycle assessment, Manufacturing, Marketing, Products, Software & systems, Standards & regulations, Strategies, Transparency is the New Green, Webcast

Transparency is the New Green in product selection, specification & procurement: Material Disclosure Miniseries, Part 3 of 3 - Understanding Declare & Living Products

By Sustainable Minds on June 14, 2022

Recorded Tue, Jun 7, 2-3pm ET

Meet the leading material ingredient disclosure programs (Declare & Living Product Challenge, Health Product Declaration, Cradle to Cradle Certified®) helping AECOs and MFRs make better decisions about materials used in products and projects. While the disclosures from all the programs contribute to green building rating system materials credits, each provides different information.

Continue reading >
Certifications & labeling, Green Economy, Innovation, Life cycle assessment, Manufacturing, Marketing, Materials & processes, Packaging, Products, Standards & regulations, Strategies, Supply chain, Transparency is the New Green, Webcast

Transparency is the New Green in product selection, specification & procurement: Material Disclosure Miniseries, Part 2 of 3 - Understanding HPD v2.3

By Sustainable Minds on April 27, 2022

Recorded Thu, Apr 28, 11–12pm ET

Meet the leading material ingredient disclosure programs (C2C, HPD, Declare) helping AECOs and MFRs make better decisions about materials used in products and projects. While the disclosures from all the programs contribute to green building rating system materials credits, each provides different information.

Attend each one to learn about:
AECOs – The different info provided in each type of disclosure and how to use to make decisions about brands and products
MFRs – Which program(s) is right for your business based on R&D, innovation, market position and sales goals

The Health Product Declaration® (HPD) Open Standard
is the most widely used transparency and material health reporting method in the building industry with almost 10,000 published HPD reports representing over 40,000 building products.

Join us for demos and to learn about:

  • What's new in the HPD Open Standard v2.3
  • The Perkins&Will Precautionary List
  • Using the Transparency Catalog to find all brands & products with HPDs in every MasterFormat® section – and now Precautionary List-Free materials – in 1 click
Continue reading >
Certifications & labeling, Green Economy, Innovation, Life cycle assessment, Manufacturing, Marketing, Standards & regulations, Strategies, Supply chain, Transparency is the New Green, Webcast

Transparency is the New Green in product selection, specification & procurement: Material Disclosure Miniseries, Part 1 of 3 - Understanding Cradle to Cradle Certified®

By Sustainable Minds on April 16, 2022

Recorded Tue, Nov 9, 2–3pm ET

Meet the leading material ingredient disclosure programs (C2C, HPD, Declare) helping AECOs and MFRs make better decisions about materials used in products and projects. While the disclosures from all the programs contribute to green building rating system materials credits, each provides different information.

Continue reading >
Certifications & labeling, Green Economy, Innovation, Life cycle assessment, Manufacturing, Marketing, Materials & processes, Products, Strategies, Supply chain, Transparency is the New Green, Webcast

Transparency is the New Green in Product Selection, Specification & Procurement: MSR Design, Bio-Plastic Solutions and Roseburg Forest Products

By Sustainable Minds on December 23, 2021

Recorded Tue, Nov 9, 2–3pm ET

Should interior designers care about embodied carbon?

In many building typologies, interior spaces are renovated and refreshed many times during the lifetime of the building, equaling or even surpassing the embodied carbon (EC) of the structure and envelope. However, data and modeling tools for interior designers have lagged as the perception that EC from structure and envelope are substantially greater.

A recent study from MSR Design examines the embodied carbon in casework / millwork materials and countertops, building on research from the Carbon Leadership Forum. Join us to learn about measuring and comparing the embodied carbon impact of casework, countertops and furniture in your designs and meet two manufacturers creating lower embodied carbon materials for these applications.

Continue reading >
Certifications & labeling, Designers, Green Economy, Innovation, Life cycle assessment, Manufacturing, Marketing, Materials & processes, Packaging, Products, Standards & regulations, Strategies, Supply chain, Transparency is the New Green, Webcast

Transparency is the New Green in Product Selection, Specification & Procurement: GATE Precast & Master Builders Solutions – Sustainable Construction

By Sustainable Minds on December 15, 2021

Recorded Thu, Dec 9, 2–3pm ET

Improving concrete & chemical products / solutions.

Concrete & steel are high impact materials and also the most widely used. Meet two MFRs providing products and solutions to simplify and streamline the construction process to help building owners, design professionals, concrete producers and contractors to build and restore structures, more sustainably.

Continue reading >
Certifications & labeling, Green Economy, Innovation, Life cycle assessment, Manufacturing, Marketing, Materials & processes, Packaging, Products, Standards & regulations, Supply chain, Transparency is the New Green, Webcast