June 2011
USGBC releases Pilot Credit for certified products awarding LCA efforts by
industry The US Green Building Council awards credits to sustainable practices.
In the Materials and Resources part, a new pilot credit was released in
June. It awards being transparent about the environmental performance of
building materials. Project teams that specify certified products can now
get credit for it. Part of the credit relates to a "LCA pathway" where
credits can be achieved using materials with an third party reviewed LCA, a
branch associated group EPD or individual EPD (highest award). This will
hopefully result in more products with transparent information that will
ultimately benefit whole building assessments. The credit language can de
found here
May 2011
RISD Industrial Design students working on Sustainable Design Our president Joep Meijer provided a guest lecture to students in
the Industrial Design program at the Rhode Island School of Design. As a six
week assignment for the students in their sophomore year, all are required
to discover and solve a real problem in a clear and bold way using design,
and leveraging many of the skills they have learned throughout the year.
They have been tasked with practicing sustainability without sacrifice to
performance or experience. We talked about integrating life cycle thinking
into the design of products and about practical ways to integrate
performance metrics into ecodesign strategies. Founded in 1877, Rhode Island
School of Design is one of the oldest and best-known colleges of art and
design in the U.S.
February 2011 Your carbon footprint to the latest
standards, for example the British PAS2050 or the GHG protocol
Getting a grip on the carbon footprint of your products opens an array of
interesting questions but also answers. We help clients in defining the
carbon footprint of their products. There are several methods out there in a
very much emerging field. Two important standards are the GHG protocol from
the World Resource Institute and the World Business Council for Sustainable
Development and the British standard PAS2050. We can help you with both and
others. Feel free to ask us what will works best for you.
Download the GHG product standard (under review)
here
January 2011
Member of the PCR technical committee of the American Center for Life Cycle
Assessment If you want to report on the environmental performance of your product
and you want to fulfill the ISO requirements for an Environmental Product
Declaration (EPD), then you need to establish or
follow a Product Category Rule (PCR) document that includes the specifics of the LCA for your product category. We applaud the ACLCA goals of standardization
and harmonization and therefore joined the ACLCA in providing guidance to
the U.S. market on this very topic. We have an abundance of experience to
share from our work in Europe and the developments under the Construction
Products Directive (CPD).
October 2010
FHWA Contract Award to define sustainability for U.S. Infrastructure
2010-2014
As part of a consortium lead by APTech we have been awarded a contract from
the Federal Highway Administration (FWHA) to put sustainability of the map.
With a focus on all pavement materials we will be tasked to deliver on the
following topics:
● Establishment of a technical working group
● Development of guidelines for designing and constructing sustainable
pavement systems.
● Evaluation of materials, processes, technologies, and tools to aid in
evaluation, design, and construction of sustainable pavement systems.
● Technology transfer and deployment activities.
We are proud to be serving on a team that consists of a group of consultants
and members from the following organizations:
Applied Pavement Technology, Inc.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC)
University of California Pavement Research Center (UCPRC)
University of Washington (UW)
Virginia Tech University (VTU) University of New Hampshire (UNH)
The Right Environment (TRE)
CH2M Hill
August 2010
Integration of Carbon footprint
into real estate portfolio management software
Integration of carbon footprint modeling into design and operational
software for building and real estate portfolio management software is getting
increasingly more interest. We are helping a company integrating carbon
footprint considerations for material build up, operations, and people
activities in buildings. The challenge is to be able to model and project
real estate portfolio management in terms of financial planning combined with
sustainability considerations through carbon footprint projections.
April 2010
GHG-performance of buildings: materials, installations and operations
combined When we combine GreenHouse Gas (GHG) performance of a construction with
energy concepts, the full GHG-performance of buildings is known. We completed a study together with Nieman Consultancy for the Cement and
Concrete Center to review two reference building in the Netherlands with 4
different construction types (ranging from concrete to wood) and 8 different
energy strategies (from current conventional to a full spectrum of renewable
energy installations) including materials, installation and building related
energy use for a modeling period of 75 years mimicking a full life cycle.
Conclusions vary with building styles and climate, but for two story
residential buildings in a moderate climate the current material expense
adds up to 25-30% of the total GHG, where operational GHG expenses comprise
the rest. Also, for top-of-line energy saving installations do reduce the
energy load, but also increase the GHG-performance of the material part.
Improved scenarios show that in progressive energy scenarios the material
part of the GHG-performance can add up to 45%. Our take away is that the
GHG-performance of materials and installations will become more and more
important when buildings are moving towards carbon neutrality from an
operational energy perspective.
March 2010
LCA building model compliant with the IGCC v1.0 Life Cycle Assessment is more and more used as performance based
compliance standards in sustainable manufacturing and construction. The
latest standard that is open for public comment is from the International
Green Construction Code that is sponsored by USGBC, Ashrea, IES, ASTM and
the American Institute of Architects includes section 304 on whole building
Life Cycle Assessment as a compliance path for section 503 for material
selection. We have developed a building model that complies with the
prescriptions. ICCC standard PV1
February 2010
EcoTopia - Juried Exhibition Nectar Design organizes an exhibition from Friday,
March 15, 2010 to Monday, April 15, 2010 called "EcoTopia". The goal of
EcoTopia is to encourage the development of products that foster a healthy
ecosystem and a sustainable society. Submissions should focus on one of the
following areas: Transportation, Clothing/Footwear, Farming/Food, Household
Appliances, and Shelter. Twenty entries will be chosen to appear in the
show> Joep Meijer, our president, is one of the jurors for this contest. website
February 2010
UT Sustainable Business Summit - Product Labeling and Marketing The McCombs School of Business, part
of the University of Texas organizes the UT Sustainable Business Summit on
February 5, 2010. By bringing together diverse perspectives from the worlds
most respected business and sustainability experts, the summit will offer an
opportunity to discuss how the business community defines sustainability and
how businesses can effectively implement and profit from sustainable
business practices. With a greater understanding of what defines
sustainability, you will move beyond why sustainability, and engage in
discussions on how to leverage sustainability in the business world. We
participate in the
Sustainable Product Labeling and Marketing panel together with Werner
Lang, Director of Center for Sustainable Development, UT School of
Architecture; Nancy Mims, Founder, Mod Green Pod and Steve Roberts, Managing
Director, Enviromedia Social Marketing.
January 2010
Partnership with Sustainable Earth Technologies, SET SET is a creative group of people that help communities and businesses
to create valuable building materials that are based on the principles of
industrial ecology. Optimal use of local and refuse materials is key. The
focus is to deliver materials that enhance the regions self-sufficiency in
providing energy, water, food, housing and health to people. Our president
serves on the board of SET. We wish SET the best and hope that their clients
and the communities that will be served a bright future. A short
introduction to the ideas and thinking of SET can be found in the video
below from the CEO, Pliny Fisk, part of an article titled
'mad scientist' from the series going green.
November 2009
Carbon Footprints of Buildings More and more buyers, commissioning parties and designers want to
include carbon footprint considerations into building design. We provide
clients with LCA-based carbon footprint performance reporting for reference
buildings, existing buildings and buildings that are being designed.
Currently we are performing projects based on LCA standards on the building
level that are being developed in Europe and adopted in the Netherlands. We
moved from materials, products and elements to buildings over the last few
years and are excited to take the next step in performance based sustainable
design.
October 2009
Lecture at TU/Delft & BAM : Sustainability potential of Low Temperature
Asphalt Several contractors and binder suppliers are working on asphalt that can
be produced at low temperatures. One of the Dutch representatives, BAM
Roads, is co-hosting an international seminar on Low Temperature Asphalt on
October 1, 2009 in co-operation with the Technical University of Delft. As
of January 1, 2010 the national government will include sustainability
criteria in all purchases. To measure the sustainability of proposed designs
they have to be assessed using an Lifecycle Assessment (LCA-)based tool that
we helped develop. BAM Roads has prepared itself by providing the Dutch DOT
with a sustainability performance report based on national standards. In
this lecture we will review the rise and standardization of environmental
performance measurement and focus on hot mixed asphalt and low temperature
asphalt applications.
presentation
September 2009
Video: AutoDesk's testdrive of Sustainable Minds web-based design software Rob Cohee, Industry Solution
Evangelist from Autodesk's Manufacturing Industry Group, has been
entertaining the design and manufacturing industry for quite some time with
his fun, informative, and sometimes irreverent video demos. Now he takes on
green product design using Sustainable Minds LCA software. What's great
about Rob's demo is that he shows off the usefulness and ease of use of
Sustainable Minds. It's easy to learn and use, but most importantly, it
provides meaningful and actionable results. Rob was very quickly able to
model the environmental impacts of a wine bottle opener made from aluminum,
and based on the results, explore alternative materials (plastic) and end of
life methods to improve the environmental performance. Importing the BOM
from Autodesk Inventor made the process even faster.
theRightenvironment is part of the Sustainable
Minds partner network. We help deliver to you the best content quality of
the product, present workshops and provide additional LCA related services.
Check out the workshop calendar.
August 2009
MDOT Research project:
Sustainable Recycled Materials for Concrete
Pavements in Michigan The Michigan Department of
Transportation (MDOT) has successfully used a number of recycled and
industrial byproduct materials (RIBMs) in the construction of portland
cement concrete (PCC) pavements for many years. With Applied Pavements as the
lead consultant, we jointly are going to be working on assessing the
comparative benefits and costs of RIBMs and determine how these materials
can be effectively used to increase the sustainability of concrete pavements
in Michigan. We will look at all MDOTs current specifications for, and
actual use of, fly ash, ground granulated blast furnace slags (GGBFS),
crushed concrete aggregate (CCA), and air-cooled blast furnace slag (ACBFS)
in the construction of concrete pavements. The next step will be to
formulate an approach for quantifying economic and environmental costs and
benefits over the entire life cycle for comparison of concrete pavements
constructed using various recycled and industrial byproduct and traditional
materials. We will apply the approach to evaluate a significant number of
concrete pavements constructed with and without RIBMs using actual MDOT
construction and performance data. A report will be delivered for use by
MDOT to assist in improving policy and specification decisions. Based on our
findings we will develop an implementation plan that includes
construction considerations for successful utilization of RIBMs in concrete
pavements for the state of Michigan. website
July 2009
Appointed to the USGBC Materials & Resources Technical Advisory Group We are
proud to announce that we have been appointed
by the Management Steering Committee and the Executive Committee of the
USGBC Board to serve on the cradle of part of the rating system. The
Materials & Resources Technical Advisory Group, or MR TAG, advises on credit
interpretation requests and credit ruling appeals and it serves to assure
consistency in the methods of assessment and stringency of standards across
the LEED product range as it relates to credits for materials and resources.
We hope we can contribute to the growth of USGBC with our commitment and
background servicing the building industry. website
June 2009
Sustainable Minds Partner Network ; Trainer workshop June 26, New York Sustainable Minds wants to empower the design community with an
internet-based LCA software tool based on the Okala Design Guide. We have
been working together on a partnership and are extending our relationship.
We will host our first SM Workshop in New York. It is great to work with
20-30 people that are interested in sustainability and intrigued by
quantifying the performance using life cycle assessment techniques. We look
forward to a growing relationship helping the design community design the
products of tomorrow, sustainable ones. websiteworkshop
detailsour partner network
May 2009
Green Purchasing Required from Jan 2010 for all government purchases
In several European countries money spent by government is increasingly
screened for its impact on sustainability. The Dutch government is including
sustainability criteria in all its purchases from January 1 2010. We have
helped the Dutch DOT develop a tool to evaluate different project designs
according to sustainability indicators, such as carbon footprint and the use
of recycled material using a life cycle approach. We have helped many
producers and suppliers prepare to meet the criteria.
April 2009
Sustainable Minds Workshop: "Mastering Environmental Impact Assessment in
the Design Process" April 24, Cambridge, MA Sustainable Minds is a
green product design software and information company working
to empower industrial designers to build sustainable products. April 24
kicks off a series of workshops for designers, engineers, manufacturers and
educators who deal with sustainable design in order to teach them how to use
the software in their day-to-day business. This workshop is also a chance
for the future users of the software to test it out and give feedback.
TheRightenvironment will be available during the workshop for questions and
will present a case study.
workshop website
March 2009
UT Guest lecture "Sustainability
Performance Metrics, an integral part of the decision making process", Mar
24, Austin,
TX We are proud to be able to share our vision on
integrating sustainability performance metrics with grad students of
the Construction Engineering and Project Management program in the Civil,
Architectural and Environmental Engineering department of the University of
Texas. They are preparing to make design and construction decisions for
decades to come and are part of the Metrics course provided by the
Construction Industry Institute, CII. presentation
March 2009
TACA Short Course "Sustainability
for Aggregates and Concrete, beyond LEED ", Mar 3, Austin
TX More and more contracts include sustainability
stipulations. The Texas Aggregates and Concrete Association is hosting a
short course on LEED opportunities for contractors and suppliers. The day
will start with a perspective from an architect and a contractor. We will
add to this by presenting what might lie beyond LEED. We will base our
presentation on what is happening in Europe and how the industry is taking
on board the next step - a quantitative framework for sustainable
performance of products and works. website
presentation
January 2009
Workshop "Creating More
Sustainable Concrete Pavements" at the TRB, Jan 11, Washington DC Thomas
John Van Dam, Applied Pavement Technology, Inc
will present during the workshop. The title of the presentation is "Life-Cycle
Analysis: a Powerful Tool in Assessing Sustainability of Concrete
Pavements". Tom will be presenting our common vision on the need for a clear
language and quantitative framework based on life cycle assessment to help
the industry paving the road to sustainable infrastructure. Results from a
case study using local recycled aggregate will be presented. websitepresentation
December 2008
Speaker at Sustainable Brands International 2008, Dec 9-11, Miami Beach Miami Beach turns into a place where
change makers gather to share their latest learning and ideas about how to
create new business value in today's rapidly changing landscape. SBi
convenes a dynamic mix of big global brands and innovative start ups. Of
product designers, sustainability thought leaders and brand communications
experts. We were asked to speak about ways to bullet proof the
sustainability branding and marketing message. websitepresentation
November 2008
How to answer market questions about your Sustainability? Many of our clients get questions from
commissioners about their environmental and sustainable performance. How do
they go about it? How do you answer a question about your carbon footprint
or the recycled content of the materials from your supplier? Where do you
find FSC certified wood for your product and what will that do for your cost
of production? How can you convince commissioners that you can take care of
their requests and concerns? We can help you define what sustainability
means for your business and baseline your performance. With actual numbers
and insight in where the major drivers are you can start to see options for
improvement that matter most. Every story is unique, so will be yours. We
have helped governments and businesses for more than a decade. Ask us what
we can do for you.
October 2008
Two-Lift concrete pavement in Kansas, what are the environmental benefits? On October the 15th and 16th the
concrete pavement technology center will organize an on-site seminar on a
demonstration project for two-lift concrete pavement on I-70 near Salina.
Together with the contractors and representatives from KsDOT we will look
into the objectives for KsDOT, construction considerations, project test
results and surface characteristics. In collaboration with the APTech, we
are asked to perform a screening life cycle assessment (LCA) to showcase the
environmental benefits. The idea is to present a framework that can do just
that and to highlight the major drivers for the environmental benefits. We
will compare a traditional pavement design with the applied two-lift
pavement and a third variant where we tried to model an optimized two-lift
pavement. Two-lift pavement consists of a high performance top layer and a
second layer of concrete where the design criteria can be less strict. This
means we can include more local and on-site recycled aggregates with less
transportation. websitepresentation
September 2008
Better protection of river levees with layers of locally sourced and mixed
river sludge Deltares is frontrunner in the
development, distribution and application of knowledge for meeting the
challenges in the physical planning, design and management of vulnerable
deltas, coastal areas and river basins. Deltares stands for the right
balance between consultancy and research at both the national and
international levels. One of their projects is to find ways to use dredging
sludge from rivers on site to reinforce the levees that protect the land
next to the rivers from flooding. Two alternative mixes and designs have
been tested on lab scale and Deltares is interested in the environmental
performance compared to the existing alternatives. We will perform the work
in co-operation with an expert panel that will consist out of Dutch civil
engineers and governmental water management agencies and we will focus on
the CO2-performance. website
August 2008
2008 Summit Recycling Alliance of Texas, speaker on Sustainability &
Recycling
18 August, the Woodlands
The Recycling Alliance of Texas mission is to promote and enhance
recycling and diversion activities in the State of Texas. Two of their main
strategies to work within this mission is by fostering communication and the
exchange of information regarding recycling among professionals,
organizations, governmental entities, and individuals; and by acting as a
clearinghouse of recycling resources. They organize an annual summit.
theRightenvironment was asked to present during on of the educational tracks
'Sustainable Connections: Recycling and Sustainability'
and my presentation will be titled "Environmental Performance Based on Life
Cycle Assessment Approaches".
Come out to the great environment that the Woodlands has to offer and enjoy
examples from our experiences and hear about our vision.
website
brochure
presentation
July 2008
Panelist for the IDSA 'Digging Deeper' Conference, July 22nd San Francisco
The Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA)
San Francisco Chapter is organizing an conference seeking to equip
designers with the questions, methods and actionable tools for designing
green. Experts on measuring the environmental, social and business impacts
of design decisions will demonstrate appropriate research methods and
strategies required for success and ensure a sustainable future. Emerging
solutions will be documented in an online toolkit to enable broader
knowledge sharing and the development of best practices for Sustainability
in Design. Amongst sustainable
design experts theRightenvironment is proud to announce that we will be
serving on a panel where we will focus on 'how things can be added up in
numbers' without trade-offs. websitebrochure
presentation
July 2008
Member of the CP Road Map Concrete Pavement Sustainability Track leadership
committee
Government,
industry and universities working on concrete pavement share joint research
and technology transfer through the National Concrete Pavement Technology
Center. This year a new Research and Technology Transfer Committee is
founded by the Center and theRightenvironment was invited to become a member.
The goal of the committee is to pave the road to guide research and
technology transfer for sustainability for concrete pavement with a mid-term
outlook of 5-10 year horizon. The objective is to identify sustainable
characteristics to achieve more sustainable concrete pavements by meeting
economic, environmental and societal needs and desires in design,
construction, maintenance, restoration and recycling of concrete pavements. website committee site
pod cast
June 2008 LCA-Review for Alex Fraser Group, producer of coarse aggregate from rubble Modern construction projects demand quality
materials, reliable delivery and must demonstrate environmental leadership.
To meet these demands construction companies in Australia use services from
the Alex Fraser Group. Alex Fraser has dedicated its attention to the
salvage, reuse and recycling of a broad range of material. The Centre for
Design, part of the RMIT University, assists them in profiling the
environmental performance of the concrete recycling facilities using life
cycle assessment (LCA). TheRightenvironment has performed a peer-review
according to ISO 14044 standards. The current market in Australia for
construction and demolition waste is 50% landfill and 50% recycling. The LCA
shows a clear environmental potential for producing aggregate from rubble
related to an increase in recycling efforts. Alex Fraser GroupRMIT, Centre for Design
May 2008
TCEQ Environmental Trade Fair and Conference 2008 - Green purchasing and the
Product Impact Estimator tool
Mike Lindner of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, TCEQ, will
talk about green purchasing policies and tools that can help TCEQ and other
organizations to engage in such an effort. We will focus on one specific
tool, the Product Impact Estimator. theRightenvironment will join Mike for
an hour session where we will highlight the basis for the estimator:
input/output life
cycle assessment. The conference will be at the Austin Convention Center,
April 29-May 1. The program can be
downloaded here. The presentation is scheduled for Thursday May1,
8:30-9:30 AM.
conference website
April 2008
Strategic Advice for Dutch Ministry of Housing on water resilient housing
and float homes
The Netherlands is a river delta and has a dense population. Water
challenges are getting more and more an opportunity to change the current
building practice. We participated in an INTRON study for the
SEV to draft a strategic
advice to the Ministry of Housing to develop a recognized legal building
framework where clarity between all stakeholders can propel the development
of water resilient building practices. On April the 23rd the strategic
advice was presented to Minister Jaqueline Cramer. Two of the
recommendations are to translate the current building decree into water
related interpretations and guidelines and to found a knowledge center where
experience can be gathered and disseminated. strategic advice
(in Dutch)study (in Dutch)
March 2008
Review thesis 'Suburban Stormwater Management, an LCA-approach' University
of Vermont
Barton Kirk, who now works for EcoSeeds in Traverse City, MI, graduated at
the University of Vermont with a thesis on stormwater management. He
evaluated different available systems for stormwater run-off water from a
section of impervious pavement. We engaged in a peer review. Both the
thesis and
results can be downloaded.
He concluded that while stormwater treatment effluent
quality is generally the most important in evaluating overall environmental
performance, inclusion of direct and indirect impacts over the complete
life-cycle was useful in distinguishing between stormwater systems with
similar treatment performance. The review shows that the study has been performed with great care
and commitment. It has the potential to grow into a more general assessment
method for a selection of best management practices for stormwater
management based on multi-criteria assessment where cost and environment are
equally represented.
February 2008
Shell Bitumen's thorough approach on environmental benefits for WAM Foam Shell Bitumen aims to be the worlds
leading force in sustainable paving solutions. One aspect is the reduction
or actually improvement of the environment. The Shell WAM Foam technology
was developed to obtain paving with hot mixture quality but a reduced
environmental footprint. Temperature of the asphalt production and laying
using the Shell WAM Foam process is reduced by about 50°C. This renders less
consumption of fuels, lowers emissions and improves the working conditions.
The lower temperature is achieved by replacing conventional bitumen by two
separate bitumen components in the mixing stage: a special soft bitumen and
a hard grade in foam form. Such combination enables the product to be
successfully mixed at lower temperatures. Shell Bitumen is mapping the
environmental impacts of different types of bitumen and Shell WAM Foam
applications using LCA-methodology to show the actual savings from a life
cycle perspective.
Shell Bitumen WAM Foam website
January 2008
Dutch Concrete industry defines ambition to present the 'ConcreteDatabase
4.0'
The Dutch concrete industry organized in the ConcretePlatform (Betonplatform
in Dutch) wants to supply users and interested parties with a LCA-based
tool that will inform the market about the environmental performance of
cement, aggregates, additives, concrete, mortar and prefab applications. The
LCA-based tool can and should be used by everybody who wants to perform life
cycle assessment based assertions. It will be offered to the Dutch DOT and
other users of environmental decision making in design, construct and
maintenance. All information will be based on primary data, will comply with
national standards and will be peer reviewed. Currently the ambition level
for the depth and width is being defined.
Low
temperature Asphalt applications: > 25% savings in energyDecember 2007
USGBC
defines timeframe for LCA credits in LEED-NCNovember 2007
EUMEPS wants to assert environmental improvements made between 1997 and 2007October 2007
Our president a triple winner in the Austin Chronicle Kill-A-Watt challenge
September
2007
UT Sustainability Colloquium on Life Cycle thinking in Sustainable Design
11/07/07 August 2007
Prenormative building guidelines for water resilient housing
August 2007
Partnership
with SunergieJuly 2007
June 22nd: Seminar - The power of LCA - Green Building Program on Life Cycle
AssessmentJune 2007
Draft ASHREA standard 189 open for comments - LCA is a performance option
alternativeJune 2007
C-Fix, a new
binder with a Carbon potential
May 2007
Healthy products from a healthy building for Presence SouthWest Inc.April 2007
Royal Ahrend wants to know its environmental footprint to prepare for a
strategy on sustainability March 2007
Virgin Earth Challenge: Who can save the world from global warming? February 2007
Database for environmental road design receives large update
February 2007
Amendment of the Water Protection Decree based on evaluation of new
conservation techniques January 2007 Proposal reviewer for the USGBC Greenbuild 2007 in Chicago, November 7-9
January 2007
Find out your CO2-Balance in 15
minutes December 2006
Peer review of the environmental performance of cladding panels
November 2006 How to
promote large-scale water resilient housing?November 2006 Partnership
with PE Americas
November 2006 Inspiring
meeting with Pliny Fisk III
November 2006 Office opens
in Austin, TX
October 2006
Partnership
with INTRON
October 2006 Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) for EPS producer
September 2006
Auditor for roofing materials
August 2006
