LCA Links!

May 26, 2010 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM CDT

This free one-hour webinar introduces UL Environment’s services related to: Environmental Claims Validation, Sustainable Product Certification and Energy Efficiency Certification.   The webinar will assist customers with identifying the new and existing market drivers including regulations surrounding energy efficiency programs, recent consumer and market research in the green building environment, and coming trends.  It will also review the value of third-party certification.  The webinar is a sales pitch but should be of key interest to those looking for verification services related to the green marketing claims.

 The topics covered in this webinar are:

• An overview of key market drivers, including:
  • green building codes,
  • requirements to use green building programs,
  • shifts in the marketplace towards standards and key energy efficiency regulations in North America for High Tech,
  • Lighting,
  • HVAC and
  • Appliance Products
• How UL Environment’s services will streamline compliance with these regulations
• How to obtain the various, ECV, SPC and EEC Marks, and differences between them
• Bundling the new Marks with other UL and ULE Services
• The value of third-party certification

Objectives

• Identify UL Environment service offerings
• Recognize changes in energy efficiency regulations
• Analyze key trends in the sustainability marketplace
• Recognize the value of third-party certification

Target Audience -  Customers selling the following product types in North America:

• Roofing
• Insulation
• Suspended Ceiling Materials
• Drywall, Mineral board, Fiberboard
• Fenestration
• Masonry Products
• CFLs
• Dishwashers
• Refrigerators and Freezers
• TVs/Monitors
• Computers
• Servers
• External power supplies

To sign up for the webinar, visit the UL University Website HERE

LCA Analyst

UL Environment, Northbrook, IL, USA

Designs, develops, executes and implements environmental research utilizing Life Cycle Assessment methodologies in a wide range of industries. This position will provide the necessary project support, research and data to inform standards development and will assist in the assessment of product certification when expertise is needed.

The major responsibilities of this role include:

• Performs Life Cycle Assessments on a wide range of products and in a wide range of industries.
• Research existing LCA reports and data to provide a deeper understand of relevant environmental issues for decision making and standards informing.
• Collaborate with Industries and Associations to gather necessary knowledge and data to utilize in assessments.
• Develop and maintain scientific knowledge of current and new technologies related to products for which Life Cycle Assessments have been or will be performed.
• Develop and maintain extensive knowledge in Life Cycle Assessment best practices for software, methods and communication by reading journals and scientific publications, attending academic conferences, and delivering presentations on relevant topics in the field.
• Participate in industry standard technical committees and/or provide support to standard technical panels.
• Draft technical criteria for standards development utilizing knowledge gained from Life Cycle Assessments.
• Collaborate with external consultants on model development, data research/development and report creation.
• Performs other duties as directed.

Required Experience/Education:

• Detailed knowledge of the technical vocabulary common to the appropriate discipline.
• Working knowledge of industry issues, needs, and problems.
• University Degree (Bachelor’s degree), preferably in an Environmental or Engineering discipline.
• 1-3 years of industry experience in performing and analyzing Life Cycle Assessments – preferably across different products/industries.
• Knowledge and expertise in performing Life Cycle Inventories, LCA modeling, and an understanding of environmental impacts and impact methodologies.
• Experience in application of LCA principles to standards development is a plus.
• Proficiency using LCA software (preferably GaBi 4) and practical knowledge of the various life cycle databases.
• Must be able to communicate technical concepts to a non-technical audience.
• Excellent analytical skills.
• Ability and willingness to make sound, scientific decisions in challenging environments.

Posting of the position can be found HERE

Press release – March 3, 2010

Bridgestone’s takes a global view of the environmental impact of tires – the so called “cradle to grave” approach – covering the whole product life cycle from raw materials, production and distribution to tyre usage and end-of-life disposal.

All research, and particularly the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study conducted by the European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers’ Association, shows that the tire usage phase has the largest impact on the environment. While Bridgestone is taking important steps to minimize environmental impact in all tyre life stages (documented in the Bridgestone Europe “Environmental Commitment and Performance” brochure and elsewhere), the company is currently engaged in a major development programme in the tire usage stage.

Tire manufacturers working within the BLIC (European Association of the Rubber Industry) carried out a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in 2000/2001 for a standard size passenger car tire (195/65 R15, speed index H, summer) representative of the European market. The referenced tire LCA study clearly showed that the impact of tires on the environment and human health is mostly due to fuel consumption, and thus to rolling resistance and not to the tire production phase or end-of-life collection and management.

The press release can be found here:

http://www.bridgestone.eu/press/press-releases/all/2010/safety-or-environmental-benefits

Folks at the Sustainability Consortium say that they can come up with a better way to identify the “greenest” purchases in consumer electronics. (Reuters)

In the press release posted on Reuters, “The effort is being led by the industry-backed Sustainability Consortium, which plans to develop standardized criteria that will be used to label devices, starting with computers and monitors.  The initiative includes retail giants Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) and Best Buy Co (BBY.N), and technology leaders Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N), Dell Inc (DELL.O), Intel Corp (INTC.O) and Toshiba Corp (6502.T)”.

The article states that “The effort is driven by a desire to find a common measurement tool and bring consistency to an area where claims are often difficult to measure”  and about ” ‘ making it easy for customers to determine which products are green versus those that are not,’ said Scott O’Connell, an environmental strategist at Dell.” 

Note, ISO standards on Environmental labels and Declarations discourage the use of vague terms such as “green”.

In addition to traditional Life Cycle Impact Assessment categories, the standards will also take into account “broader social criteria, such as labor conditions under which electronics are manufactured.”   The effort plans to either ” incorporate” the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) as reported by Reuters, or is still “investigating how to collaborate” with the EPEAT folks (PRNewswire).  Initial results will be released in the third quarter of this year and the group plans to expand to cover more electronic goods later in 2010.

The Sustainability Consortium is an independent group of scientists and engineers from leading academic research institutions around the world who engage with other leading researchers from the NGO, Governmental, and Industrial sectors to build a scientific foundation that drives innovation to improve consumer product sustainability.  Wal-Mart announced plans last summer to create an index that could be used as an industry standard. The retailer provided seed funding for the Sustainability Consortium.

http://www.sustainabilityconsortium.org/about