Highlights
• v
BEES4.0 ^
White House Surr
Sustainable Building
Standards Update
U.S. Green Building
Council Federal Summit
Green Cle
Specifications
v^cL. \
Buying Green with
EPEAT
fEPP<
Released
Issue 17 | September 2006
ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE PURCHASING
At Last! A Guide for Writing Green
Construction Specifications
After extensive outreach to and input
from industry and environmental
stakeholders, EPA and its
partners—the Federal Environmental
Executive and the Whole Building Design
Guide—released the Federal Green
Construction Guide for Specifiers in April 2006.
Written in the language of architects and
building contractors—CSI MasterFormat™—
the guide includes model green language for
more than 60 types of specifications—from
concrete to coatings to commissioning.
The guide was developed to help federal
agencies holistically address the myriad of
construction-related environmental goals and
mandates, including:
• The Federal Leadership in High
Performance and Sustainable Buildings
Memorandum of Understanding.
• EPA's Final Guidance on Environmentally
Preferable Purchasing.
• Greening of the Government Executive
Orders.
• EPA's Comprehensive Procurement
Guidelines for recovered content.
• USDA's Biobased Purchasing Program.
The July 2006 quarterly release of the Unified
Facilities Guide Specifications (UFGS)—used
by the Navy, Army, NASA, and other federal
agencies to develop their project-specific con-
struction specifications—includes updates of
more than 50 specifications based on the sus-
tainability approaches in the Federal Green
Construction Guide for Speakers.To view the
new, "greener" UFGS visit .
The new version of the guide reflects more
than 100 public comments received from July
27, 2004. through January 14, 2005.The com-
ments can be viewed at
(Advanced Search: Document Search: EPA-
HQ-OPPT-2004-0092).
• ENERGY STAR® and the Department of
Energy Federal Energy Management
Program (FEMP) Product Efficiency
Recommendations.
• The Energy Policy Act of 2005.
• ASTM International standards,
Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design (LEED®), Green Globes™, and
other rating systems and standards.
• Other "best practices" as determined by
industry and public comment.
In the spirit of continual improvement,
near-term expansion plans for the guide
include new sections covering: Commercial
Kitchen Equipment; Stormwater
Management with Compost; Rainwater
Harvesting; Vegetative Roof Systems;
Constructed Wetlands; Integrated Pest
Management; Structural Steel; and Indoor
Air Quality Management-Moisture Control.
In addition, guidance for utilizing environ-
mental management systems in construction
projects and for building on environmentally
sensitive sites are being developed.
The guide is a living document; therefore,
comments are welcome at any time. To
review and comment on the guide, go to
and click on the
"comments" button at the bottom of each page.
For more information, contact EPA's Alison
Kinn Bennett at .
If you choose to print this newsletter: please print it on paper containing at least 50 percent postconsumer fiber
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BEES Impacts
Human Health Protection
Indoor Air Quality
Human Health Toxicity
Criteria Air Pollutants
Natural Environmental
Protection
Global Warming
Acidification
Eutrophication
Ecological Toxicology
Ozone Depletion
Smog Formation
Natural Resource Use
Fossil Fuel Depletion
Habitat Alteration
Water Intake
NIST Stakeholder Panel Develops
New Weighting Scheme for BEES 4.0
On May 5, 2006, the National
Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST) brought
together a stakeholder panel of industry,
government, academia, and nonprofit
participants to develop a new environ-
mental impact weighting scheme option
for the soon-to-be-released update of
the Building for Environmental and
Economic Sustainability (BEES) soft-
ware.
BEES implements a life-cycle
approach, based on consensus stan-
dards, for selecting building products
that achieve the most appropriate bal-
ance between environmental and eco-
nomic performance based on the
decisionmaker's values. As such, the
BEES software incorporates the optional
life-cycle assessment step of weighting
to allow decisionmakers to synthesize
science-based scores for 12 environmen-
tal impacts into an overall environmen-
tal performance score for comparison
against competing products.
Currently, there are three sets of
weights available to the software user:
EPA Science Advisory Board's priorities,
a Harvard University study's findings,
or equal weighting among all impacts—
representing a spectrum of ways in
which people value diverse aspects of
the environment. The stakeholder panel
employed the Analytic Hierarchy Process
(AHP) to develop the new, fourth set of
weights for BEES 4.0. The AHP is a deci-
sionmaking methodology that has been
in use for approximately 35 years. It is a
systematic approach to finding the prior-
ities within a range of decision criteria,
and then measuring the contribution of
potential solutions to those criteria.
The stakeholder panel placed an over-
whelming emphasis on global warming
in the new set of weights, distantly fol-
lowed by fossil fuel depletion and criteria
air pollutants. Water intake, cancerous
effects, and ecological toxicity were next
on the list, followed by the remaining
seven criteria.
With more than 20,000 users, BEES is
the most popular tool in the world for
selecting environmentally preferable
products. BEES 4.0 is scheduled for
release in Fall 2006.
For more information, contact NIST's
Bobbie Lippiatt at .
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White House Turns Green at Recent
Summit
The Federal Leadership in High
Performance and Sustainable
Buildings Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) was signed by 17
federal agencies during the first White
House Summit on Sustainable Federal
Buildings on January 24, 2006. Currently,
19 federal agencies, controlling more than
80 percent of the total federal facility
square footage, have pledged to reduce
the environmental footprint of their
buildings.
The MOU is the flagship federal effort
to define guiding principles of green
building and provide leadership in the
design, construction, and operation of
high-performance and sustainable build-
ings. The signatory agencies (see sidebar)
have committed to implementing com-
mon strategies for planning, acquiring,
siting, designing, building, operating, and
maintaining the buildings, as well as coor-
dinating between the public and private
sectors.
MOU Commitments
• Integrated Design
• Commissioning
• Energy Efficiency
• Measurement &Verification
• Indoor Water
• Outdoor Water
• Ventilation & Thermal Comfort
• Moisture Control
• Daylighting
• Low-Emitting Materials
• Indoor Air Quality During
Construction
• Recycled Content
• Biobased Content
• Ozone Depleting Compounds
Agencies are currently working to incor-
porate and adopt the guiding principles
that accompany the MOU, which include:
• Employing integrated design princi-
ples.
• Optimizing energy performance.
• Protecting and conserving water.
• Enhancing indoor environmental
quality.
• Reducing environmental impact of
materials.
Technical guidance, developed by the
Interagency Sustainability Working
Group to assist agencies with their imple-
mentation efforts, can be found in the
Whole Building Design Guide at
.
Available resources include information
on designing, operating, commissioning,
and monitoring sustainable new build-
ings and renovations, as well as informa-
tion on specific topics, such as moisture
control, creative funding strategies, guid-
ance for vendors, and managing con-
struction waste. The MOU technical
guidance also provides: clarifica-
tion on a number of the MOU
commitments; related mandates;
and direct links to key model con-
tract and specification language
found in the Federal Green
Construction Guide for Specifiers at
.
Signatory Agencies
Department of Defense
Department of Energy
General Services
Administration
Department ofVeteran Affairs
Department of the Interior
Department of Justice
Department of Agriculture
National Aeronautics and
Space Administration
Department of Homeland
Security
Department of Health and
Human Services
Department ofTransportation
Tennessee Valley Authority
Environmental Protection
Agency
Department of State
Department of Housing and
Urban Development
Office of Personnel
Management
Executive Office of the
President
Department of Commerce
Department of Labor
OMB Scorecard
The Office of Management and Budget's
(OMB's) Environmental Scorecard is using
the MOU on Sustainable Green Buildings
as one of its metrics for scoring agency
environmental stewardship in 2006.
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Sustainable Building Standards Update
mm
-——•-_—i
As the green building movement
matures, new practices and stan-
dards are entering the market-
place. In its role as "facilitative leader,"
EPA has partnered with organizations
such as ASTM International, NSF
International, and the Business and
Institutional Furniture Manufacturers
Association (BIFMA) to encourage sus-
tainable building practices.
ASTM International (formerly
American Society for Testing and
Materials)
ASTM and EPA's Office of Pollution
Prevention and Toxics (OPPT) are co-
chairing the first International
Symposium on Common Ground,
Consensus Building, and Continual
Improvement: Standards and
Sustainable Buildings. The symposium,
to be held in April 2007 at EPA
Headquarters, will include papers
regarding:
• Use and application of ASTM E2432
Standard Guide for General Principles
of Sustainability Relative to Buildings.
• Current and developing standards
related to Sustainability in building.
• Standard development organiza-
tions that address Sustainability in
building.
The papers will describe new stan-
dards and the standards' development
processes and may include information
regarding individual materials, products,
systems, components, and methods.
ASTM International provides a global
forum for the development and publica-
tion of voluntary consensus standards.
Designed to be applicable industry-wide,
standards include guidelines for materi-
als, products, systems, and services.
ASTM's Subcommittee E06.71 on
Sustainability was formed to handle the
growing market demand for green build-
ing and sustainable development.
The Office of Pollution Prevention and
Toxics (OPPT) is dedicated to pollution
prevention, promotion of safer chemicals,
risk reduction, and public understanding of
risks. Major initiatives include Design for
the Environment (DfE), Green Chemistry,
and Environmentally Preferable Purchasing
(EPP) programs. OPPT chaired the ASTM
task groups responsible for developing the
Standard Guide for General Principles of
Sustainability Relative to Buildings and the
Standard Practice for Data Collect/on for
Sustainability Assessment of Building
Products and is currently working on ter-
minology and environmentally preferable
purchasing standards.
NSF International
NSF International, with support from
the Association for Contract Textiles,
Green Blue Institute, and EPA's OPPT, is
developing a standard for manufactur-
ing sustainable textiles. The standard
will provide:
• Guidelines for assessing environ-
mentally preferable textile products.
• A resource for the textile industry
with information about sustainable
design and manufacturing.
The standard will have relevant, mea-
surable, and economically feasible met-
rics formatted in such a way that it can
be used for product-to-product compar-
isons and be ANSI-accredited.
For more information, contact NSF's
Jaclyn Bowen at or
EPA's Jim Darr at .
NSF and the Business and
Institutional Furniture
Manufacturer's Association
(BIFMA)
BIFMA is a nonprofit trade association
of furniture manufacturers and suppli-
ers that serves as an information
resource, industry advocate, and trade
development facilitator.
In December 2005, BIFMA's
Sustainability Subcommittee members
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< Continued from page 4 >
met with OPPT's DfE and EPP programs,
as well as members of EPA's Office of
Solid Waste Product Stewardship
Program, to kick off the development of
a voluntary consensus standard for sus-
tainable furniture. The standard develop-
ment process is being managed by NSF,
although BIFMA will retain ownership of
the ANSI-accredited standard. It is being
developed with the help of BIFMA mem-
bers, as well as designers, specifiers, end
users, government agency partners, and
nongovernmental organizations.
By establishing performance criteria
that address environmental, economic,
and social aspects throughout the supply
chain, the standard will provide measur-
able market-based definitions of progres-
sively more sustainable furniture. The
standard will apply to suppliers and man-
ufacturers of all commercial office furni-
ture, including moveable walls, systems
furniture, desks, case goods, tables, seat-
ing, and accessories. The effort has set
out to address product-based aspects in
the general areas of human and ecosys-
tem health, use of renewable energy and
energy efficiency, use of materials and
materials reutilization, water manage-
ment, economics and cost, and social
responsibility.
In an effort to continuously improve the
standard, it will be updated as technologi-
cal opportunities evolve. Organizations
that use the standard will see continuous
improvements in their sustainable prac-
tices and benefits such as year-over-year
improvements in energy efficiency.
Anyone interested in helping to develop
the sustainable furniture standard should
contact BIFMA at or
Jaclyn Bowen at .
U.S. Green Building Council
2006 Federal Summit
The recent U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) 2006 Federal
Summit explored opportunities and challenges for green
building in the federal government. The one-day summit fea-
tured keynote speaker Bob Fox, of Cook + Fox architects, and
offered nine workshops (see box). A leader in sustainability, Fox
designed the Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park in New
York City, which is currently seeking Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design (LEED®) Platinum certification. The summit
provided the opportunity for the attendees to learn how LEED and
other tools can be used to meet federal green building goals and
mandates. It also encouraged sharing of success stories and lessons
learned among federal facilities managers.
The workshop pre-
sentations from the
Summit are available at
.
Workshops Offered at
the Summit
• Energy Workshop: Implementing
EPAct
• Federal Agency Green Building
Activities Panel
• OBM Management Scorecards on
Energy,Transportation, and
Environmental Stewardship
• Implementing the Federal
Leadership in High Performance
and Sustainable Buildings MOD
• Energy Workshop: Existing
Buildings
• Using the LEED OnlineTool
• Using the Federal Green
Construction Guide for Specifiers
Green Building Research
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What Is Green
Cleaning?
Green cleaning is a new
approach to janitorial services
that offers better environmen-
al performance anc' '
worker health and safety, while
retaining the same sanitation
quality as other more chemi-
cal-intensive methods. When
correctly employed, no "clean-
ing power" is sacrificed
through green cleaning prac-
Why Calculate the
Benefits of Green
Cleaning?
Derive statistics to evalual
a janitorial program's envi
ronmental performance.
Derive data for perfor-
mance-based contracts.
Derive data to promote
the program.
A New Way to Calculate the
Benefits of Green Cleaning
Anew tool is now available to help
federal purchasers of janitorial
products and services quantify
the benefits of using green cleaning prod-
ucts and methods. The tool, EPA's Green
Cleaning Pollution Prevention Calculator,
is applicable to typical office cleaning sce-
narios and excludes pest control, land-
scaping, and building maintenance
applications. The calculator is targeted
towards federal environmental, health,
and safety managers; sustainability coor-
dinators; facility supervisors; and office
managers.
A user can input the following informa-
tion into the calculator: estimate of car-
peted area of the building, estimate of
hard floor area, types and annual
amounts of cleaning products currently
used (in pounds), current cleaning prod-
uct handling and mixing practices, and
changes to janitorial product use and
cleaning practices that have been made or
could be made. It also has default settings
•--•{> Approximate Building Siz<
tf you don't make an entry, fhe default amfnints vti/1 he tiu
Your Building
Hard Floor Area (Square Feel?) |bll.lini!
rea (GllUdre reel)
Total Area (Square Feet)
|50.000
|100.000
—-{> Spscial Clawing?
[If you don't make sn entry, tttc default answers ts "no"
Your Building
Many interior glass partitions [~
I nrq^ rimnunt"; of mr-rnl trim P~
Ruilrting mnra rhat- ?n vR^r^ nlri f~
4— back
next—»
that can be used if specific building data
are unavailable. The calculator estimates
reductions in total product use and haz-
ardous chemical use associated with each
specified scenario.
For more information about the Green
Cleaning Pollution Prevention Calculator,
please visit or contact EPA's
Jim Darr at .
New ANSI Standard for Cleaning
Products Published
EPA's Pollution Prevention Division (PPD)
staff and other stakeholders from govern-
ment, industry, and nongovernmental
organizations recently teamed up with
the independent standard-setting organi-
zation, NSF International, to publish the
new voluntary consensus standard,
performance criteria for hard surface
cleaners and their development process. A
manufacturer's compliance with an imple-
mented PDP-EMS results in improved
environmental performance, such as
reduced water use, smog formation, and
human health risks.
NSF/ANSI143-2006, EnvirorjmentaUJr jn addition, the standard provides a
Preferable Products-Hard Surface^ consistent approach to EPP design and
Cleaners. The standard provides a rn&hs^ development, while encouraging continu-
agement strategy guide for manufattyer^ ous inipcTfement of environmental per-
to follow when designing, developing, ; formance. It addresses the ethics of
and marketing environmentally prefer- ; pouutipn prevention and responsible
able hard surface cleaners.
The standard establishes requirements
for a Product Development Process-
Environmental Management System
(PDP-EMS), a tool that enables companies/
to achieve and systematically control the
level of each product's environmental per-
formance. The standard does not set, but
rather suggests, specific environmental
energyvuse throughout the entire product
life cycle, as well as the biodegradability
and identification of chemicals that may
potentially persist, bioaccumulate, and be
toxic in the environment.
NSF/ANSI 143-2006 is available for pur-
chase on the NSF Bookstore Web site at
.
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EPEAT Makes Buying Green Easy
A
new tool recently
became available to
aid corporate and
government consumers in
purchasing environmentally
preferable electronics. The
Electronic Product
Environmental Assessment
Tool (EPEAT), developed
joindy by EPA and Zero Waste Alliance,
evaluates desktop computers, laptops,
and monitors based on how well they
meet the Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standard for
the Environmental Assessment of
Personal Computer Products (P1680).
Organizations can purchase these EPEAT-
registered machines to help "green" their
offices and reduce energy usage.
EPEAT assesses electronics based on 51
individual criteria in eight different per-
formance categories and awards bronze,
silver, and gold ratings. The categories of
consideration are: reduction or elimina-
tion of environmentally sensitive materi-
als; materials selection; design for
end-of-life; product longevity/life-cycle
extension; energy conservation; end of
life management; corporate performance;
and packaging. Each category has one to
six required criteria and up to eight
optional criteria. Fulfilling only die 23
required criteria earns a
bronze rating. Fulfilling 50
percent or more of the 28
optional criteria earns eidier
a silver or gold rating,
depending on how many of
the criteria are met.
Purchasers can access a data-
base detailing all electronics
that have been EPEAT-registered at each
level. As of July 2006, the database
includes more than 60 EPEAT-registered
products.
Over the next five years, die purchase
and use of EPEAT-registered computers
will save organizations more than $51
million in energy costs and more than
600,000 megawatt-hours of electricity,
which is enough energy to power 6 mil-
lion homes. In addition, hazardous waste
will be reduced by 13 million pounds and
nonhazardous waste by 3 million pounds.
Currently, no plans are in place for
manufacturers to make EPEAT-registered
electronics available to individual con-
sumers, although as the large purchaser
market grows, the demand from individ-
ual consumers may rise.
For more information on EPEAT, please
visit or contact EPA's
Holly Elwood at .
Electronic
Assisting Purcha
- Rewarding Leading Designs
Welcome to EPEAT®
Click here Fcr all of the press material; for
the July 21 press conference announcing the
July 24 release of the EPEAT registration
database.
EPEAT is a procurement tool to help institutional purchasers in tlie public and private sectors evaluate, compare
and select desktop computers, notebooks and monitors based on their environments! attributes EPEAT also
provides a clear and consistent set of performance criteria for the design of products, and provides an opportunity
for manufacturers to secure rnarKQt recognition foi efforts to reduce the environ mental impact of Its products.
Bdckgiomitl nn EPEAT*
EPEAT was developed through a 3-vear stakeholder process ihst was managed by a nan-profl! argartoailon -
Zero Waste Alliance. Backgr ound on ihe development of EPEAT mav be reviewed at
nilp :/JWMV z* rwa ste . otgfi nd aimm EPEAT is implemented tnrough two separate and interlinked venlures:
1 IEEE 1 6SO-20Q6 is an ANSI standard, adopted and owned by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic
Engineers The standard includes the environmental performance criteria and outlines the principles by which tlie
s\stem (s implemented Eljgkjief? to purchase IEEE 1 680
1. This EPEAT web site is maintained bva non-profit organisation- EPEAT, Inc. This organization operates the
system for product registration and verification, and provides a one-stop- shop - the EPEAT registry - for
purchasers to identify products lhal conform with the standard
EPEAT*PeiffHiii.iiice Tteis
EPEAT evaluates electronic products according to three
tiers of environmental performance - Bronze, Silver and
Gold The complete set of performance criteria includes
23 required criteria and 23 optional criteria in 8
categories To quality for acceptance as an EPEAT
product, it must conform !o all the required criteria
Manufacturers mav pick and choose among the optional
catena to boost iheir EPEAT baseline "score" to achieve
Search byM.-i;n.[ n b.\\:-\
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EPA Guiding
Principlies
Each purchasing guide is
i i . i r T—r^ir~i - i1
l_/OJV^ ^1 I U 1^ IIV1— I—I I £
principles:
I) Include environmental
factors as well as tradi-
tional considerations of
price and performance as
part of the normal pur-
chasing process.
2) Emphasize pollution pre-
vention early in the pur-
chasing process.
ronmental attributes
throughout a product's or
selecting products and
5) Collect accurate and
meaningful environmental
information about envi-
ronmental performance
of products and services.
I Jnitpd States
(7409M)
Washington, DC '.
EPA742-N-06-00
SeDtember 2006
Guiding the Way
To Environmental
Purchasing
EPA's Office of Pollution Prevention and
Toxics (OPPT) recently announced the avail-
ability of four EPP guides. The guides pro-
vide information and resources regarding
environmental considerations when pur-
chasing carpet, cleaning products, and
copiers, and when arranging conference ser-
vices. The purpose of the guides is to help
federal procurement officials consider envi-
ronmental impacts—such as pollution,
waste, and energy use—in their purchasing
decisions, and also to consider products and
services in terms of overall best value, per-
formance standards, and regulatory require-
ments.
Greening Your Purchase of Carpet: A Guide
for Federal Purchasers examines the potential
health and environmental concerns associ-
ated with carpet, including indoor air quali-
ty solid waste generation, and chemical
emissions from manufacturing and disposal
operations. The guide stresses the over-
whelming presence of old carpet in the U.S.
waste stream—4 billion pounds are dis-
posed of every year—and recommends con-
sidering the life-cycle impacts of carpet
before making a decision about purchasing.
The guide discusses the materials used in
carpet, such as nylon, jute, and
polyurethane backing, as well as proper
installation and maintenance procedures,
reuse options, and state and EPA environ-
mental standards and specifications.
Greening Your Purchase of Cleaning Products:
A Guide for Federal Purchasers outlines the
benefits of buying green janitorial products,
such as reduced packaging, energy use in
transportation, and chemical disposal costs.
All occupants of a building—including about
2.8 million janitors nationwide—can poten-
tially be exposed to hazardous or toxic com-
ponents of cleaning products. The guide
encourages federal purchasers to choose less
hazardous products with positive environ-
mental attributes, such as low toxicity and
biodegradability. The guide also outlines
product use options, including limiting the
use of disinfectants to areas where people
are likely to come into contact with contami-
nated surfaces—such as bathroom fixtures
or doorknobs—as well as training employees
on the proper use of products.
Greening Your Purchase of Copiers: A Guide
for Federal Purchasers encourages federal pur-
chasers to consider a copier's life-cycle
attributes, including the materials used to
manufacture the copier, energy efficiency,
and recycling and disposal issues, before
choosing a copier. Copiers made of and
packaged in recyclable material and
designed for remanufacturing and reuse of
parts are some of the greenest models avail-
able. In addition, federal consumers should
look for copiers capable of powering
down—which produces less heat and
reduces air conditioning costs—as well as
producing double-sided copies—which
reduces office paper use. The guide also
highlights multi-function machines; these
models can print, fax, scan, and copy there-
by lowering office energy consumption.
Each guide encourages product research
before making a purchasing decision and
supplies several contacts and resources for
federal consumers. The purchasing guides
can be accessed at .
Greening Your Meetings and Conferences: A
Guide for Federal Purchasers recommends care-
ful planning—such as choosing a centralized
location, using reusable linens and flatware,
and utilizing electronic communication
instead of paper—when holding an event.
The guide emphasizes the almost limitless
opportunities to hold green meetings—those
in which impacts on the environment are
minimized. Environmental damage such as
greenhouse gas emissions from air and
ground travel, water usage and material waste
from hotel stays, and food service waste can
be reduced by considering environmental
impacts and implementing certain changes
when planning a meeting or conference.
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