Archive for the ‘CSI’ Category

I have to admit, I’ve been slow to catch onto the need for GreenFormat, at least until I read Paul Bertram’s white paper. Here’s part of what he wrote recently:

“The green building movement in the US is driven by green/sustainable rating systems, emerging standards, and building codes that incorporate criteria for environmental consideration in product evaluation. These efforts are now incorporating LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) as a scientific approach to building products environmental assessment. LCA includes multiple-attribute reporting as opposed to single attribute reporting to help generate a more comprehensive product assessment while reducing market confusion and ‘greenwash’.”

“Design firms seeking greater clarification of sustainable product attributes have further complicated the situation because they do not have a standardized way to request or report information about products. Designers waste time individually developing product information questionnaires, and manufacturers waste time responding to individual firm questionnaires. These un-standardized interactions produce inconsistent and non-comparable information, which wastes still more time.”

“GreenFormat is CSI’s response to the confusion of what constitutes a sustainable (or ‘green’) building product. It assists in the evaluation and purchase of sustainable building products.”

“GreenFormat is a web-based tool that allows design professionals to identify the sustainable properties of products. GreenFormat offers several search paths to access a product’s green attributes, as well as the manufacturer’s sustainable initiative, such as LCA, and end-of-life and climate-change reporting.”

To read more of Paul Bertram’s white paper go to http://www.csinet.org/s_csi/docs/17500/17458.pdf

Planning to take the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) CDT exam? It’s a gnarly test that most people would have difficulty passing without serious preparation. You may be interested in the CDT Prep Course Series available from CSI On-Demand Webinars. The price of the 11-session series is $150 for CSI members, and $200 for non-members.