Green Awards 2010

Congratulations to our partner Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks! Their CAD software SolidWorks Sustainability has been been recognized as the winner in the category “Best Green New Product Innovation” by the UK Royal Society of Arts. This software for sustainable design is built on GaBi software and database, leveraging its strength and flexibility to provide integrated product lifecycle assessment and environmental performance insights.

Judges thoughts: “This entry is our favourite. This software has the potential to revolutionise the way designers design their products.  By integrating lifecycle thinking into the design process, SolidWorks helps designers to lower the environmental impact of their creation from the design stage.  Their partnership with independent organisation PE INTERNATIONAL which provides life cycle inventory database makes their product robust and reliable. A must have in any designer’s tool box.”

For more information please contact Susan Fredholm Murphy

More information about SolidWorks Sustainability Software: "Best New Green Product Innovation"

Towards future-proof databases: having “good data” isn’t professional enough

The ability of a Company to improve and further develop its level of Sustainability in a professional way depends more and more on one major issue:  This is the availability of comprehensive, suitable and internationally applicable data. In November, at the international LCA conference (Ecobalance) in Japan, PE INTERNATIONAL presented its view on how to future-proof databases.

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Carbon Leaders disclose Scope 3 emissions – What’s the point?

In early November, the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) released the CDP 2010 Europe 300 Report. With an overall response rate of 82 percent, 74 percent of those responding disclosed at least one source of indirect emissions that occur outside of the companies own operations (Scope 3). On a global level, all companies in the Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index (CDLI) report some Scope 3 emissions. The majority of these organizations focused on emissions from business travel. Only a few of the top-scoring companies such as Bayer, Cisco, Iberdrola, Munich Re and Nokia disclosed supply chain emissions or emissions from the use and disposal of their products.

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PE INTERNATIONAL AG raises EUR 8M in VC Financing

PE INTERNATIONAL AG, a leading provider of sustainability management software and expert consulting services, announced today that it has secured EUR 8 million (10.8 million USD) in venture capital from Siemens Venture Capital (SVC), and the Cleantech team of European investment company Gimv. Through SVC, PE INTERNATIONAL will join Siemens' global innovation network. The financing will be used to support the company’s ambitious growth plans to further build out its strong market position and become the market leader in enterprise sustainability IT platforms.

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Release of GaBi Build-it

© Behnisch Architekten

This new software solution from the GaBi family allows you to calculate a complete building-LCA without in depth-knowledge about LCA modeling. More than 600 datasets of building materials, energy supply and end of life applications are included in the generic model, which are structured according to their utilization within the building.

The maintenance cycles and the end of life scenarios are implemented according to the regulations of the DGNB (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen, German Sustainable Building Council).

A detailed report of the results, with a predefined analysis includes a comparison with a reference building. The report can be used both to optimize buildings and for the DGNB certification process.

Download the brochure

Major Life Cycle Assessment study for American Hardwoods

PE INTERNATIONAL is currently undertaking the first phase of data collection for the ground breaking Study which will conform to the ISO14000 series of Standards for LCAs. Life Cycle Inventory data is being gathered for American hardwood lumber and veneer covering environmental impacts of every process from point of extraction through to delivery to the importers yard in Europe and East Asia.

The study will allow preparation of Environmental Products Declarations (EPDs) for American hardwood species and products. EPDs are widely recognised as the most effective method of communicating the full environmental profile of any product and are increasingly used as a basis for materials credits in green building rating systems like BREEAM and DGNB. The study will also include, as a discrete component, an assessment of the carbon footprint of using American hardwood lumber and veneers in Europe in line with the UK’s PAS 2050 standard and the international Greenhouse Gas Protocol.

For David Venables, European Director of AHEC (www.americanhardwood.org) the decision to invest in this new Study is hugely significant for the industry and vital for its future competitive edge in export markets, in a world where green specification is increasingly informed by a science-based approach.

He says: “This is a massive undertaking in both financial and logistical terms because the Study will encompass a wide range of operations and processes. Data collection will be needed from a variety of sectors, supply chain elements and geographical regions. What we want from this Study is comprehensive and independently assessed and verified information about the environmental impacts of the processes used to extract, produce and dispose of American hardwood products.”

SolidWorks World 2011 - Inside the Black Box

Susan Fredholm Murphy, Senior Consultant with PE Americas and product manager for the SolidWorks Sustainability add-in product, will speak at SolidWorks World 2011 occurring January 23 – January 26 in San Antonio, Texas, USA.

Her presentation “SolidWorks Sustainability - Inside the Black Box” will be part of the design validation track and will teach SolidWorks about the contents of the PE INTERNATIONAL GaBi LCA model underlying the SolidWorks Sustainability interface. The presentation will help SolidWorks users understand the data sources behind this model and how the environmental impact factors are calculated. It will also describe the requirements for creating ISO-compliant LCAs suitable for marketing claims.