EPD-Workshop, June 8, 2010 – Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Environmental product declarations (EPDs) are the most impotent medium to inform about building products which are used to benchmark the sustainability of buildings. The sustainability of the building depends on the quality of the building materials. That`s why the provable sustainable building products are considered already by planning and sourcing of materials today.
The ordinance on building products will include an extra claim “sustainability” in the future. And building products manufacturers should be able to achieve it. Since the european standard contains the facet “sustainability of buildings” the environmental product declarations are the central medium to inform about the building products for building monitoring.
The EPD workshop organized by IBU institute will take place on June 8, 2010 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It is directed towards building products and materials manufacturers, building engineers and other players along the value chain for buildings, for example architects, building or project managers, builders, builder's merchants and recyclers.
More information about the environmental product declarations (EPDs) and services of PE INTERNATIONAL you will find here .
Key members of the US cotton industry are coming together to compile a comprehensive cotton lifecycle inventory (LCI).
Called Vision 21, the inventory’s data is intended to serve as a foundation for global cotton lifecycle evaluations and a credible base for sustainable textile operations.
The project, expected to take about a year, involves The Cotton Foundation, the National Cotton Council (NCC), Cotton Council International (CCI) and Cotton Incorporated. PE Americas will head up the project.
“Vision 21 is a project of the Cotton Foundation that involves three major areas of study,” NCC President/CEO Mark Lange said. “A critical component of the project is an independently conducted life cycle environmental and energy analysis for cotton consumer products.”
“The goal of the collection of this current, third-party and peer-reviewed data is that it will become a gold standard for manufacturers, brands and retailers interested in bettering their environmental bottom line,” said J. Berrye Worsham, president and CEO of Cotton Incorporated, adding that it will also serve to further demonstrate the environmental gains the US cotton industry continues to make along every link of the supply chain.
The Life Cycle Inventory / Life Cycle Assessment project will use data from the top cotton-producing countries of India, China and the US. Similarly, a sampling of key cotton textile-producing countries, including India, China, the United States, Turkey and Latin America, will be used for manufacturing benchmarking.
Lange also noted that the US cotton industry is confident that a transparent and well-documented cotton lifecycle inventory - one that easily can be integrated into both proprietary and open source LCA software - will benefit the industry. And, along with data set collection and tool creation, the ultimate goal is to make the information globally available.
PE Americas conducted a life-cycle assessment (LCA) for the Corrugated Packaging Alliance (CPA) to evaluate the environmental impact of corrugated packaging products. With such an LCA study, the CPA and its constituent associations can assist others in understanding and communicating the environmental footprint and environmental benefits associated with using corrugated. At the same time, this study helps describe the environmental impacts of corrugated’s different life-cycle stages in relation to overall environmental performance, and the potential environmental benefits of process improvements. Beyond the operations of a single manufacturing site or package specification, the study evaluates the environmental performance of an industry-average corrugated product throughout its entire life cycle.
PUMA launched the next pivotal phase of its ambitious long-term sustainability program. By introducing its cutting-edge sustainable packaging and distribution system by renowned industrial designer Yves Behar, PUMA will set new standards within the Sportlifestyle retail industry. The new innovative solution will significantly reduce the amount of waste and CO2 emissions that traditional product packaging such as shoe-boxes and apparel polyethylene bags generate and underpins PUMA's target of reducing carbon, energy, water, and waste by 25%, and developing 50% of its international product collections in footwear, apparel and accessories according to best practice sustainability standards by 2015.
Behar designed a "Clever Little Bag" to replace the cardboard shoebox with a re-usable shoe bag, that protects each pair of shoes from damage from the point it leaves the factory until the consumer takes it home -- thus generating savings on the production side due to less material used, reducing weight during transport and eliminating the need for extra plastic carrier bags.
PE INTERNATIONAL conducted a Life Cycle Assessment to consider all elements of the life cycle, from the overall manufacturing including supply of material and energy carriers to the end of life, when analyzing the environmental performance of the various footwear-packaging options.
A new research report by Groom Energy Solutions predicts that despite the slow economy software purchases for Enterprise Carbon Accounting (ECA) or Corporate Carbon Footprints will grow 600% by 2011. The research report identifies three main drivers for the future growth: customers and investor demanding improvements in company image, cost savings from sustainability initiatives and supply-chain programs like Walmart’s Supplier Sustainability Assessment.
Meanwhile, the number of ECA solution vendors has grown to 60 and the research report aims to guide decision makers in choosing the right offering for their needs. The report evaluates vendors using the following criteria: number of customer deployments, technology features, market vision and financial stability.
PE INTERNATIONAL has been identified as an Emerging Leader based on these criteria for the second consecutive year. Paul Baier, vice president of consulting at Groom Energy and author of the report confirms “With its large ECA customer base and global organization, PE INTERNATIONAL is ideally positioned for success in the market.”
PE INTERNATIONAL is happy to announce that the iPhone application "iCarbonCalc" is now available in the App Store.
This app allows it to track the personal carbon footprint by adding a variety of activities (Car/Train/Flight/Live) in different time ranges. The results can be shown either in a 2D Bar or a Table and specific personals goals can be set.
The app increases public awareness of personal carbon footprints and the personal estimate provided by the app can help individuals identify the aspects of their lifestyles that contribute most to global warming.
The “iCarbonCalc” is freeware and can be downloaded here:
The resources used for a building, the resulting environmental impact and the costs caused during its useful life exceed the costs emerged from its production and construction. In particular, this concerns the expenditure of energy and CO2 emissions.
With the development towards a more intensified sustainability in the building sector, an extreme increase of requirements to buildings came along during the last years. Already in the planning there have to be taken into consideration topics like climate change, preservation of resources, demographic change and monetary stability. Furthermore, the temporal horizon has widened: in addition to the building phase, the whole life cycle of buildings becomes integrated progressively into the process of planning, including maintenance, overhaul and renaturation.
The book “Lebenszyklusanalyse in der Gebäudeplanung”,released by the publishing company DETAIL, imparts necessary knowledge to planners, which they need to react appropriately on the change of requirements. Johannes Kreißig, expert in sustainable building of PE International and his co- authors explain the development of buildings during their life cycle and the influence, the risks of ageing and obsolescence can have in this regard.
They describe the methods of life cycle assessment and life cycle costing and present the most important tools for integral planning. The practical application of the life cycle analysis is illustrated by examples of buildings and these examples furthermore show how environmental impacts and life cycle costs can be taken into consideration already in the phase of planning. The book is an indispensable tool for all those who dedicate themselves to the certification of sustainability of buildings and can be obtained at DETAIL.
1.2 tons of carbon dioxide have been caused by Andreas Große Habuer, Tobias Bayer and Joachim Zepelin through their research for the story „CO2- the new currency“, published in the november edition of the business magazine Capital. PE INTERNATIONAL calculated a carbon footprint of about 1.2 tons as the result of every journey, telephone call and piece of paper, which the journalists needed for their research.
Among others, they communicated with Deutsche Post, one of our SoFi software customers. „Years ago, as we were experimenting with carbon- accounting, we were even sneered“, says Michael Lohmeier, CO2 manager of Deutsche Post. Nowadays, nobody laughs. „Because of the extensive system of numbers we now exactly know how to save CO2 and therefore money“.
The big problem in accounting CO2 is, that Deutsche Post is just able to detect and have an effect on 20 percent of their emissions. The big rest arises from the suppliers, who have to make up the balance for the emission of CO2 for themselves to enable Deutsche Post to provide significant data. „We just started to ask our business partners for their emissions of CO2“, says Lohmeier.
Factoring primary products and supply chains which provoke emissions of CO2 into the own accounting of C02 gains immensely in importance. In the future, the huge trading company Wal-Mart claims C02 data of its 100.000 suppliers, for instance. Therefore, selecting a supplier will become a question of C02 emissions.
„Now, questionnaires are sent back and forth around the world“, says Michael Spielmann, Coordinator Carbon Managementat PE INTERNATIONAL. „It will not take much longer and the smallest companies will have to expose their C02 emissions“, mentions Spielmann. „Soon each company will be affected by the topic of C02 – in effect, carbon dioxide is developing itself into a currency. The sooner companies adapt themselves to it, the better“.
Waste prevention has been assigned the highest priority under European waste management law. However, the initiatives which have been taken so far have not reduced the regular annual increase in total waste arisings across Europe; we are still some way from achieving sustainable use of resources. That’s why the European Union started ZeroWIN, a project "Towards Zero Waste in Industrial Networks".
PE INTERNATIONAL is a official partner of ZeroWIN and will support the methodological part of the project with its extensive know how in environmental assessment methods and tools. Also PE coordinates work package 4. Beside this the practical experiences from regularly consultancy with industry and companies makes PE an essential supporter in accompanying some of the case studies including outline definition, case study progress and final assessment and its dissemination.
With a rising level of prosperity in industrialized countries, an increasing number of products and services are being produced and consumed. This development is reflected in the amount of waste generated. According to Eurostat, the EU27 is annually generating about 4 billion tons of agricultural, domestic and industrial wastes.
The problem here is not only the quantity of waste but also the quality, i.e., the intrinsic hazardous nature of some types of waste, especially industrial waste. Industry today in general uses a wider range of materials and produces more complex products than in past decades. There has also been an overall increase in the quantity and variety of products and services and a continuous creation of new products (Commission of the European Community, 2003).
Idea of ZeroWIN
The main idea of ZeroWin is that waste prevention has to be seen from a holistic perspective to make it work efficiently and effectively.
Expected Results
a decrease of at least 30% of greenhouse gases emissions,
at least 70% of overall re-use and recycling of waste,
a reduction of at least 75% of fresh water utilisation.
More Information
More information about the project and partners is available under www.zerowin.eu
The Canadian Dealer News has selected LaserNetworksas one of the TOP 10 Green Solution Providers. In the last years the company has taken numerous measures internally around power consumption and alternative energy use, packaging, recycling and natural or diesel gas vehicle use. Company’s president, Brian Stevenson, say that although many new printers consume less energy during operation, there is a significant carbon footprint in their manufacture.
That’s why LaserNetworks provides its customers with the ability to use highly-reliable and more environmentally-friendly Reflexion toner cartridges, which Stevenson notes were found in an independent study by PE INTERNATIONAL to provide greater than 50 per cent reduction in carbon emissions, acidification emissions and global warming emissions when compared to fully recycled OEM cartridges.
The research was conducted using the 4345 cartridge, a model representative of the entire Reflexion product range. The environmental information sheet (according to Environmental Product Declaration ISO 14025) by PE INTERNATIONAL analyzed the environmental impact of the complete life cycle of a remanufactured Reflexion cartridge in comparison to similar products and examined the four distinct operational factors that impact the environment: manufacturing or remanufacturing, packaging, logistics, and end of life.
“We have to make significant changes in the way we design, manufacture, distribute and influence the use and disposal of our products/services.” says Nuno DaSilva, Managing Director of PE Americas.
Pressures on the world's environment require every company to realize their entire direct and indirect environmental impact and to become more sustainable. A company's impact on the environment however doesn't stop once their product or service is delivered to the customer or distribution channel. The environmental impact of how a product is used and ultimately disposed of is typically controlled or heavily influenced by the product's design, recommended use and disposal methods.
Companies therefore need to integrate an enterprise wide emissions based approach with an assessment of product/services to fully understand their complete environmental footprint. By identifying all direct and indirect environmental impacts your organization will be able to target 'hot spots' or key areas to implement sustainable initiatives / environmental management.
In an article for “business management” DaSilva reveals the best methodologies for measuring an organization’s environmental impact
Understanding and getting involved in environmental footprinting in New Zealand just got easier today with the launch of a new website hosted by the Life Cycle Association of New Zealand (LCANZ) - http://www.lcanz.org.nz/
Established in June this year, LCANZ is a special interest group open to everyone interested in environmental footprinting. Life Cycle Assessment and Carbon footprinting are increasingly being used in industry and government to measure and demonstrate the environmental impacts of products and services.
Barbara Nebel, President of LCANZ and Managing Director of PE Australasia, says the non-profit organisation was established with a representative membership, including industry, practitioners and researchers and has been supported by an initial grant from the Ministry for Economic Development. “The website is the first step towards raising awareness, building a community of interest, sharing information and ensuring more effective coordination of product related assessments in New Zealand”.
The second step is the hosting of the societies first conference in March 2010 in collaboration with the New Zealand Centre for Life Cycle Management. The conference, "Life Cycle Assessment and Footprinting: Bridging the Gap between Tools and Practice", will be held in Wellington on 24 and 25 March.
People interested in giving a talk at the conference are invited to submit an abstract by Friday 11 December. For more information on LCANZ, conference details and how to become a member visit the LCANZ website www.lcanz.org.nz or contact
In the cross-Group research project InCar, ThyssenKrupp engineers from the Steel Europe and Components Technology business areas have developed 35 innovations for auto manufacturers. The first InCar parts are already being tested in auto manufacturers' plants for introduction into production.
The project offers new solutions for the body, chassis and powertrain areas. Using InCar innovations, auto OEMs can conserve resources, reduce costs or build cars with improved functions - depending on their particular development goals. At the same time the innovations have been validated to such an extent that they can be put into production quickly and at low cost.
Comprehensive ecological assessment
In view of the difficult situation currently faced by the auto industry, pressure is growing on manufacturers to make up lost ground with more eco-friendly and more cost-efficient vehicles with further improved functions. New legal requirements such as the average emissions limit of 130 grams of carbon dioxide (CO2) per kilometer applying EU-wide to new cars from 2012 are a further challenge.
For climate protection, InCar offers innovations capable of reducing emissions by a total of more than 17 grams of CO2 per kilometer. However, CO2 is also generated during the production of cars and parts, the ecological assessment of the InCar solutions prepared by PE INTERNATIONAL covers the entire product lifecycle. The result: Taking the whole production and usage cycle into account, the "cleanest" InCar solutions together can reduce emissions by around 5,500 kilograms of CO2 per vehicle compared with the current state of the art.
The new Smart fortwo electronic will be available at the end of this year, but large-scale production will start in 2012. The first 1,000 cars produced this year will be provided to customers participating in test projects in major cities in Europe and the U.S. in order for Daimler to get feedback about everyday use of the cars which Daimler says has "the most modern lithium-ion battery."
Like conventional cars also electronic cars are also made from hundreds of components, but there can be massive differences between how environmentally friendly they are. smart look to use alternative materials & manufacturing concepts – to find the solutions that are best for the environment. At smart they have always considered how they can use eco-friendly materials in the production of their cars. Each individual smart component is subjected to a continuous ecological improvement process. And all ongoing development projects make the best use of recycled and sustainable raw materials.
At smart they produce an ‘eco’ balance sheet. It offers fascinating insights into the future, insights that are provided by GaBi, the software system that's used for life cycle engineering of new component concepts as they're developed. GaBi evaluates the demands on raw materials and anticipates emissions and assesses the volume of waste that's likely to be created. The entire life cycle is taken into account, from production through to recycling. It can even compare the specific consumption of energy by different means of transport per passenger kilometre. So it's pretty in-depth!
PE INTERNATIONAL recently became the first Accredited Partner for the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP). After undergoing a due diligence process PE´s SoFi Software was tested by the independent GHG Management Institute, resulting in the certification of PE INTERNATIONAL's SoFi software to conduct corporate carbon footprints and reports for the CDP reporting process.
CDP is an independent not-for-profit organization holding the largest database of primary corporate climate change information in the world. It acts on behalf of 475 institutional investors, handling $55 trillion in assets under management and some 60 purchasing organizations such as Walmart, PepsiCo and Cadbury.
A study by Groom Energy recently confirmed PE as a market leader in Enterprise Carbon Accounting. Paul Baier, VP of Consulting at Groom Energy, stated “Today PE INTERNATIONAL has the most solutions for Enterprise Carbon Accounting implemented globally. The CDP software accreditation strengthens their leadership position.”
“We are excited about this partnership. It expresses our confirmed commitment to assist corporations in analyzing, reporting and managing greenhouse gas emissions. We just see huge potential in this partnership to contribute even more to industries and economies shifting toward better practices in sustainability” so Michael Betz, Managing Director of PE INTER NATIONAL.
Symposium über Ökobilanzierung und Carbon Footprinting mit hochkarätigen Vertretern aus Wissenschaft, Wirtschaft und Politik.
Leinfelden-Echterdingen, 22.10.2009. Ökobilanzen (Life Cycle Assessment) und Carbon Footprints sind heute wichtige Bestandteile einer strategischer Unternehmensführung und rücken mit Blick auf die enormen Herausforderungen des Klimawandels viel stärker als bisher in den Vordergrund. Im Vorfeld des Weltklimagipfels in Kopenhagen im kommenden Dezember veranstaltet PE INTERNATIONAL zusammen mit dem Fraunhofer-Institut für Bauphysik und der Universität Stuttgart in Leinfelden-Echterdingen am 28. Oktober 2009 ein Symposium „Best Practice in Applied LCA and Carbon Footprinting“, auf dem Experten aus Wissenschaft, Wirtschaft und Politik neben Erfahrungen aus der Praxis auch die zukünftigen Entwicklungen und Anforderungen im Bereich Nachhaltigkeit aufzeigen werden.
Nachhaltigkeit ist in vielen Bereichen zu einem Schlüsselfaktor geworden: Unternehmen fordern zunehmend von ihren Zulieferern Nachhaltigkeitsaktivitäten ein, immer mehr Endverbraucher beschäftigten die ökologischen Folgen ihres Konsumverhaltens und eine Vielzahl an neuen Gesetzesinitiativen werden zukünftig die gesetzliche Rahmenbedingungen verschärfen. „Nachhaltigkeit avanciert zu Recht zu einem Megatrend. Vor dem Hintergrund der steigenden Anforderungen im Klimaschutz wir das Thema zukünftig eines der größten Herausforderungen sein“, sagt Michael Betz, Geschäftsführervon PE INTERNATIONAL .
In Kopenhagen auf dem Weltklimagipfel will die Staatengemeinschaft ein Kyoto-Folgeprotokoll mit weiterreichenden Reduktionszielen der Treibhausgasemissionen verabschieden. Für deren erfolgreiche Umsetzung brauchen Unternehmen und öffentliche Einrichtungen die richtigen Instrumente. Ökobilanzierung und Carbon Footprinting sind dabei die wichtigsten Bausteine, sagt Betz. Das Symposium sei eine gute Gelegenheit, einen umfassenden Einblick in den Stand der aktuellen wissenschaftlichen Forschung und deren praktische Umsetzung zu gewinnen.
Eine Vielzahl hochkarätiger Referenten präsentieren, wie Ökobilanzierung und Carbon Footprintings erfolgreich für einen nachhaltigen Unternehmenserfolg eingesetzt werden. Sie geben ihre langjährigen Erfahrungen weiter und zeigen den Teilnehmern zukünftige Entwicklungen und Anforderungen auf.
Unter anderen namhaften Vertretern referieren Prof. Klaus Sedlbauer, Direktor des Fraunhofer- Instituts für Bauphysik, Dr. Stephan Krinke, Head of Environmental Analysis Product, Volkswagen AG, Andy Baynes, Head of Environmental Technologies, Apple Inc. und Cem Özdemir, Bundesvorsitzender Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen.
Zum Symposium werden über 200 internationale Teilnehmer führender Unternehmen wie Alcatel-Lucent, BASF, BMW, Continental, Daimler, Evonik, HeidelbergCement, Husqvarna, Johnson Controls, Kraft Foods, Phillips, Renault, Shell, Siemens, Sony, Tetra Pak, ThyssenKrupp, Tupperware und Volkswagen erwartet.
Weitere Informationen und Anmeldung
Die Teilnahme am Symposium ist für Pressevertreter kostenfrei.
With complex supply chains, extensive outsourcing, and frequent product revisions, the electronics industry has long believed that collecting supply chain emission information is prohibitively expensive. But as industry leaders are proving, creating a carbon footprint for any electronic device can be not just fast and cost-effective, but essential to a competing in tomorrow’s market.
Instead of near-sighted focus on regulation, product carbon footprinting helps create a sustainability strategy which can anticipate, rather than respond to, regulatory pressure. Leading companies like Siemens, AMD and Apple have adopted Life Cycle Assessment as the way to fully calculate and disclose the environmental impacts of their products.
PE INTERNATIONAL has 20 years of experience deploying software and services packages to support companies assess and manage product carbon footprints. With our SoFi Software for Scope 1 and 2 carbon footprint assessments, GaBi Software and the electronics database for Scope 3 assessment, and an international team of experts on the environmental impacts of electronics, PE INTERNATIONAL provides a one-stop shop for managing sustainability programs in the electronic sector.
Learn how industry leaders are working with PE INTERNATIONAL to understand their supply chain carbon impacts!
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Carbon Footprinting (CF) have moved from the shadows into the limelight; a strategic tool for sustainability leaders like Apple, Alcan Packaging, Carbon Trust, Volkswagen, and more. Experts from these extremely successful companies will share their success factors and expertise with you at the
Success factors – the real facts that count behind their success stories. How Life Cycle Assessment and carbon footprinting can be utilized to gain competitive advantage.
Steps to success – identify the value drivers. How to get top level support and how to implement LCA and CF in the management system.
Maintaining success – lessons learnt and best practice in day to day operation such as integrating LCA and CF into IT systems, product development and environmental communication to clients and other stakeholders.
Exclusive networking opportunities – face-to-face round table and plenary discussions, direct exchange with users and experts. Answers for all your questions.
PROGRAMME
• Oct. 27, Pre-Symposium Workshop on sustainable supply chain management (limited places available)
• Oct. 28, Symposium “Best practice in applied LCA and Carbon Footprinting” plus a very special and unique evening event
• Oct. 29, Product sustainability solutions - GaBi user conference
The pressures of climate change and growing demands for transparency will continue to drive LCA and Carbon Footprinting to the forefront of your corporate environmental initiatives.
PE INTERNATIONAL´s Agrarian model integrated in the Software GaBi 4 supports carbon footprints and Life Cycle Assessment of food and agricultural products! The model allows robust assessment of agricultural plant production including carbon and nitrogen cycles, crop rotation, different geographical locations and agricultural practices. Customers can expect a highly reliable and quickly delivered result that is easily understandable and marketable at reasonable cost.
A detailed description of PE´s presentation at the 6th International Conference on Life Cycle Assessment in the Agri-Food Sector 2008 can be downloaded here.
For all proceedings of the conference please click here.
Please direct any feedback or questions to Dr. Sabine Deimling,
On 11 May 2009, a group of North American consultancies published the most extensive and up-to-date study on corporate carbon footprint software solutions. A total of 51 software products have been assessed, based on software presentations and client interviews. This led to a shortlist of 7 emerging ECA (Enterprise Carbon Accounting) leaders, with SoFi Software of PE INTERNATIONAL in a leading position: Next to being in this shortlist, SoFi Software has the highest number of confirmed implementations of all products in this market analysis, including clients such as Kraft Foods, Carnival Corporation or ThyssenKrupp Elevator
