Perspectives on greener product development and manufacturing from Sustainable Minds, our partners, customers and contributors.

Transparency is the New Green

Transparency is the New Green In Product Selection and Specification: Sales enablement solutions for today's urgent product transparency challenges

By Sustainable Minds on August 21, 2018

Recorded Thurs, Aug 16 | 2pm ET, 11am PT

As you likely know, the challenges facing the mainstreaming of product transparency are complex. As such, solutions must be designed from a deep understanding of the entire process – disclosure creation, sales, marketing and specification – and for all users in the process.

Transparency is the New Green Part 10: Project Builder / Configurator & Library Making product transparency understandable, meaningful & actionable

By Sustainable Minds on August 6, 2018

recorded Thurs, Aug 2 | 2pm ET, 11am PT

Dear design professional, We are inviting you to attend this webinar because you are involved in making material selection and specification decisions.

Designed specifically with you in mind, we will demo and discuss the benefits of using the Knauf Showroom with Project Builder / Configurator and Library in the SM Transparency Catalog.

Transparency is the New Green in Healthy, High Performance Schools: Part 9: Oregon Door, CEMCO & CHPS

By Sustainable Minds on June 25, 2018

Recorded Tue, June 26, 2–3pm ET

Welcome to our webcast series featuring manufacturers making credibly greener & healthier products and are involved with CHPS. Learn how they are working to understand and improve the environmental performance and material health of their products.

Ron Blank & Associates and Sustainable Minds Announce Collaboration to Increase Specifications of High-Performance Products

By Sustainable Minds on June 18, 2018

This strategic partnership will help design professionals find the best products and benefit building product manufacturers through increased access to the design community.

San Antonio, TX and Cambridge, MA, June 19, 2018 – Ron Blank & Associates, GreenCE, and Sustainable Minds® (SM), both with a track record in innovation and education, are collaborating to help building product manufacturers increase specifications of their sustainable building products. This comprehensive program allows manufacturers to select the offerings they need to move successfully through the process of creating product transparency disclosures, through marketing those products to get selected and specified — with education and training offerings in every phase. The strategic partnership will capitalize on both company’s significant strengths.

Transparency is the New Green in Product Selection and Specification: Information Anxiety & Information – Manufacturer's webinar

By Sustainable Minds on May 17, 2018

Recorded Tue, May 9, 2–3pm ET | 11–12pm PT

Product transparency is causing information anxiety.

"Information anxiety is the human cost of information overload. It is produced by the ever-widening gap between what we understand and what we think we should understand. It is the black hole between data and knowledge, and what happens when information doesn't tell us what we want or need to know. Raw data can be information, but unless it can be made to inform, it has no inherent value. It must be imbued with form and applied to become meaningful information. Yet, in our information-hungry era, data is often allowed to masquerade as information."

– Richard Saul Wurman, acclaimed architect, TED conference founder, author of Information Anxiety, defined the discipline of information architecture

Transparency is the New Green in Product Selection and Specification: Information Anxiety & Information – AEC's webinar

By Sustainable Minds on May 17, 2018

Recorded Tue, May 8, 2–3pm ET | 11–12pm PT

Product transparency is causing information anxiety.

"Information anxiety is the human cost of information overload. It is produced by the ever-widening gap between what we understand and what we think we should understand. It is the black hole between data and knowledge, and what happens when information doesn't tell us what we want or need to know. Raw data can be information, but unless it can be made to inform, it has no inherent value. It must be imbued with form and applied to become meaningful information. Yet, in our information-hungry era, data is often allowed to masquerade as information."

– Richard Saul Wurman, acclaimed architect, TED conference founder, author of Information Anxiety, defined the discipline of information architecture

2018 SM Transparency Report™ / EPD Framework – Integrating the international standard ISO 21930:2017

By Sustainable Minds on April 14, 2018

Release notes

Now in its fifth annual release, the SM Transparency Report™ / EPD Framework Part A 2018 has integrated key rulings from the new ISO 21930:2017, as determined by the SM Technical Advisory Board (TAB) and public comments.

What is ISO 21930 and why is it important? ISO 21930: Sustainability in buildings and civil engineering works – Core rules for environmental product declarations of construction products and services is one of the primary standards for product category rule (PCR), life cycle assessment (LCA), and Type III environmental declaration development for building materials. It is specifically named in LEED v4 as one of the two standards for creating conformant Type III environmental declarations. Outside of Europe, this international standard (ISO 21930) is more likely to be used than the European standard (EN 15804), as it applies internationally.

Transparency is the New Green in Product Selection and Specification: Trend Report Deep Dive: PCRs & EPDs – Manufacturers' webinar

By Sustainable Minds on March 29, 2018

Recorded Tue, Mar 28, 2–3pm ET | 11–12pm PT

2017 Product Transparency Trend Report:
From Innovation to Early Adoption to Early Mainstream

Since the introduction of LEED v4 and product transparency, new expectations and definitions of high-performance buildings have emerged. What's been happening? In this educational webinar, we will continue to explore and understand the findings from this comprehensive report by Sustainable Minds.

In last month's webinar, we unveiled the report's overall findings. This month we will take a deep dive and examine environmental impact reporting trends of the past 5 years.

Transparency is the New Green in Product Selection and Specification: Trend Report Deep Dive: PCRs & EPDs – AECs' webinar

By Sustainable Minds on March 29, 2018

Recorded Tue, Mar 27, 2–3pm ET | 11–12pm PT

2017 Product Transparency Trend Report:
From Innovation to Early Adoption to Early Mainstream

Since the introduction of LEED v4 and product transparency, new expectations and definitions of high-performance buildings have emerged. What's been happening? In this educational webinar, we will continue to explore and understand the findings from this comprehensive report by Sustainable Minds.

In last month's webinar, we unveiled the report's overall findings. This month we will take a deep dive and examine environmental impact reporting trends of the past 5 years.

Transparency is the New Green in Healthy, High Performance Schools: Part 8: Excel Dryer, AEP Span & CHPS

By Sustainable Minds on March 15, 2018

Recorded Tue, Mar 13, 2–3pm ET | 11–12pm PT

Welcome to our webcast series featuring CHPS manufacturer members making credibly greener & healthier products. Learn how they are working to understand and improve the environmental performance and material health of their products.