Dovetail Partners Inc: The Outlook, Jan 2005



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The Outlook
January 2005

Welcome

Happy New Year and Welcome to our first newsletter for 2005! In this Edition, we take a look at the United States Green Building Council's (USGBC) LEED® Standards, Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), and the Canadian Standards Association's (CSA ) forest certification program.

We want to highlight here that the USGBC is accepting comments on proposed changes to the LEED standard for New Construction (LEED-NC) until February 1st, and to urge concerned individuals to voice their opinion. LEED-NC is the oldest and most widely used LEED program, and proposed changes include modifications to the materials guidelines and the use of wood products. More information, including a copy of the draft and the process for commenting is available at: http://www.usgbc.org or by calling: (202) 82-USGBC.

The USGBC is a strong and growing organization with more than 5,000 members from all sectors of the building market. Since 1999 its “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design” (LEED) program has been used to recognize nearly 2,000 green building projects representing 200 million square feet; however, LEED is not without its critics. Some of the most serious concerns about LEED have originated in the forest sector with complaints that the standards do not adequately acknowledge the benefits of using wood products and that LEED has inappropriately encouraged the use of "rapidly renewable materials" and other substitutes for wood without accounting for the potential trade-offs and negative impacts of these materials. The USGBC has also been criticized for the certification and rating systems it uses to judge and compare materials, including the insufficient use of comprehensive rating systems such as Life Cycle Analysis and the need to recognize alternative forest certification systems such as the Sustainable Forestry Initiative and the Canadian system, CSA (in addition to the currently recognized Forest Stewardship Council program).

The USGBC membership & LEED registrations continue to grow, and as such it is important that these standards retain the environmental “leadership” position that make them so attractive, rather than defaulting to some norm. At the same time it is imperative that environmental selection be based on real science and hard data. There are no simple choices anymore – all materials have impacts. Provide your input so LEED can be refined to continue to be an excellent guide for building projects.

-Jeff

In This Issue:

Dovetail Commentary: Making Sure LEED® Leads
Life Cycle Analysis: A Key to Better Environmental Decisions
Beginner's Guide to Third-Party Forest Certification: Shining a Light on the Canadian Standards Association (CSA)

Dovetail Commentary

Making Sure LEED® Leads
Phil Guillery, January 2005

In 1993, a number of advocates of sustainable design founded the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). This effort resulted in the creation of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) building rating system. Since its creation in 1999, this “green” building standard has become the benchmark for major building projects of every size and shape. The USGBC now boasts over 5,000 members and has over 50 chapters and organizing groups throughout the U.S. The first and most widely applied LEED® standard, LEED-NC, is currently up for review and comment. As LEED® grows, it has a number of critical issues to address in order to retain its status as a program that encourages leadership, innovation and sustainability, especially in regard to its handling of materials selection and wood products.

It is widely known that the leading cause of tropical forest destruction is conversion of forests to agriculture. With this in mind, it is worth considering whether rapidly renewable materials that may have resulted from the conversion of an endangered tropical rain forest are environmentally appropriate products. Currently under LEED they qualify.

To read the commentary, click here.

Dovetail Reports
All reports are available online at: http://www.dovetailinc.org/publications.htm

Life Cycle Analysis: A Key to Better Environmental Decisions
Dr. Jim Bowyer
As society becomes more and more interested in environmental attributes of products, those involved in all aspects of product manufacture, selection, use, maintenance, and end-of-life disposal need definitive, scientifically based tools for evaluating environmental impacts and potential mitigation strategies. Environmenal life cycle analysis, or LCA, has become the tool of choice for leading organizations in both the public and private sectors.

To read the introduction online and access the full report, click here.

Beginner’s Guide to Third-Party Forest Certification:
Shining a Light on the Canadian Standards Association (CSA)
Kathryn Fernholz
The Canadian Standards Association (CSA) is a non-profit, membership organization. The CSA was chartered in 1919 and serves diverse interests with its more than 2,000 different standards for various industries . The CSA first published Canada’s National Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) Standard, CAN/CSA Z809 in 1996. The CSA’s SFM Program consists of four components: the SFM Standard, a chain-of-custody program, product marking with the CSA SFM Mark, and the CSA International’s Forest Products Group which is responsible for promoting the program.

To read the introduction online and access the full report, click here.

To order any of the Dovetail Reports , please contact us at 651-762-4007 or info@dovetailinc.org

“The Outlook” is the monthly e-newsletter of Dovetail Partners Inc , a 501c3 non profit corporation.

Dovetail Partners is a highly skilled team that collaborates to develop unique concepts, systems, programs and models to foster sustainable forestry and catalyze responsible trade and consumption.

DOVETAIL PARTNERS, INC.
528 Hennepin Ave, Suite 202
Minneapolis, MN 55403
Phone: 612-333-0430
Fax: 612-339-3112
info@dovetailinc.org

info@dovetailinc.org