Standards & Compliance Briefing: GHG Protocol for Products, Cradle to Cradle, B Lab, Climate Registered

by | Mar 13, 2012

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BT has become the first company in the world to have product carbon footprints independently verified by the Carbon Trust to the new GHG Protocol Product Standard 1. The standard covers three of BT’s consumer products: the BT Home Hub router, the BT Vision+ digital set-top box and the BT Graphite 2500 DECT phone, the company said.

The Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute issued its first certifications for products that meet its protocols for design and manufacturing. Desso B.V., Herman Miller, Shaw Industries and Steelcase Inc, are the first four companies to get certification from the newly started institute. The C2C certification evaluates the life cycle of a product from manufacture through use and disposal, assessing environmental impact and safety for human health.

B Lab released its first Best for the World lists recognizing companies for positive overall social and environmental impact. The Best for the World companies score 50 percent higher than nearly 2,000 other sustainable businesses, and in the top 10 percent among more than 500 Certified B Corporations. Companies noted include Brightworks, Bullfrog Power, Ecovations, IceStone, Namaste Solar, New Leaf Paper, Patagonia and Piedmont Biofuels.

Amtrak has achieved Climate Registered status for measuring its carbon footprint according to the Climate Registry’s best-in-class program, then having it third party verified and reporting the data on The Registry’s website. The Climate Registry program helped Amtrak calculate its complete carbon footprint from throughout its operation, including sources such as electricity use, facilities and station operations and motor vehicles, Amtrak said.

The EMerge Alliance – an open industry association working towards adoption of safe direct-current (DC) power distribution standards for commercial buildings – has formed a task level/furnishings workgroup to create a standard bringing DC power to the desktop. The new standard will be harmonized with the Alliance’s 24-volt DC Occupied Space standard and the soon-to-be-released 380-volt DC Data and Telecom Center standard, the group said.

Solar PV modules manufacturer Upsolar has been verified to the IEC 61701 standard by Bureau Veritas (BV) LCIE China. Upsolar modules also obtained the IEC 62716 Ed.1 standard for withstanding high amounts of ammonia consistent with agricultural areas, the company said.

Schott Solar also has received TÜV Rheinland’s IEC standard 61701 certificate for passing the salt spray corrosion test. The modules are sprayed with salt water for two hours at a time, then attacked by a 5 percent sodium chloride solution and stored at 40°C and 93% humidity for 20 hours, PV Tech reports.

NSF International and the Japan Water Purification Association (JWPA) are developing a new protocol to evaluate the ability of water filtration products to reduce iodine, including radioactive iodine, from drinking water. Once Protocol P72 for Drinking Water Treatment is complete, manufacturers will be able to have their activated carbon, ion exchange, and reverse osmosis water filtration technologies tested and certified to ensure effective iodine reduction, NSF said.

National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) has released its NEMA SSL 4 Retrofit Lamps: Minimum Performance Requirements for integral LED lamps. The criteria applies to both integral LED lamps of non-standard form, and those intended to replace standard general service incandescent lamps, decorative lamps, and reflector lamps, NEMA said.

Financial services company BNY Mellon has been added to the FTSE4Good Index Series, which identifies companies that meet globally recognized corporate social responsibility (CSR) standards. Examples of the company’s CSR activities include more than $100 million in charitable giving over the past three years, more than 1 million hours of employee training and development annually, and the creation of a human rights statement, the company said.

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