Standards & Compliance Briefing: UL Green Squared, ISO 50001, LEED, Better Buildings, BIFMA Level

UL Environment said that it has awarded UL Environmentcertification to three tile product manufacturers – Dal-Tile Corporation, Mexican-based ceramic tile manufacturer Porcelanite-Lamosa, and Florida Tile  – as part of a new collaboration with the Tile Council of North America. Green Squared is TCNA’s sustainability certification program for ceramic tile, glass tile, and tile installation materials.

Subaru of Indiana Automotive is the first US car manufacturing plant to become certified for ISO 50001 energy management, with the audit conducted by DEKRA Certification. The car manufacturer intends to improve the painting and trimming processes, which account for more than 40 percent of the plant’s total energy consumption, the Journal & Courier said.

A new Courtyard Scottsdale Salt River hotel in Arizona is the first Marriott-branded hotel to be meet its LEED green building standards through USBGC’s volume program. The program is designed for large companies wanting LEED status on at least 25 new or remodeled buildings through the certification of a protoype, Arizona Central writes.

The Thomas M. Cooley Law School, in Auburn Hills, Mich., has earned LEED Silver certification for renovations to an existing 68,000-sq.-ft. structure and a 64,500-sq.-ft. addition to its Auburn Hills campus. The design and construction of buildings use VOC interior materials, the addition of a green roof, low-flow toilet and plumbing fixtures, and water-efficient landscaping, the school said.

The DOE announced that Daikin McQuay’s Rebel rooftop unit system is the first to meet its Rooftop Unit Challenge. Five manufacturers – Daikin McQuay, Carrier, Lennox, 7AC Technologies, and Rhee – are working to commercialize highly efficient commercial air conditioners that satisfy a DOE-issued specification to reduce energy use by as much as 50 percent, the department said.

The City of Chicago has partnered with the Obama administration’s Better Buildings Challenge, part of the program launched last year to increase investment in commercial and industrial building energy upgrades. As a partner, Chicago is committing to reduce energy use by 20 percent in nearly 24 million square feet of public and private building space within the next five years, the DOE said.

Office furniture manufacturer Keilhauer said that its products have been certified to carry Level 1 and Level 2 Designations on its office chairs and tables. Level is the Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturer Association’s BIFMA sustainability standard – ANSI/BIFMA e3-2011, the company said.

ASTM has released ASTM D7794 – 12 Standard Practice for Blending Mid-Level Ethanol Fuel Blends for Flexible-Fuel Vehicles with Automotive Spark-Ignition Engines, which applies to the blending of engine fuels with ethanol concentrations greater than those suitable for conventional-fuel vehicles and less than the minimum ethanol content specification limits of its specification D5798.