NEWS

So far this year, there are two “buzz” terms which continue to dominate conversations about green building materials—sustainable product certifications and environmental product declarations (EPDs).

W. CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa., April 8, 2013—William C. Griese, standards development and green initiative manager at the Tile Council of North America (TCNA) in Anderson, S.C., is a recipient of the 2013 President’s Leadership Award from ASTM International.

(ALEXANDRIA, VA. – APRIL 2013)—Attendees at Coverings 2013 will be able to witness four masterful space designs incorporating tile and stone actually being built during the international exposition’s Installation Design Showcase. As in previous years, the ambitious live-action demonstration and exhibit, which spotlights the crucial role first-rate installation plays in the successful realization of any serious design project, will be a major attraction when The Ultimate Tile + Stone Experience comes to Atlanta for the first time, April 29-May 2, 2013. Construction begins two days before Coverings 2013 opens, and is scheduled for completion on Wednesday, May 1. The free exhibit will remain on view through the show’s close.

Expected to be out for ballot in mid-2013, LEED v4 will be the most revamped edition to date. With a massive quantity of revisions and new credits, more than 35 of which have been out for public comment over the past few months, it is important to understand that criteria for certified buildings will soon be very different. In particular, draft criteria for MR Credit 2, building product disclosure and optimization – environmental product declarations, provide a forecast of how demands for green building products might evolve over the next few years.

Simply stated, a warped tile is a tile that is not flat. In the laboratory, we measure warpage following the test method ASTM C485, Test Method for Measuring Warpage of Ceramic Tile, which defines warpage more precisely as the curvature of a tile measured as the deviation of the tile surface from a true plane along the edges or the diagonals. This important measurement is one factor that can make a difference between a beautiful installation and one riddled with lippage issues.

Over the years, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has established documents which have been used in many sustainability standardization initiatives. In particular, standards like ISO 14001 (environmental management) and ISO 50001 (energy management) have been commonly referenced by manufacturers, certifiers, and standards developers in the development of sustainable operations criteria. These standards, when used in conjunction with other ISO standards such as the ISO 14020 series (environmental labels and declarations) and the ISO 14040 series (lifecycle assessment), have provided a valuable framework by which many all-encompassing sustainable product standards have been developed.