Green Buildings and Sustainable Materials

Pre-Conference Workshop 

LCA XIX

El Conquistador, Tucson, Arizona

September 23rd

Organizing Committee:

Dr. Yuan Yao

Assistant Professor of Sustainability Science and Engineering, Department of Forest 

Biomaterials, NCSU

Dr. Stephen Kelley 

Reuben B. Robertson Professor, Department of Forest Biomaterials, NCSU

Dr. Traci Rose Rider

Assistant Professor of Architecture, College of Design, NCSU

Dr. Adam Scouse

Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of Forest Biomaterials, NCSU

Dr. Joshua, Kneifel

Applied Economics Office, National Institute of Standards and Technology

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About Us

Dr. Yuan Yao , Assistant Professor of Sustainability Science and Engineering 

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for emerging technologies in the fuels, 

chemical, and manufacturing industries

Integrate LCA with geospatial and dynamic modeling techniques

Data analysis and machine learning for sustainability 

Dr. Stephen Kelley

Reuben B. Robertson 

Professor

Dr. Adam Scouse

Postdoctoral Research 

Scholar

Dr. Traci Rider

Assistant Professor of 

Architecture

Dr. Joshua D Kneifel

Office of Applied 

Economics

NIST

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Overall Project Goals

The overall goal of the project is to create systematic, and 

scalable, educational modules to teach undergraduate and 

graduate students about various standards and NIST tools that 

allow for the comprehensive evaluation of the entire life-cycle 

of green buildings and sustainable materials. 

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Overall Project Approach

• Develop reusable educational modules that can be used in 

traditional classrooms, and online learning environment

• Develop real-world case studies for students to have handson experiences in applying standards for decision making 

• Implement and evaluate education modules in existing 

courses at NCSU

• Disseminate project results and promote modules nationwide and globally

Input and collaboration with NIST, USDA Forest Product 

Laboratory (FPL) and U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and 

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) . 

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Project Overview

https://faculty.cnr.ncsu.edu/yuanyao/green-buildings-and-sustainable-materials/ 5
Module Components

Each Module Includes

(1) learning objectives and expected outcomes

(2) lecture slides and multimedia materials

(3) active learning exercises

(4) homework and reading

Each Module Was Designed for 1-2 Related 

Standards

Example: EPD Module

• ISO 14025:2006 Environmental labels and 

declarations — Type III environmental 

declarations — Principles and procedures

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Standards for Green Buildings and 

Sustainable Materials

Standards Identified for Each Content Block 

• Sustainable Materials Manufacturing. E.g., ASTM E3012 Standard Guide for 

Characterizing Environmental Aspects of Manufacturing Processes...

• Green Buildings. E.g., LEED, WELL Building, Living Building Challenges...

• Sustainability Assessment

• Environmental Life Cycle Assessment (ISO 14040 series, ISO 14025 for EPD)

• Life Cycle Cost Analysis (e.g., ASTM E917 Standard Practice for Measuring LifeCycle Costs of Buildings and Building Systems...)

• Sustainability Assessment (e.g., ASTM E2129 Standard Practice for Data 

Collection for Sustainability Assessment of Building Products...)

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BEES Online

Stakeholder Discussions

• Government Agencies, Industry Groups, Standards Organizations, 

Green Certification Organizations, & LCA Experts

• Product Acquisition, Building Projects, & Product Certifications

BEES 2.1 Features

• Products include Flooring, Gypsum, Siding, Paint/Coatings, Insulation, 

Sheathing, Concrete Products, Pavement, & manufacturer specific submissions

• User Inputs, Product Filtering, & Benchmarking Options

• LCIA Methodology Options

• BEES, TRACI 2, & PCR impact categories

• Social Cost of Carbon (SCC) option

• Link: http://ws680.nist.gov/Bees2

• Demo found at ACLCA YouTube: 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLQp5if1ixxQpBwjWXEZCCw

Source: Joshua Kneifel, NIST 8
Efforts to Improve Online Information

https://faculty.cnr.ncsu.edu/yuanyao/teaching/ 9
Life Cycle of Buildings and Building Materials

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Thank You!