STAYING IN THE KNOW

PAST EVENTS

CERTIFYING SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTS: A SMaRT WORKSHOP

May 23, 2008
PPG Headquarters
One PPG Place, Third Floor, Room 3A, Pittsburgh, PA
9:00 AM – 3:30 PM

How can my company:

• Learn how to save money by examining new ways of making products using sustainable materials and reduced energy flows?
• Improve its product-to-market time?
• Respond to increasing demands for sustainable products?
• Create new capacities for innovation and new markets?

Come to this workshop to learn about and to begin certifying your company’s products according to Sustainable Materials Rating Technology (SMaRT) consensus-based standards adopted through an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) accredited process. This is the first offering of this workshop in Western Pennsylvania, and space is limited to the first 30 companies who register.  This workshop provides companies with the needed guidance and background in four key areas: 

• Product Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
• Documentation of the absence of harmful chemicals  
• Energy efficiency and baseline assessments
• Documentation of social equity indicators

SMaRT Registration starts companies on the process towards:

• Credible sustainable product communication   
• Improved product design
• Responding to purchaser demands and FTC requirements
• Mitigating the long term rising costs of energy and carbon footprint

Registration Information

• $100/ Person for C4S / Sustainable Pittsburgh Members or $150 for non-members
• Deadline: May 16, 2008. 
• Only the first 30 registrants can be accommodated.
• Registration Fee Includes Continental Breakfast and Lunch Buffet
• Champions for Sustainability (C4S) / Sustainable Pittsburgh Members Register online:

• or by using the registration form attached here

For more information, contact:
Matthew Mehalik, Program Manager, Sustainable Pittsburgh
mmehalik@sustainablepittsburgh.org or 412-258-6644  FAX: 412-258-6645

AGENDA

9:00 Registration and Continental Breakfast

9:30 Welcome and Introduction – C4S and Sustainable Pittsburgh

9:45 SMaRT Sustainable Product Certification

“What’s the Standard, What’s the Value, and How Do You Do It”
Mike Italiano, CEO, Market Transformation to Sustainability (MTS)
Margaret Zak, President, Environmental Logic

• Background on consensus standards
• How they reduce risk and uncertainty
• How they are adopted by government and capital markets
• SMaRT: 15 years of consensus standards
• Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
• The value proposition
• New York Stock Exchange launch of SMaRT investment products
• Local government adoption

11:30 Lunch       

12:30 SMaRT Process

• SMaRT Registration – Option 1
•  ISO-compliant LCA or equivalent
•  Energy inventory
•  Social equity reporting

• SMaRT Certification – Option 2
• SMaRT checklist
• Application process – Step-by-Step

2:30 Next Steps and reflections on the day

3:00 Adjourn

Climate Change Uncertainties: Opportunities for Business Innovation?
Thursday, March 27, 7:45 am - 5:00 pm
Four Points by Sheraton Pittsburgh North, Mars, PA

See the event flyer form by clicking here.

Three of Pittsburgh’s business, engineering and environmental professional organizations are came together to convene a regional conversation about climate change, its impacts and responses. Climate change, global warming, greenhouse gases, carbon footprint--all of these terms and issues continue to appear in conversations in the media. Many of these conversations are heated and controversial. One thing is clear about this situation: these issues will present challenges to businesses and individuals, simply because of the degree of interest people have in the topics and resulting worldwide concern and debate. Interest in climate change topics has already prompted foreign, federal, and state governmental considerations and actions.

To meet these challenges, the Pittsburgh section of the American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE) Environmental and Water Resources Institute (EWRI), in association with the Allegheny Mountain section of the Air & Waste Management Association (AWMA), and Sustainable Pittsburgh’s Champions for Sustainability (C4S) network invited the region’s business, engineering, and environmental professionals to a one-day seminar focusing on climate change.

Here is a summery of topics covered and speakers. Each speaker's presentation is linked and available for download.

Human Impact on Climate Change – William Easterling (Dean, PSU, College of Earth and Mineral Science and member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). Click here for presentation.

Natural Cycles of Climate Change - Dr. S. Fred Singer (Science & Environmental Policy Project). Click here for presentation.

Impact on Business - Allison Robinson, PhD, MS (Director, Environmental Initiatives University of Pittsburgh Medical Center). Click here for presentation.

Regulatory Issues – Krish Ramamurthy (Chief, Division of Permits, Bureau of Air Quality, PA DEP). Click here for presentation.

Legal Framework and Carbon Emission Trading – Harry Klodowski, Esquire (Betts, Hull, & Klodowski LLC). Click here for presentation. Here is more information about legislation. Information on useful websites.

Measuring Our Impact – Carbon Footprint – H. Scott Matthews (Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University). Click here for presentation.

Possibilities of Offsetting Carbon – George Hoguet (Native Energy). Click here for presentation.

Climate Action and Leadership – Chris Steffy P.E. (Industrial Energy Engineering). Click here for presentation.

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The Practice of Sustainability: Translating Vision into Action
December 6, 2007
An intense, triple bottom line-focused, half-day event to help business and community leaders determine ways to accelerate sustainable solutions. The event was led by an internationally recognized practitioner who has implemented operational sustainability solutions for businesses and featured panelists who shared some of their own local successes and challenges to make sustainable solutions pay.
Click here for a summary report of this event

OTHER PAST CURRENT EVENTS

National Green Jobs Conference Set for Pittsburgh

March 13-14, 2008
David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown Pittsburgh
For more information and to register, visit www.greenjobsconference.org.

Good Jobs, Green Jobs: A National Green Jobs Conference will launch a nationwide dialogue about moving our country rapidly toward leadership in promoting the benefits of a new green economy.

The conference has been designed for advocates representing local, state and federal policy makers; labor; business; the environment and public health; economic and workforce development specialists; investors; and scientists and technology experts. It will accomplish three objectives:
• Provide a forum for strategic interaction between the different constituents comprising the developing new green economy;
• Showcase key policy initiatives for the rapid expansion of green job growth and economic development; and
• Demonstrate to the importance of public and private investments in the emerging green economy and launch the public discussion on these ideas