Over the last 13 years, the Building and Fire Research Laboratory
of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has
developed and automated an approach for measuring the life-cycle
environmental and economic performance of building products. Known as
BEES (Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability), the tool
reduces complex, science-based technical content (e.g., over 400
material and energy flows from raw material extraction through product
disposal) to decision-enabling results and delivers them in a visually
intuitive graphical format. BEES Please is a voluntary program to
collect data from product manufacturers so that the environmental
performance of their products may be evaluated scientifically using
BEES. NIST will publish in BEES an aggregated version of the data
collected from manufacturers that protects data confidentiality,
subject to manufacturer's review and approval. BEES measures
environmental performance using the environmental life-cycle assessment
approach specified in the International Organization for
Standardization (ISO) 14040 series of standards. All stages in the life
of a product are analyzed: Raw material acquisition, manufacture,
transportation, installation, use, and recycling and waste management.
Economic performance is measured using the American Society for
Testing and Materials (ASTM) standard life-cycle cost method, which
covers the costs of initial investment, replacement, operation,
maintenance and repair, and disposal.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.