Sustainable Materials Database

Awareness throughout the greater construction community has been raised to a level where discussion is taking place regularly on the need to address issues of sustainable design and development. Tools for setting goals and gauging progress have been developed and adopted by communities and corporations (i.e. the State of Minnesota (Sustainable Building Guidelines 2003), Dakota County Sustainable Design Standards and Specifications, USPS, LEED, Aveda Corporation, Hennepin, Ramsey, Carver, Anoka, Washington Counties, the City of St. Paul, Elk River School District, to name just a few). What has been lacking are the evaluative tools, specific to regions and localities, that provide explicit information on materials, products, systems, or services to implement the goals and directives from these guidelines.

The Minnesota Building Materials Database is a vehicle to document, evaluate, and disseminate usable information on sustainable materials, products, systems, and services for the commercial and residential building construction industry in Minnesota. (www.buildingmaterials.umn.edu)

Materials Database
Project: Sustainable Materials Database
Principal Investigators: John Carmody, Rebecca Foss
Research Team: Laura Millberg, Kerry Haglund, Douglas Pierce, Jerry Putnam, Rachelle Schoessler Lynn, Maureen Ness, Sheldon Wolfe
Sponsor: Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance
Status: Complete
Web site: www.buildingmaterials.umn.edu