is BEES Please?
The Building and Fire Research Laboratory of the National Institute of Standards and Technology 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 is based on consensus standards and designed to be practical, flexible, and transparent. BEES reduces complex, science-based technical content (e.g., over 500 material and energy flows from raw material extraction through product disposal) to decision-enabling results and delivers them in a visually intuitive graphical format.

Over 22,000 copies of BEES 3.0 were requested by individuals from more than 80 countries. BEES 4.0 was published in May 2007 after being reviewed by industry stakeholders (download BEES 4.0). The Windows-based decision support software, aimed at designers, builders, and product manufacturers, includes actual environmental and economic performance data for over 230 building products. We need your help to include even more products. BEES Please is a program to encourage collaboration with building product manufacturers so that their products may be included in the next release of BEES.

participate in BEES Please?
Federal Programs. BEES supports a major Executive Order incorporating environmental considerations into the practices of the world's largest consumer, the U.S. Federal Government. Spending more than $230 billion/year on goods and services, the Federal Government's procurement practices set a strong example for others to follow. Under sponsorship of the U.S. EPA Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Program and NIST, BEES directly supports Executive Order 13423 (1/07), "Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management," which encourages Federal agencies to purchase and design environmentally-preferable, cost-effective products and facilities. We need information on your products so that Federal personnel may consider them in their purchase decisions.

Level Playing Field. We will ask you only for information within your reach and over which you have control. You are not likely to have detailed environmental data for your suppliers' processes, or for environmental releases resulting from your energy consumption. We are using the well-known SimaPro life-cycle assessment (LCA) database to combine your data with standard data for your suppliers, and to translate your energy consumption into environmental releases using standard combustion models. We also use consensus standard approaches to analyze your data and develop BEES results. Since we will be doing the same for your competitors, your data will be comparable to theirs, ensuring a level playing field.

Data Reusability. Your suppliers and customers are increasingly requesting environmental data on your operations. Each request asks different questions and requires a different format for delivery, making each data request a unique and time-consuming exercise. BEES uses a streamlined version of the common SPOLD data exchange format developed by LCA database and software developers. This increases the likelihood that the data we develop for BEES will also meet the needs of future data requests.

The consistent data format and analysis approach also facilitates efficient internal use of BEES results. With the new features incorporated into BEES 4.0, more and more firms are using BEES for product development. BEES helps identify the environmental "weak links" in your product's life cycle-whether it be under your control or the control of your suppliers or customers-so that you can prioritize your environmental improvement plan.

to participate in BEES Please?
1. Complete the BEES Please Questionnaire. For guidance, refer to the BEES Please Questionnaire User Guide. (These files may be downloaded below). If further assistance becomes necessary, contact NIST. A typical building product manufacturer should anticipate collecting data from the following departments:
Accounting - quantity of materials purchased 
Production Control - quantity of output
Facilities - energy use
Environmental - waste and releases

2. Send completed questionnaire, along with check payable to "NIST," to:
Barbara Lippiatt
NIST
100 Bureau Drive, Stop 8603
Gaithersburg, MD 20899
For a BEES analysis covering 12 environmental impacts (global warming, acidification, eutrophication, fossil fuel depletion, indoor air quality, habitat alteration, criteria air pollutants, water intake, ozone depletion, smog, human health, and ecological toxicity), submit a payment of $8,000 for the first product and $4,000 for each additional product with similar processing steps. These prices are well below the cost of validating, completing, and incorporating your data set into BEES, and represent a limited-time offer that is guaranteed only while funds are available.

3. Once we receive your questionnaire and payment, Four Elements, LLC will review your data for consistency in modeling and assumptions both across your processes and from one product to another. Validation will include comparison against industry-average data for your product class. Four Elements may contact you if any questions arise during its review.

4. Four Elements will generate validated, cradle-to-grave BEES data files for your product. In generating BEES files, Four Elements aggregates your data to strictly preserve its confidentiality. Examples of published BEES data files are found in the BEES 4.0 software that may be downloaded free of charge.

5. NIST will incorporate validated BEES data files for your products into the BEES software for your confidential review.

6. NIST and your company will resolve any differences to our mutual satisfaction before inclusion of your product in the next published version of BEES. At any time before publication, you are free to withdraw your BEES data submission.

7. NIST contacts you periodically to update your data. If your technology significantly changes before you are contacted, notify NIST to request an earlier update.

to participate in BEES Please?
Submit completed BEES Please Questionnaire and payment to NIST at any time. After your review and written permission to publish, your product may then immediately be added to the streamlined, web-based version of BEES 4.0 (scheduled for release in 2008.)

do I contact for more information about BEES Please?

Barbara Lippiatt
NIST Building and Fire Research Laboratory
(301) 975-6133
blippiatt@nist.gov

1. For a BEES analysis covering 12 environmental impacts, complete the BEES Please Questionnaire (178 KB MS Excel file).

2. For instructions on completing the questionnaire, refer to BEES Please Questionnaire--User Guide (108 KB PDF file).

Office of Applied Economics
Last modified: 8/20/2007