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BIOFIBER ^™ and BEES^®

What Is BEES^®?

According to the National Institute for Standards and Technology who developed BEES^®, "The BEES^® (Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability) software brings to your fingertips a powerful technique for selecting cost-effective, environmentally-preferable building products."

What Does BEES^® Do?

The BEES^® model was developed to calculate and compare a product's environmental impact from raw material harvest, manufacturing and processing, shipping, use, and disposal. The environmental impacts that BEES^® evaluates are; acidification, critical aire pollutants, ecological toxicity, eutrophication, fossil fuel depletion, global warming, habitat alteration, human health, indoor air, ozone depletion, smog, and water intake. Each impact area is calculated then weighted depending upon an assigned level of environmental concern.

What Does A BEES^® Score Mean?

The BEES^® Environmental Performance score compares a product's environmental impact in all twelve categories to the average per capita environmental impact. The score represents what percentage of the average per capita impact that the products life cycle contributes. For example, consider a product with a BEES^® Environmental Performance score of 1.5. This means that through the life cycle of the product it would contribute 1.5% of the annual average per capita environmental impact. When comparing performance scores it is important to remember that the lower the score, the lesser the impact the product has on the environment.

So How Did Our BIOFIBER^™ Wheat Score?

Our BIOFIBER^™ wheat product was included in the newest version BEES^® 4.0 as one of the 230 sample building products. When looking at the environmental performance of BIOFIBER^™ (assuming 500 miles of transportion from manufacturing to installation site) our product scored on the negative side of the scale at -.0011! Of the 230 products included in the program, this was the only one to achieve such an environmentally friendly rating.

How Did We End Up Negative And What Does It Mean?

Through the growth period of the wheat we use, an extremely large amount of carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere. Because of the unique composition and manufacturing process of BIOFIBER^™ wheat, more carbon dioxide is removed during the wheat's growth cycle than is produced during the harvest and manufacturing of the product. The result is a negative contribution in Global warming category of the calculation. This large negative contribution off sets the environmental impacts associated with harvesting, manufacturing, and transportation of the product resulting in a total impact value that is negative. Remember, the lower the score the better.

For More Information:

• View the BEES^® Report
• Learn more about the BEES^®model at www.bfrl.nist.gov/oae/software/bees/