January 1, 2003—An expanded version of BEES (Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability) software, designed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to help the construction industry select cost-effective, environmentally friendly products, is available free-of-charge through the NIST Web site.
BEES v3.0 uses the life-cycle assessment approach specified in the ISO 14040 series of environmental management standards to measure the environmental performance of almost two hundred building products. All stages of the life of a product are considered—raw material acquisition, manufacture, transportation, installation, use, and waste management. The software measures economic performance using the ASTM International E 917 life-cycle cost standard. Unlike version 2.0, the new version evaluates both generic products as well as about eighty brand-specific products provided by manufacturers participating in the BEES Please program.
Minimum technical requirements are Windows 95 or higher, a 486 microprocessor, 32MB of RAM, 110 MB of available disk space, and a printer driver.
