Sep 21 2005
BASF’s participation in the Green by Design 2 sustainability symposium, September 28-29 in Grand Rapids, Mich., will feature a presentation on its Eco-efficiency Analysis program followed by a workshop in which attendees can gain hands-on experience in utilizing the tool.
In the Eco-efficiency Analysis workshop, attendees will apply the tool to reach decisions on business strategy and product design and development based on evaluating the complex relationship between economical and ecological advantages and disadvantages across several product and process options. BASF’s Eco-efficiency Analysis offers customers a comparative analysis of the best possible products, processes and technologies with the most favorable environmental impact at the best price by looking at the entire lifecycle of a product, beginning with the selection of raw materials through its disposal or recycling.
The Eco-efficiency Analysis provides an “ecological footprint” of a product’s environmental impact in six categories: materials consumption; energy consumption; emissions to air, soil and water; risk potential; toxicity potential; and land use.
“As the world’s leading chemical company, BASF regards ensuring sustainable development as one of its guiding principles,” said Ed Guerrini, Director of Marketing for BASF’s Engineering Plastics business in North America. “The Eco-efficiency Analysis tool is a strong example of BASF’s tangible solutions for sustainable development, which to us means pursuing economic success, environmental protection and social responsibility that allow future generations to benefit from the way we conduct business today.”
At the Green by Design 2 symposium, Guerrini will review how sustainability is core to BASF's business strategy and Charlene Wall, Eco-efficiency Analysis-North America for BASF, will present how the company’s Eco-efficiency Analysis tool is used. Guerrini and Wall will then participate in a panel discussion on sustainability and the Eco-efficiency Analysis tool along with other BASF experts, including Mary Fraser, Marketing Manager-Sustainability, Engineering Plastics business; Patrick Meyer, Ecology, Product Steward; and Joe White, Market Sector Leader, Engineering Plastics business.
Hosted by Steelcase Inc. and held at Steelcase University Learning Center in Grand Rapids, Mich., where the office furniture and workspace design company is headquartered, the Green by Design 2 sustainability symposium will focus on innovative ways for companies to develop, manufacture and distribute eco-effective products and services.
The symposium will highlight new, sustainable technologies and resources, emerging markets, next steps in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) development and the future of business environments. Keynote speakers at Green by Design 2 will include Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., environmental lawyer and activist, and Tom Chappell, co-founder of Tom’s of Maine.
The symposium will also include a special Leadership Roundtable with William McDonough, founding principal of William McDonough + Partners, an internationally recognized design firm practicing ecologically, socially and economically intelligent architecture and planning in the U.S. and abroad.