Several federal agencies are interested in the potential of sustainable manufacturing processes – methods to manufacture products while minimizing harm to the environment and conserving energy and natural resources.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), part of the U.S. Commerce Department, has opened a “Sustainability Standards Portal” where people can learn about the latest attempts to develop ways to accurately measure the economic, social, and environmental impacts of products throughout their entire life cycle.
“Full life cycle analysis or assessment of products requires new methods to analyze, integrate, and aggregate information” states one NIST report. Among the challenges facing manufacturers: a lack of data “traceable to a neutral organization,” and a myriad of metrics, which need to consolidated and harmonized.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also is looking into sustainable manufacturing. EPA’s Sustainable Manufacturing web page, which includes a sustainable manufacturing clearinghouse, is: http://www.epa.gov/sustainablemanufacturing/.
