2050 Materials Platform
Library
Our digital library has resources for you to make informed decisions. On the platform, users can explore products of choice, compare alternative materials to see where they stand in terms of their carbon footprint, net water use, and circularity indicators throughout the various phases of the life cycle. The search can be done specifically in 3 ways:
Searching by product categorisation:
The 2050 Materials platform classifies products according to the RICS NRM system. This allows users to search by Building Applications (BA), and then filter down to the specific product or material they are looking for by applying Product Type (PT), Material Type (MT) or brand filters.
Searching by Building Application can either be done by clicking on the icons of the landing page (see figure xx), or by typing the Building Application name in the search bar (see figure xy). The results can then be filtered further and sorted based on factors such as their carbon impact, amount of recycled content, and level of recyclability.
Additionally, users can filter their search results using the filters
Filtering results
On the product search results page, you can use the filters on the left side of the page to narrow your search by various criteria, such as product type, material, company, building type, fire performance, manufacturing location, certificates, and price range. These filters can help you find products that more closely match your specific needs and preferences.
By picking your preferred settings from the dropdown menu and clicking the "update parameters" button, you can apply multiple filters at once. One must select the "Clear all filters" tab in order to reset filters and start anew.
Alternatively, one can search for specific products on the platform by using the dropdown menus at the top of the page to filter by Product Type, Material Type, Manufacturer, or Brand. These menus will allow you to select from a range of options and view a list of available products, materials, and manufacturers that meet your criteria. Simply click on the dropdown menu you wish to use and make your selection to see the options available.
Searching by environmental certifications
Similarly, using the dropdown menu at the top of the page, you can search by certification type. Clicking on the specific certification type will direct you to the list of products with the selected certification.
Searching by keywords
If you wish to look for specific products, materials, certifications or manufacturer, you can make a search directly through the search bar at the top of the page by typing in a corresponding text. It will show you the corresponding search results as shown below:
Product Specification & Detail
Click on the "see specs" hover over tab on each product to view the specifications and other information.
This will take you to the specifications sheet, which contains all the information about the product or material, including material facts such as carbon footprint broken down into life cycle stages, net water use, ozone depletion potential, and circularity indicators such as recycled content, recyclable content, re-use potential, and energy recovery possibility.
On this page, you may also read the product description, technical specs, estimated pricing range, and certifications related to the product or materials. The manufacturer’s details and contact information are also provided here and one can use this information to reach out to the manufacturer to source the product or the material.
Comparing products
On the platform, compare functionality is available to assist users in making decisions that are more sustainable in terms of their use of materials. You can add a product or material to your compare basket if it piques your interest.
This can be done in two ways:
The compare basket may hold up to 5 items or materials at a time. You can always return to the compare results page by clicking on the top-of-the-page comparison items that you've chosen to compare.
The chosen items/materials can be compared on the compare page based on their material facts, technical specifications, transparency data (which shows the product's social impact), certifications, and any available datasheets. To share this information with your team and clients, one may also save it to a PDF file.
Glossary/Dictionary of Product Metrics
The specs sheet and particularly the Material facts’ section provides the user with comprehensive information on a product’s environmental impact through different indicators and metrics including:
Declared unit and amount the life cycle assessment was carried on
Carbon footprint broken down into different life-cycle stages
Circularity metrics derived from LCA data
Processing water use
Ozone depletion potential
The "declared unit" or "functional unit" of a product is the unit used to measure and calculate the product's environmental impact. This unit is usually expressed in units including Kg, m, m2, m3 and per piece of the product, and is used as a standard for comparing the environmental impact of different products.
The carbon footprint of a product is a measure of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with all stages of its life cycle, including manufacturing, transportation, installation, use, maintenance, and disposal. It is expressed in units of carbon dioxide equivalent and is calculated to help understand and compare the environmental impact of different products. The carbon footprint takes into account emissions from all stages of the product's life, from its manufacture to transport to site, on-site installation, use and maintenance to its end of life.
Circularity indicators are measures that help to evaluate the potential for reuse, recycling, and recovery of a product. These indicators include recycled content, recyclable content, reuse potential, and energy recovery potential. They provide information about the proportion of a product that is made from virgin materials or that requires the use of non-renewable energy, and can be used to compare the environmental impact of different products.
Water use indicates the net freshwater use for the cradle to gate life cycle stages of the product.
The cradle to grave life cycle stages taken for each product include raw material extraction (A1), transport to manufacturing location (A2), manufacturing (A3) stages of environmental impact, waste, and resource use. Environmental impact of installation stage (A5), use stage (B1-B5) and end of life stages (C1, C3,C4) of the product are also taken into account here.
Transport to site (A4), Transport -end of life (C2) stages are excluded from our calculations and assessment due to lack of accuracy of data.
Material Facts & Expiry dates
The material facts’ section provides a holistic view of the environmental impact of a product, and we try to make it easier for the users to explore and compare products in our library and make informed decisions with ease.
The material facts section of a document will always include data that is linked to a specific certificate, which will be identified as the "data source" at the top of the section. If the certificate expires, or the data source is not mentioned, it will be marked as such for the user's awareness.
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