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Building the Sustainability Pathway!
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| EarthShift Newsletter | October 2012 |
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Greetings! 
We hope you are enjoying the change of seasons, with all the color - and the clouds - that Fall brings here in New England.
Though Summer has come to an end, we are pleased to celebrate a number of new beginnings. Harnoor Dhaliwal, an LCA Analyst at EarthShift, welcomed a new addition to her family this month. Another new beginning: at last month's LCA XII Conference in Tacoma, Washington, we launched our simplified LCA tool EarthSmart. Jim Lochran presented a demonstration of EarthSmart's innovation potential at the conference. The response from marketing, sales, design and R&D has been overwhelmingly positive. Speaking of conferences, if you're thinking of attending Ecobalance in Japan th is November 20-23, make sure and check out Lise Laurin's presentation on Sustainability ROI on Wednesday, November 21 at 3:50 p.m. On the training front, there are a few spots left in our Water Footprinting course with Dr. Stephan Phister November 6th and 7th. A mixture of lecture (day 1) and practical modeling (day 2), this course will guide you through steps for preforming a water footprint study.
Other upcoming courses that you might want to attend (please note new dates):
Our monthly free webinar series starts the 27th of November when we explore the intersection of sustainable management and sustainable design.
-- The EarthShift Team
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EarthSmart, a Simplified LCA Tool,
Unveiled at LCA XII in Tacoma
At September's LCA XII Conference, EarthShift unveiled its new simplified LCA tool during a lunchtime gathering.  Jim Lochran presented the new tool as a catalyst for innovation, allowing product designers, marketers and salespeople to ask "What If?"
EarthSmart allows companies to seamlessly integrate LCA into their design process and launch products with the rigor of a full ISO compliant LCA behind their marketing claims. From ideation through prototyping and production, designers and managers can integrate environmental assessment earlier and more continuously in the design process when leverage is high and the cost of change is still low.
If you are interested in learning more about EarthSmart and how it can help your company, please contact us. You can also check out our new product pages here. |
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EarthShift Welcomes Jauhar
Congratulations to Harnoor Dhaliwal, EarthShift LCA Consultant, who recently welcomed her first baby boy, Jauhar, into the world on September 28!
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EarthShift Launches Monthly
Webinar Series
In the second week of November, EarthShift will launch a monthly webinar series. The first webinar is a joint presentation with Climate Earth, a supply chain management company, where we will explore the intersection of sustainable management and sustainable design. Look for event details in next months newsletter and on www.earthshift.com.
Other topics we plan to cover in this new monthly series include how to use Sustainability Return on Investment as a decision-making tool for sustainability initiatives, how to use LCA in your sales and marketing efforts, how Consulting can help you implement sustainability initiatives in your company, and how to use Training to implement an LCA program.
If you have other topic ideas we want to hear from you! Please click here to contact us.
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Last Chance to Sign up for Water Footprinting Course
Reserve Your Spot Now!
Join our once a year special topics course on Water Footprinting and Water Use Assessment November 6th and 7th, in Portsmouth, NH. A mixture of lecture (day 1) and practical modeling (day 2), this course will guide you through steps for preforming a water footprint study.
There are only several spots left, so please register soon!
The class will be taught by Dr. Stephan Pfister, a leader in introducing impact assessment of water consumption into LCA. He is also responsible for providing one of the main regionalized inventory datasets and framing the water footprint methodology. Pfister is senior research associate at ETH Zurich and serves as editor for water flows in the ecoinvent database, and for water research at the International Journal of LCA.
For more information, click here.
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Many Thanks to GE For Helping Us Solve a SimaPro Mystery!
Recently, some SimaPro users reported an issue with SimaPro Multi-User and Classroom installation. The issue arises mainly in instances where companies require users to change their password once a year. When the password changes, it can cause the system to lock out the database server from SimaPro. To avoid this issue, your IT department should make the password for the SPServiceUser2 so it never expires, or change it every 6 months or so. A special thanks goes out to GE's Ryan Denison for helping to resolve this issue (on a Friday afternoon just before 5 PM, no less!). |
 EarthShift Founder Lise Laurin To Present at Ecobalance
Lise Laurin will present a paper on Sustainability ROI and the lessons from a case study on biomass utilization in Japan. If you're planning to attend the conference, don't forget to attend her presentation on Wednesday, November 21 at 3:50 p.m.
Click here to learn more about Sustainability ROI and our 3Pillars software solution.
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 Interpretation Class
Rescheduled for November 13, 14, and 15!
Our popular Interpretation class presents the details of how to conduct an ISO compliant interpretation that meets all the completeness, sensitivity and consistency checks. You will learn how to do contribution, scenario, uncertainty, and sensitivity analyses. The course will use examples to illustrate how an iterative process is applied to refine a LCA study and develop robust conclusions. Click here to learn more. |
Communicating LCA Results
Rescheduled for November 20!
Reading an LCA report with a critical eye towards the quality of the results and appropriateness of conclusions and recommendations is a skill that must be learned. Often report writers get lost in the details and do not effectively present the big picture conclusions, or they emphasis conclusions that are not supported with fair and complete analysis. Either way, your report is ineffective. This course discusses the critical elements of effective internal LCA communication. Click here to learn more about this great course. |
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Recommended Events and Conferences
There are a number of great sustainability-related conferences around the world that we attend - to network, stay engaged, and learn about the latest developments in the world of LCA, technology, and environmental management.
Here are some of the conferences we recommend:
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PackageSmart Software
Watch this video to find out about a tool specifically built for packaging designers to be able to easily evaluate the impacts of multiple packaging options.
A Free One Month Demo
Click here to Start Now!
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EarthSmart Software
Click here to learn how our Simplified LCA Tool can help your team drive innovation |
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Ask the LCA Experts!
Have a question about Life Cycle Assessment methodology? Need some advice on an LCA you're working on now?
Click here to submit a question. Our team of sustainability experts will get back to you with an answer. And we might even publish it in our next newsletter!
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Let Us Tell Your
Sustainability Story
Over the last decade EarthShift has worked on some interesting and enlightening projects and we have seen how the integration of LCA and Sustainability ROI has helped to positively shape and reform our client's business practices.
Your work towards sustainability is an encouragement to others.
If you have a sustainability story you would like to share,
please contact us.
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LCA Training Certificate Program
Our multi-step LCA training certificate program is designed to couple LCA modeling skills with LCA interpretation and report writing skills, preparing you to become an LCA professional. |
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Upcoming Training Courses...
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*indicates on-site class (all others are online)
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Practical LCA in PackageSmart - October 16
To introduce students to PackageSmart and provide practical experience applying the LCA methodology as defined in ISO 14040/14044.
End of Life Beginning - October 30
To give students an understanding of how to correctly build and model product stages in the SimaPro LCA software.
ecoinvent3: Unleashing the Power - November 1
Water Footprint and Water Use Assessment* (Portsmouth, NH) - Nov 6 & 7
To provide participants with the knowledge to perform a water footprint based on Life Cycle Thinking.
ISO Compliant Report Writing* (Portsmouth, NH) - November 7
To explain and demonstrate how to fairly, completely and accurately report LCA results to both internal and external audiences. To prepare students to write an LCA report for critical review.
Communicating LCA Results - November 9
3-hour course to prepare students to critique their internal LCA reports
Incorporating LCA Into Your Package Design Workshop* (Portsmouth, NH) - November 13
Interpretation - November 13, 14, 15
To explain the methodological details required to interpret an LCA study, to help steer the study and provide robust conclusions/recommendations.
Introduction to LCA - November 15
To introduce students to the concept of life cycle thinking, and the ISO standard methodology for conducting a LCA.
Impact Assessment Methods - November 27
To explain the methodology for how environmental impacts are evaluated in a life cycle assessment (LCA) and to provide the basic knowledge required for interpreting LCA results.
Introduction to LCA and SimaPro* (Portsmouth, NH) - November 28-29
To introduce students to SimaPro and teach the methodological details as standardized in the ISO 14040/14044 LCA methodology.
To give students hands-on experience building a custom impact assessment method in SimaPro.
Practical LCA in PackageSmart - December 4
To introduce students to PackageSmart and provide practical experience applying the LCA methodology as defined in ISO 14040/14044.
Communicating LCA Results - December 11
3-hour course to prepare students to critique their internal LCA reports
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| Contact Us!! | | EarthShift
802-434-3326
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