With the goal of facilitating the selection of credible green products, UL has developed and released its own web-based sustainable product information tool, SPOT. UL hopes that the database will encourage users to apply this information into the Building Information Modeling (BIM) workflow.
Featuring 40,000 products, SPOT provides users with the ability to find products by sustainable attributes, MasterFormat product codes and building rating system credits like LEED and the WELL Building Standard.
“SPOT seeks to be the solution for two major challenges facing the building industry – the time required to find necessary product data in multiple locations, and help ensure that the information they find is accurate and can be trusted,” says Carlos Correia, President of UL Supply Chain & Sustainability. “We developed a comprehensive search tool that combines multiple product attributes to streamline the selection process.”
UL is also developing an add-in that enables AutoDesk Revit users to access data from SPOT and assign it directly to their projects. As a result, green building reporting and building certification can become more accurate.
Rather than merely providing product data, SPOT will also include safety information like fire ratings. For furniture, it will contain performance certifications and claim verifications. UL will maintain oversight to ensure credibility and reliability.
SPOT is intended to build upon the company’s existing sustainable initiatives. To learn more about the tool, visit www.ul.com/spot.
