GBCI Better Materials

Hey Dee! I, too, find it to be clunky. I always try to use it, but usually end up still searching a few main sites and often good ol' Google to find the most results. The way it's set up doesn't seem much different than having 5 tabs in a browser open, other than you enter the search criteria once rather than 5 separate times. I know from speaking to a colleauge who dominates the embodied carbon world that he finds the EPD database within Tally/ec3 to be the easiest for that aspect. Maybe there's a trick I'm missing? I would LOVE to be able to direct our teams to single site instead of having to still explain all the various sources. It just ends up with them not doing the research like it should be done b/c it's too cumbersome.

Hi Dee,

I haven't used GBCI's Better Materials site but will always recommend mindfulMATERIALS as a go-to source for searching for transparency documentation and healthy materials options. There are 13,000+ materials currently listed and ongoing outreach to manufacturers to encourage them to add their products so we can continue to grow this library, particularly in CSI divisions beyond Div.9. A recent parnership with EC3 is also in the works so that embodied carbon data can be conveyed through this platform as well.  https://mindfulmaterials.origin.build/#/shared/materials/ We have a virtual event coming up on March 30 with IIDA NE focused on healthy materials titled  'Spring Cleaning your Materials Library with mindfulMATERIALS' where we will share a live demo of the mM library and companion platform, MATTER, but if you or your teams are interested to have a brief tutorial on how to use the site in the meantime I'm happy to walk you through it, just shoot me an email and we can coordinate a time. 

Great question.  I'm looking forward to hearing others' thoughts and experiences!  We have started using the Sustainable Minds Transparency Catalog (https://www.transparencycatalog.com).