SPOT – An Online Database for Easily Adding Acurate Sustainability Product Data to Revit Models (Updated)
Updated on January, 4 2017 to add the following:
Editor's Note: The Revit add-in mentioned in the article is currently under development and in private Beta testing. Launch is expected in April.
From the HingePoint blog:
Underwriters Laboratories (UL) wants to get credible sustainability data into Revit models more easily.
To do so, UL recently launched a web-based product, sustainability-information tool that will help users select credible green products and place that information into their Building Information Modeling (BIM) workflow.
"Most people know UL for our fire, mechanical, safety testing; we've been doing that for 120 years," said UL public affairs director Mark Rossolo at Autodesk University. "What most people also don't know though that we are the largest certifier of sustainable products for use in the buildings."
The web app–called SPOT–features more than 40,000 products. SPOT's database will help architects and designers identify products by sustainable attributes, MasterFormat product codes and building rating system credits such as LEED v4 and the WELL Building Standard™.
"We all need all to be thinking about having more sustainable products in our building," Rossolo said. "Is the carpet we're standing on admitting potentially harmful chemicals? Has that been tested? We don't know unless we put a product in… that has been certified."
SPOT database goes beyond traditional green certification data to include a comprehensive view of a product's attributes through expanded product listings. The expanded listings will also include safety data, such as fire ratings and, for furniture, performance certifications and claim verifications. This data will be curated and managed by UL to give users confidence that the data is from reliable, credible sources.
"When you're getting to a Revit user you're at the ground level of importance for ensuring that those products that have sustainability attributes are put in there… like protecting occupant health," Rosollo said. "Starts to get us thinking about more than just, 'does this comply with specs that the architect gave me?'"
To enhance the mobile experience, UL's SPOT app is available from the Apple App Store and Google Play. Additionally, UL is developing an add-in which will enable AutoDesk® Revit® users to access product data from SPOT and assign it directly to their project.
To learn more about SPOT, visit ul.com/spot.
See HingePoint's original article, by Jimmy Epperson, here
Labels: LEED, Mobile, Revit, Sustainability