Database for Green Products
(DGP version 1.0)
Ashok Kumar
Prachi Nimse
Objectives
 The purpose of the project is to create a tool for Green Products as an
alternative for Nongreen Products.
 The tool is an attempt to bring some of the green products among the vast
number of products that are available in the market to one place so that the
consumer can look through the tool and make a decision of his/her own as to
which product to buy.
 This tool will give an idea of the products to the consumer in making a smart
choice for purchasing such products and also help them to find the products.
 This Tool helps you identify products that are:
» Green
» Sustainable
» Recycled
» Organic
» Energy efficient
Methodology
 A comprehensive literature review on different types of products
available in the market, has been done and those products are listed
in Microsoft Access using different tables.
 The Tool is divided into various headings for each category of
products, and then each category contains the various green
products available for that category, their advantages, sources from
where the information is taken and finally the green price of that
product.
 All tables are incorporated into one single table to make it easier to
design queries and form code .
 Final output is in the form of reports that can be exported into
different formats such as Excel, HTML, Rich Text format as per the
user’s convenience.
Tool Development
 A pollution prevention tool has been created which gives an option for alternative
nongreen products.

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•
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Following is the list of product types available in DGP1.0 tool :
Industrial
Construction
Household
Stationary
Electrical
 The tool consists of tables with headings namely Product Type, Category, Subcategory, Alternative Product Name, Advantages, Manufacturer, Additional
information source as well as Green Price.
Review of Available Tools
Category
Tool
Source
Use
PowerA
Green Power Tracking
Spreadsheet
EPA
Calculates the green power.
Power profiler
EPA
Compare emissions profile of input region to national
average.
Energy Escalation Rate Calculator
FEMP
Use rate in contract language for ESPCs and UESCs.
Federal automotive Statistical
Tool(FAST)
DOE
DOE compiles data inputs annually
Hybrid Electric Vehicle(HEV)Cost
calculator
DOE
Creates analysis of cost savings associated with HEVs
over non-HEVs.
Freight Logistics Environmental and
Energy Tracking (FLEET) Performance
Model
EPA
Produces environmental impact analysis of large vehicle
fleets.
Hybrid Car Gas Mileage Impact
Calculator
Hybridc
ars.com
Compares estimated annual or 10-year cost and
emissions between hybrid and non-hybrid vehicle.
San Francisco’s Green building Project
Reporting Information Tool
SF
Environ
ment
Each section includes data on environmental benefits
and economic savings.
Sustainable federal Building Database
FEMP
Documents listed provide guidance for federal
organizations developing their own policy or guidelines.
Building for Environmental and
Economic Sustainability(BEES)
NIST/E
PA
Data and graphs comparing life-cycle performance of
alternative building materials.
Construction Waste Management
Database
GSA
Contact information for suitable C&D recycling
companies.
Fleets
Buildings
Review of Available Tools cont…..
Category
Electronics
Tool
Electronic Product
Environmental assessment
Tool(EPEAT)
Source
Use
Green
Electronics
Easily enables purchasers to include environmental
impacts in electronics purchase contract language.
Council
Recycling
Savings Calculator
CENERGY
STAR
Calculates cost savings of ENERGY STAR unit over
conventional unit.
Recycling Electronics and
Asset
Disposition(READ)Services
EPA
Provides a method of managing, recycling, or disposing
of electronic equipment in an environmentally
responsible manner
Waste Reduction
Model(WARM)
EPA
Compare baseline and alternative waste management
practices.
Durable Goods calculator
EPA
Compare outputs of baseline and alternative disposal
scenarios.
Recycled
Content(ReCon)Tool
EPA
Compare existing to available inventory by emissions
avoided and energy saved.
Environmental Benefits
Calculator
Northeast
Recycling
Council
(NERC)
Detailed description of environmental impact avoided by
recycling carried out, especially in relation to Energy,
GHG emissions, Waterborne waste
Environmental Benefits
Calculator
National
Recycling
Coalition
Details of emissions and waterborne waste reduced, and
energy and natural resources saved by recycling.
Review of Available Tools cont…..
Category
Other
Supporting
Tools
Tool
Source
Use
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Building for Environmental and
Economic Sustainability.
EPA
Tool to make it easier to purchase products and services with
reduced environmental impacts.
Comprehensive procurement
Guidelines (CPG) suppliers’
database.
EPA
Web site for the Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines
(CPG)—a key component of the government's "buy-recycled"
program.
CGP and other recycled
products
Each section includes data on environmental benefits and
economic savings.
Electronic Products
Environmental Assessment
Tool (EPEAT)
EPA
Electronic Purpose products are included.
Environmentally Preferable
Purchasing database.
EPA
Environmentally Preferable products are included.
Northeast Recycling Council
(NERC) Green Purchasing
website.
EPA
Recycled content products are included.
Safer Paints, Cleaning and
other chemical products
EPA
Contains Publications, Resources, and Reports as well as
Product information.
Main Table
•
Initially multiple tables, one each for each Product Type were created. While
this approach has the advantage of faster querying, it has an inherent
inefficiency in that new queries have to be written for each additional
Product Type added into our database. This limits the number of Product
Types which can be easily managed using this database.
•
Later, a database was developed in such a way that all the data are e in a
single table which makes querying easier albeit a little slower. The
advantage of the single table is that only we have to design one single
query for all product types.
Screenshots of Main table
Relations between Tables of the Database
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To normalize the database, the whole database is divided into several
tables which are connected by relationships like primary key, foreign key,
etc.This will maintain the referential integrity of the database and avoids
unnecessary duplication of data.
•
For example, each ‘Product Type’ in the table ‘BigTable’ should be present
in the table ‘ProductTypes’. This prevents the addition of a product type
which is not already present in our database. Similarly, categories are listed
for each ProductType in the table ‘Subcategories’ which are in turn used in
the table BigTable. This process is usually called ‘Normalization’ of
databases.
Screenshot of Relations between Tables of the Database
Queries
•
A query is a statement which when run against the database returns results
from it. The query can span over multiple tables.
• For example, the query
SELECT DISTINCT BigTable. [Product Type], BigTable. Category FROM
BigTable;
returns all the distinct pairs of the type (Product Type, Category) from the
table BigTable.
Screenshots of Queries
Forms
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•
Form is a Graphical-User element for this database which allows the users
to alter the search-parameters dynamically using the run-time, and return
the results based upon the user-inputs. The procedure to create forms is
listed below, followed by its usage.
Procedure to create form is shown as screenshots in the next slides.
Screenshots of Procedure to Create Form
Screenshots of Form
Screenshots for Form
Screenshots of Product Type
Screenshots of Categories in Form
Screenshots of Sub-categories
Form Code
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Three segments of VB-code in the form-design is needed to use so as to
automate the process of populating the Combo-Boxes appropriately. For
example, when the user selects one of the possible Product Types from the
first combo box, the Categories possible for that Product Type are fetched
from the database and then populated into the second combo-box which is
‘Category’. In the same way, when the user selects a combination of
ProductType and Category, all the possible sub-category products are
dynamically fetched from the database and populated into the combo-box
‘Sub-Category’.
•
This behavior is achieved by handling the ‘AfterUpdate’ event of the comboboxes and then updating the ‘Resource’ property of the next combo-box.
•
Also, the query string used to query the database is also dynamically
constructed using the VB-code. This is done by updating the value of the
variable related to each combo-box when it is updated, and then use all the
updated values in the final query. This is shown below.
•
linkCriteria = "[Product Type]=" & "'" & productType & "'" & " AND " &
"[Category]=" & "'" & category & "'" & " AND " & "[Sub-category] = " &
"'" & subCategory & "'"
This string ‘linkCriteria’ is passed to a report which displays the results in the
form of a report.
Screenshots of Form Code
Advantages of using Report
•
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Reports are in Access to display the final result because it can be exported to
other useful formats such as an Excel sheet (.xls), HTML document (.html), Rich
Text Format document (.rtf), plain text file (.txt) or even an Active Server Pages
(.asp) document. This gives us the possible flexibility of using it on a Microsoft-IIS
server and displays our results on a web-page.
Screenshots in next slides explain the step by step procedure to create form as
well as export options available.
Screenshots of Report
Screenshots of Final Report
How to Export
Export options
Export options………….
How Else is DGP Tool different?
Our format: The DGP tool is prepared in Microsoft Access. This makes it quicker and easier to read. Moreover, Access is a
database tool which is designed primarily for storing data, and querying it efficiently.
Additional data: Information provided is easy to use, it provides hypertext link which helps the customer to go in detail for further
information of the product.
Environmental Concern: Majority of the product listed are eco-friendly.
Our extensive research services: For finding the one product, all possible available sources will display in the report format which
helps the user to narrow down his search to get more information of the product.
Output: The output from Microsoft access can be converted to HTML document, Excel format, Textfiles, as well as in Rich Text
Format.
Extendibility: This tool is extendible, in the sense that new product-types can be added over the time easily, and the tool works fine
without modifying the under-lying code for querying and report-generation. One example of such extendibility is provided in a later
section.
Superiority of Green Products
Example: Green Paints vs. Non-Green Paints
Disadvantages of Non-Green Paints
Advantages of Green Paints
The paint contains upto 85% solvents which emit volatile
organic compounds (VOC) such as hydrocarbons into the air
which contain carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic
substances.According to the EPA, VOCs can cause respiratory,
skin and eye irritation; headaches; nausea; muscle weakness;
and more serious ailments and diseases.
Recycled latex paint is made using standard paint processing
equipment. This means that industries need not spend any extra money
for the equipments.
Beyond VOCs, many paints are made with toxic substances
and chemicals that come from nonrenewable resources or are
energy-intensive or polluting to environment.
Many synthetic solvents are classified as carcinogenic .
Level of solvents in the air during application can exceed
recommended levels by up to seven times
Painters are prone to suffer from dermatitis, bronchitis and
asthma and nervous system illness
Petrochemical paint manufacturers are now promoting water
based paints as an alternative to their toxic ranges but these
actually contain more chemicals than the oil based type they
are intended to replace
Several components of water based paints evaporate for a
long time after painting, and some may affect human
physiology
Vinyl resins, such as those found in conventional emulsion
wall paints can damage lungs, liver and blood, are skin irritants
and possible carcinogens
They also don’t have to spend any extra money for testing the green
product as recycled paint runs through the same quality tests that are
used in the manufacture of new, non-recycled paint.
In manufacturing, using post-consumer paint reduces the energy
consumption and pollution of paint production. It also assures that a
usable product is diverted from the waste stream.
Recycled latex paint is applied using all conventional painting
methods — spray, brush or roller, can use it anywhere one might use
non-recycled. Hence extra cost of making some special painting
methods is saved.
“Natural” paints are made mostly of renewable or abundant naturally
occurring materials such as citrus oil, lime, clay, linseed oil and chalk.
Hence the cost of production is reduced when compared to common
paints.
Natural paints are healthier and more environmentally sound than
latex or oil paints. Hence less problems with following the EPA
regulations with VOC’s emissions’.
 These paints are made from natural plant and mineral ingredients, no
petrochemicals or chemical preservatives.
These products are non-combustible, odorless and non allergenic, so
they are great for the chemically sensitive, and an excellent, healthier
option overall. Their impact to the environment from manufacturing is
very low.
Manufacturers are also making far more environmentally friendly
adhesives, so green home builders are more likely to use them.
DGP 1.0 Specifications
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To run DGP 1.0 Microsoft Access is needed.
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DGP 1.0 can be downloaded from http://p2tools.utoledo.edu/ppistools.htm
Future Work
The DGP Database is updated on a regular basis and will grow as new information is
made available. In the future, the tool base could further be developed in the
following ways:
 More product categories could be included, thereby increasing the products available
in the data base.
 Further, the advantages and disadvantages of green products as well as non-green
products of the same category, which is available in the market, can be compared.
This will help the consumers in deciding more firmly as to why green products are far
better than the non-green ones. Also the prices can be compared.
 Also all the available guidelines as well as requirements for the green products could
be included in the tool which will help the industries to look for the product standards
requirements for greener products.