A new CEU course, "Certified Stone: How the Natural Stone Sustainability Standard Can Assist Green Building Projects," has been added to the MIA+BSI CEU program. The course was authored by Kathy Spanier (Coldspring).

The course highlights how the natural dimension stone sustainability standard (ANSI/NSC 373) can assist projects with sustainability goals. The course has been approved for CEU credits through AIA, IDCEC, LACES, and GBCI, attesting that the subject is in high demand for architecture and design communities.

Learning objectives for the course are as follows:

• Understand the basic principles of the standard's Chain of Custody (COC) to recognize efforts natural stone quarries, processors and their distribution chains make to verify a dimensional stone product has been produced and transported in an environmentally preferable manner consistent with the principles of sustainability.
• Interpret how compliance to the natural dimension stone sustainability standard's environmental, ecological, human health and social responsibility requirements for stone quarrying and production satisfy the growing demand for products that exhibit high performance in Life Cycle Assessment .
• Compare attributes of the certified natural stone to sustainability measuring requirements of the most widely accepted green building programs such as LEED - Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, LBC - the Living Building Challenge and IGCC - International Green Construction Code, to enhance appreciation for the use of natural stone as a leading sustainable building material.
• Architects/Landscape Architects & Specifiers will benefit from understanding how this standard supports the growing demand for rigorous environmental documentation for building product material.

Spanier commented: "Green building continues to double every three years, and material certifications are becoming more important to reassure the construction industry and consumers that they are specifying/purchasing a material that is extracted and processed in an environmentally, ecological, human health, and socially responsible way. The CEU that we developed is one of many ways in which the stone industry is creating awareness and education about the role stone plays in the green building market and how it connects to green building programs. It serves as an important addition to the library of continuing education tools to support the industry and the sustainability movement. The course has been presented at AIA , TISE East, and will be presented at TISE West in January 2017."

For more information about this course, and to learn about the CEU program, visit www.naturalstoneinstitute.org/CEU.