With the environment as a competitive edge. The ability to document and improve environmental aspects will be of great market significance in the future.

- Participation in NODE Environmental Footprint will help NODE companies to develop a model and methodology for determining a product’s environmental properties. The ability to document and improve environmental aspects will be of great market significance for NODE companies in the future, according to Jan Brataas, an enthusiastic project manager for NODE Environmental Footprint. In other words, the environmental aspects of the products will be a factor in competitiveness in line with price, quality, appearance and technical properties!

Developing a model
NODE Environmental Footprint will develop a model for declaring a product’s environmental properties at different levels in a product hierarchy. The project can be of special significance in reducing the environmental risks in the offshore industry in general, and in vulnerable areas in particular.

Some important elements of the project are:

• Environmental aspects and the related costs must be determined both in a product hierarchy and in a lifecycle perspective.
• The model must be developed so that it can contribute to improving environmental properties and be used in an innovative product development process. 
• The use of the model and methodology will result in skills development in the companies.
• The model will be developed with international standardisation as an aim.

Expertise
“An important aim of the project is to raise the level of expertise in the companies regarding environmental developments in the area of technology. Not least, we believe that environmentally-sound innovation can lead to significant improvements to products or the development of entirely new solutions,” says the project manager.

Great interest in the project
Forty-two of the NODE companies have registered interest in participating in the project. The variety represented by these companies is a great strength for the project. Experience of product development, construction, manufacturing, and maintenance and operations all contribute to a valuable and practical approach. In 2010, two important external partners, the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy (OED) and A/S Norske Shell, have joined the project.

The project is financed by participating companies and Innovation Norway.
The project is now in its initial phase, and the plan is for it to end in the spring of 2013. The project manager is Jan Brataas, who works at OSM Offshore in Kristiansand. Jan is a civil engineer and has experience from both the offshore industry and other industries in quality control, HSE and environmental management, as well as the development of environmental technology and methodology.

Would you like more information about the project?
Contact Jan Brataas, Project Manager, via e-mail or tel +47 9084 5807.