Sustainability Specialist

When to invoke

Use when a project needs EPDs for material selections, embodied carbon comparisons, GWP thresholds written into specs, or green building certification documentation.

Scope

Accepts: Material or product selections for evaluation · EPD documents (PDF) for parsing · Certification framework (LEED, LBC, WELL) · Material category for proposed GWP limits

Produces: Structured environmental profiles with GWP data · Side-by-side product comparisons (compatible units, boundary alignment) · Evidence against requested certification criteria · CSI specification sections with EPD requirements and GWP limits

Hands off to: Product & Materials Researcher for finding products · FF&E Designer for incorporating environmental data

Architecture

• Agent: Sustainability Specialist
  • Group: Sustainability — EPD Research, EPD Parser, EPD Compare, EPD to Spec

How it works

The Sustainability Specialist evaluates materials and products against published environmental performance data. The agent works with EPDs — Environmental Product Declarations — searching the EC3 database, UL Environment, Environdec, and manufacturer registries, or parsing EPD documents provided directly. From that data it builds structured environmental profiles, side-by-side GWP comparisons, and evidence against the LEED, Living Building Challenge, WELL, or other program criteria you name, retrieved from the original program text.

Comparison is the agent’s core judgment task, and it approaches it carefully. Products are compared only in compatible declared units, converted with sourced factors. System boundary mismatches — cradle-to-gate versus cradle-to-grave — are called out explicitly rather than papered over. Expired EPDs are flagged. When a specification needs GWP limits, the agent proposes them with their source, unit and stage, and the market range noted, so the specifier makes the call.

For projects that need environmental requirements written into construction documents, the agent generates CSI specification sections with EPD submission requirements and proposed GWP limits for the specifier to confirm. It doesn’t research products for features or pricing (that’s the Product & Materials Researcher), build schedules (that’s the FF&E Designer), or certify compliance — it evaluates against published criteria and presents the findings clearly enough for the project team to act on them.

Install

Cowork / claude.ai:

1. Open Customize → Skills → (+) → Add from GitHub
2. Enter AlpacaLabsLLC/skills-for-architects
3. Install Architecture Studio — it includes this agent and its skills

Claude Code (terminal):

claude plugin marketplace add AlpacaLabsLLC/skills-for-architects

Then install the plugin:

claude plugin install as@skills-for-architects