Civil & Environmental Engineering

ASTM, formerly known as the American Society for Testing and Materials, is a globally recognized leader in the development and delivery of international voluntary consensus standards. SEDL includes 12,200 active ASTM standards used around the world to improve product quality, enhance safety, facilitate market access & trade, & build consumer confidence. Also, there are 28,500 historical & withdrawn standards, plus 12,300 Redlined Standards (PDF documents that provide change marks to compare changes between an active standard & the prior version) included where revisions were made. There are nearly 100 categories of standards with the largest number in the categories of Construction, Metals, Paint & Related Coatings, Petroleum, Plastics, Environmental, Rubber, Steel, Textiles, & Electronics; new areas that reflect 3D Imaging standards, Additive Manufacturing & Medical Device Standards.

First-time visitors will want to start at the "Background" section; they may then proceed to the "Policy & Program" area, where they can learn what the state is doing to combat this situation. Some of these programs include a voluntary greenhouse gas emission registry for California companies and a research program to spur environmentally-friendly energy alternatives. Finally, the site also includes a very nice glossary of terms used in discussing global climate change.

Of most interest are feature technical articles, technology news, engineering design guides, online full-text research papers, tutorials and real-world project information. All of them are accessible or downloadable at no charge.