UL Environment Inc. released a White Paper to help educate all stakeholders about Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) and help clarify the role of the EPD Program Operator. The new guidance document, “Transparency and the Role of Environmental Product Declarations,” accompanies the announcement of newly certified EPDs for Interface and Kingspan Insulated Metal Panels and release of a Thermal Building Envelope Insulation Product Category Rule.
The report – available here – provides guidance on:
- Market demand for EPDs;
- ISO 14025 compliant EPD creation process;
- Importance of life cycle analysis in the EPD creation process;
- Why Product Category Rules (PCRs) needed;
- Necessity for PCR harmonization;
- Role of the EPD Program Operator; and
- What’s next for EPDs, including the management of public data.
An EPD is an internationally accepted, third-party reviewed report detailing a product’s environmental impacts throughout its lifecycle, and often include additional performance, health, and company information. EPDs promote transparency and facilitate comparison of impacts among products in the same category.
Life cycle-based assessment tools are rapidly being embraced by the construction and building industry as an emerging component of green building certification processes. EPDs are currently rewarded by various green building rating systems such as CHPS and BREEAM. The USGBC recently started to recognize EPDs through Pilot Credit 43 and the draft version of the LEED 2012 includes credits that encourage the use of EPDs. BD+C
Related Stories
| Oct 7, 2011
GREENBUILD 2011: Transparent concrete makes its North American debut at Greenbuild
The panels allow interior lights to filter through, from inside.
| Oct 6, 2011
GREENBUILD 2011: Growing green building market supports 661,000 green jobs in the U.S.
Green jobs are already an important part of the construction labor workforce, and signs are that they will become industry standard.
| Oct 6, 2011
GREENBUILD 2011: Dow Corning features new silicone weather barrier sealant
Modular Design Architecture >Dow Corning 758 sealant used in GreenZone modular high-performance medical facility.
| Oct 6, 2011
GREENBUILD 2011: NEXT Living EcoSuite showcased
Tridel teams up with Cisco and Control4 to unveil the future of green condo living in Canada.
| Oct 6, 2011
GREENBUILD 2011: Kingspan Insulated Panels spotlights first-of-its-kind Environmental Product Declaration
Updates to Path to NetZero.
| Oct 5, 2011
GREENBUILD 2011: Johnson Controls announces Panoptix, a new approach to building efficiency
Panoptix combines latest technology, new business model and industry-leading expertise to make building efficiency easier and more accessible to a broader market.
| Oct 5, 2011
GREENBUILD 2011: Software an architectural game changer
Interactive modeling software transforms the designbuild process.
| Oct 5, 2011
GREENBUILD 2011: Tile manufacturer attains third-party certification for waste recycling processes
Crossville has joined with TOTO to recycle that company’s pre-consumer fired sanitary ware.
| Oct 5, 2011
GREENBUILD 2011: Sustainable construction should stress durability as well as energy efficiency
There is now a call for making enhanced resilience of a building’s structure to natural and man-made disasters the first consideration of a green building.
| Oct 5, 2011
GREENBUILD 2011: Solar PV canopy system expanded for architectural market
Turnkey systems create an aesthetic architectural power plant.