EPDs and the Future of Design

The planet is in trouble. Climate destabilization, acid rain, ozone depletion, and massive pollution are negatively affecting our ecosystems including the places we live, work, and play. Design professionals and building product manufacturers must unite to solve these ecological issues related to the construction industry. Fortunately, there are tools available to help mitigate these issues. Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) play a critical role in helping design professionals specify more sustainable building products.

Buildings are where we live, work, and play. Buildings make up the fabric of our cities. From the pyramids in Egypt to the New York skyline, architecture is part of our culture and the buildings that occupy these spaces can have significant impacts on the environment where they reside. EPDs and HPDs are becoming two of the most used specification tools in the AEC industry. EPDs provide a standardized summary of a product’s environmental impact, while Health Product Declarations (HPDs) disclose the health effects of a product’s materials and ingredients.?

Introduction to LCA

The extraction, manufacturing, and transport of building materials can wreak havoc on ecosystems. Pollution, toxins, smog, and other impacts can negatively affect communities and the climate. In an ideal world, manufacturers would make harmless building products and design professionals would specify products that do no harm. However, that is not reality. Engagement by both manufacturers and design professionals is critical.? Manufacturers should strive to create optimized building products and design professionals should specify the most environmentally friendly products.

Life-cycle assessment (LCA) offers a detailed view of materials and products, helping project teams make better environmental, health, and community decisions while driving manufacturers to innovate. LCA involves compiling and evaluating a product's inputs, outputs, and potential environmental impacts throughout its life cycle. This includes examining the entire life cycle of a product or building, identifying processes and materials, and assessing environmental effects from raw material extraction to end-of-life stages.

An LCA is the main component used to create an EPD. The LCA is a detailed report, while the EPD is a summarized version. EPDs communicate the environmental impacts of a product or system, including raw material extraction, energy use, chemical makeup, waste generation, and emissions. For LEED credits, EPDs must come from program operators following ISO standards.

Environmental Impacts

Design professionals must consider six impact categories in LCA or EPD when selecting products based on their goals:

? Global Warming Potential (GWP):?CO2 and greenhouse gas emissions during production and use.

? Ozone Layer Depletion:?Damage from ozone-depleting gases like CFCs, HCFCs, and halons.

? Acidification:?Acidic gases like sulfur dioxide reacting with atmospheric water, causing acid rain.

? Eutrophication:?Excess nitrates or phosphates in water leading to harmful algal blooms and fish deaths.

? Tropospheric Ozone Formation:?Nitrogen oxides and VOCs forming ozone and smog at low atmospheric levels.

? Depletion of Nonrenewable Energy:?Use of fossil fuels.

The software firm One Click LCA which specializes in LCAs and carbon assessments, offers insight when comparing EPDs. If a product is compared just for manufacturing impacts to another one, this can lead to several different sub-optimization traps, including:

? The alternative requires more replacements during building life cycle

? The alternative generates additional demand for other products, for example, if the floor slabs become thicker, external walls become thicker, too

? The alternative has higher life cycle impacts due to maintenance and end of life processing

? The alternative or design using it changes operational energy balances, e.g. via daylighting, conductive heat loss, thermal capacity or other parameters

Furthermore, One Click LCA offers these words of wisdom, if all other things are not equal, compare the products at the building level using LCA methodology. If you consider for example options for a fa?ade, most likely the options also differ in terms of operational energy performance. Also, in this case, the EPD is an essential tool for the comparison, as it provides the manufacturing impacts which is one part of the whole-building level impacts.

In these cases, a comparison is possible via building LCA. If the options vary in terms of operational energy use, in terms of envelope shape or layer thicknesses, all that is bread and butter of types of analyses LCA can provide an answer for. LCA will provide the whole life cycle impacts cradle to grave. This means comparing the product environmental impacts for the lifetime of the building into which they are planned to be installed, in the conditions that the building requires.

LEED v5 and EPDs

LEED v5 aims for the deep decarbonization of the built environment and propel market transformation toward achieving the 2030 and 2050 Paris Climate Accord targets. The USGBC will employ a comprehensive suite of strategies to reduce emissions from operations, materials, construction, refrigerants and transportation, while promoting carbon sequestration and net positive outcomes. Accountability for performance is imperative. The US green building council notes that more ambitious requirements will be phased in over time.

? Achieve carbon neutrality for normal operations and meet more ambitious targets for embodied carbon, refrigerants and vehicle charging for Building Design and Construction.

? Achieve carbon neutrality for normal operations and meet more ambitious targets for embodied carbon, refrigerants and vehicle charging for Operations and Maintenance.

? Establish pathways for carbon positive buildings.

EPDs will play a critical role in LEED v5. Over 50% of the LEED v5 credit weightings are focused on carbon. EPDs offer a resource for design professionals to select products with the least amount of carbon impacts. Here’s how EPDs are utilized in the process:

? Understanding Environmental Impact: EPDs provide transparent and standardized information about the environmental impacts of products throughout their lifecycle. This includes data on energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption, and other environmental indicators.

? Comparative Analysis: Design professionals use EPDs to compare different products within the same category (e.g., insulation materials, flooring options) based on their environmental performance. This helps in selecting products with lower environmental impacts.

? LEED Credit Requirements: EPDs contribute towards earning specific credits under LEED. The LEED v5 MR Credit: Optimized Building Products offers many opportunities for manufacturers with EPDs.

? Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Alignment: EPDs often include data from Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs), which evaluate the environmental impacts of products from cradle to grave. Design professionals use EPDs to align product selection with LCA findings to ensure they meet sustainability goals.

? Documentation and Certification: EPDs provide documented proof of a product's environmental performance, which is crucial for LEED certification documentation. Design professionals can submit EPDs as part of the LEED certification process to demonstrate compliance with environmental criteria.

Wrap Up

Overall, EPDs empower design professionals to make informed decisions about building materials and products that align with sustainability goals, contribute to LEED certification, and reduce the environmental impact of buildings throughout their lifecycle.

Brad Blank brings over two decades of experience working successfully with building product manufacturers, architects, engineers, and specifiers. With a background that includes making thousands of architectural specification calls for manufacturers, Brad understands the manufacturer’s challenges in getting products specified. His journey began with an M.F.A. from the University of Miami's graduate film program, followed by a successful career in Los Angeles. Brad drives building product specifications through education courses, video case studies, podcasts, and robust marketing initiatives.