The Door & Hardware Federation (dhf) is emphasising the increasing importance of Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) to the construction industry – and particularly to architects, builders, and specifiers.
An EPD is a registered, independently verified document that communicates standardised, comparable information about the lifecycle environmental impact of products. EPDs show the results of a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), detailing the ‘cradle to grave’ environmental impact of all processes involved with the manufacture of a product – from extraction and processing of raw materials, to dismantling and waste disposal.
The dhf stresses that ‘although an EPD does not guarantee a product is energyefficient or sustainable, it provides information in a standardised, consistent way’, to allow comparisons to be made. CEO, Bob Perry, added: “Although EPD is a small part of the process, the increasing significance of green certification highlights the importance of a move towards a more transparent and sustainable global industry. Environmental product declarations are based on ISO14025 and EN15804, internationally recognised quality marks and standards, and can contribute credits towards green building certification such as BREEAM or LEED, help reduce a building’s environmental impact, and enable a higher level of clarity and sustainability across the industry.”