Page 12 - European Energy Innovation - Spring 2016 publication
P. 12

12        Spring 2016 European Energy Innovation

          COMMUNICATION

ECO Platform makes the dream
of European EPD a reality

ECO PLATFORM MAKES THE DREAM                   transportation, construction, quality,     order to answer the question of what
OF EUROPEAN EPD A REALITY                      costs, as well as the potential of         material is the most sustainable, the
For a long time the provision of               recycling, needs to be considered          building context needs to be defined
environmental information has been a           along with their effects during the
time consuming and costly issue for the        stages of use over the building’s          ASSESSMENTS SHOULD BE MADE
industry. Now the ECO Platform solves          lifetime. Sounds complex? It is. But       AT THE BUILDING LEVEL – PRODUCT-
this problem with the ECO EPD – a truly        there is no other way to learn about       TO-PRODUCT COMPARISONS ARE
European solution for all construction         the real and full impact of various types  ALWAYS INCOMPLETE!
products.                                      of construction and choosing the best      The evaluation of the sustainable
                                               materials for the environment.             performance of buildings is described
THE CONSTRUCTION SECTOR                                                                   in the rating schemes for buildings
HOLDS HUGE POTENTIAL FOR                       WHAT IS THE MOST SUSTAINABLE               like LEED, BREEAM, HQE or DGNB,
SAVINGS!                                       BUILDING PRODUCT?                          which have rapidly gained international
While we are looking for ways to               There is no easy answer to this.           relevance in sustainability reporting. To
reduce our environmental impact on             Sustainability describes the holistic      evaluate environmental performance,
this planet, we realise that the building      view of environmental, economic and        it is important to do a life cycle
sector is responsible for roughly one          social impacts. Holistic means that the    assessment (LCA). The impacts of the
third of all energy consumption and            entire lifespan and all side effects are   building and the building elements
greenhouse gas emissions. A big part           considered. A sustainability assessment    become transparent throughout the
of that impact is linked to construction       only makes sense at the building level     different life cycle stages.
products. The use of resources and             because construction products are not
the related emissions from production,         final products but intermediates and in    As the building consists of building
                                                                                          materials, the life cycle data from the
                                Assessment                            Evaluation          construction products is required for
                               (deliver data)                (communicate results)        any building stage. This is the modular

Building  calculation rules                    benchmark    Green                         THE AISBL ECO PLATFORM
  level     building LCA                                   Building                       A common European solution to
                                                          Certificate                     communicate the environmental
                                                                                          impacts of construction products.
                      EPD
                                                                                          Membership Groups:
Product   calculation rules                    benchmark  PEF
  level       indicators                                                                  •	 EPD Programme Operators

                           specific                                                       •	 European Trade Associations

                           industry                                                       •	 LCA Practitioners
                             data
                                                                                          •	 Green Building Councils / Rating
             general                                                                         Scheme Operators

          background                                                                      Liaison with: CEN/TC 350
            database
                                                                                          Number of EPDs in the market:
                                                                                          >2,000

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