1. Environmental Profiling and EN15804 EPDs
Andrew Dutfield
Centre for Sustainable Products
Flooring Sustainability Partnership 14th March 2013

2. Overview of Presentation
The Environmental Profiling Process
Cross listing against existing certificates
Listing on Green Book Live
EN15804 EPD

3. How BREEAM Assessments feed through to the product level
Generic Building Type
Commercial
Education
Healthcare
Retail (fashion and durability)
Residential
Industrial
Building level (element specification)
Ground floor
Upper floor
Roof
External wall
Window
Internal Wall
Floor finishes
Insulation
Landscaping
Product level (product specification)
Cradle to grave life cycle assessment using BRE Environmental Profiles Methodology

4. Overview of BREEAM credits

5. BREEAM Materials Credits
Name
Max no credits available
Mat 01
Life Cycle Impacts 6
Mat 02
Hard landscaping & Boundary Protection 1
Mat 03
Responsible Sourcing of Materials 3
Mat 04
Insulation 2
Mat 05
Designing for Robustness

6. BRE Environmental Profile
Type III Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) based on following standards:
ISO 14040:2006 and ISO 14044: 2006 Life Cycle Assessment
ISO 14025: 2006 Type III Environmental Labels
ISO 21930: 2007 Environmental Product Declarations for Construction Products

7. The BRE Global Environmental Profiles Process
Application and Proposal
Data collection
Data review
Verification site visit
Producing the Environmental Profile
Annual Verification
Client and BRE
Client
BRE with Client
support
Certification
only
Client and BRE
BRE
Certification
only
Client and BRE

8. What’s behind an Environmental Profile?
Factory Data
Outputs
Inputs
Energy
Transport
Emissions
Waste

9. Overview Deriving the underlying data: Life Cycle Assessment
Cradle to grave
Production
Construction
Use
End of life

10. Overview Calculating a single indicator: Ecopoints
Impacts
Analysis
Normalisation
Weighting
Ecopoints

11. BRE Impact Categories
Units
Climate change
Kg CO2 eq. (100 yr)
Water extraction
m3 water extracted (gross)
Mineral resource extraction
Tonnes of mineral extracted
Stratospheric ozone depletion
Kg CFC-11 eq.
Human toxicity
Kg 1,4 dichlorobenzene (1,4-DB) eq.
Ecotoxicity to fresh water
Nuclear waste (higher level)
mm3 high level waste
Ecotoxicity to land
Waste disposal
Tonnes of solid waste
Fossil fuel depletion MJ
Eutrophication
Kg phosphate (PO4) eq.
Photochemical ozone creation
Kg ethene (C2H4) eq.
Acidification
Kg sulphur dioxide (SO2) eq.

12. Normalisation The impact of one European citizen per year
Environmental Issue
Impact
Climate Change
12.3 t CO2 eq. (100 yr)
Water extraction
377m3
Mineral extraction
24.4 tonnes
Stratospheric ozone depletion
0.217 kg CFC-11 eq.
Human toxicity
19.7 t 1,4-DB eq.
Ecotoxicity to fresh water
13.2 t 1,4-DB eq.
Higher level nuclear waste
23700 mm3
Ecotoxicity to land
123 kg 1,4-DB eq.
Waste disposal
3.75 tonnes
Fossil fuel depletion
6.51 toe
Eutrophication
32.5 kg PO4 eq.
Photochemical ozone creation
21.5 kg C2H4 eq.
Acidification
71.2 kg SO2 eq.
The impact of one European citizen per year
Allows direct comparison of impacts

13. Weightings Required to achieve relative importance
Environmental Issue
Weighting (%)
Climate Change
21.6
Water extraction
11.7
Mineral extraction
9.8
Stratospheric ozone depletion
9.1
Human toxicity
8.6
Ecotoxicity to fresh water
Higher level nuclear waste
8.2
Ecotoxicity to land
8.0
Waste disposal
7.7
Fossil fuel depletion
3.3
Eutrophication
3.0
Photochemical ozone creation
0.20
Acidification
0.05
Required to achieve relative importance
..and for a single score
Created by a panel of 10 European experts.
Peer reviewed
Geographically specific to Europe
Basis of BRE Ecopoints
100 Ecopoints = impact of 1 EU citizen per year

14. How Ecopoints transfer to A+ to E ratings
Functional unit D m2 C B A A+
Point of installation

15. Ecopoint scale
Different scale of ecopoints for each building element, and sometimes different scales for each building type
Based on generic profiles
Healthcare A+ A B C D E
Offices A+ A B C D E
Education A+ A B C D E
Ecopoints per m2

16. What do you get from an Environmental Profile?
Certificate
Environmental Product Declaration
Environmental Profiles Report

17. What don’t you get from an Environmental Profile?
Qualitative Impacts
- Responsible sourcing
- Social impacts
Economic Impacts
- Life cycle costing
Physical Properties
- Thermal properties
- Acoustic properties
Emissions In-situ
IAQ and VOCs

18. Benefits of an Environmental Profile
Green Guide Rating can be used to compare:
Materials with similar functions
Specifications with similar functions
Building designs over their expected lifetimes
Credits in BREEAM
Product differentiation
Competitive advantage
Open new markets

19. Cross-listing against Existing Certificates
Criteria for cross-listing:
The product to be cross-listed against must have an existing Environmental Profile Certification.
The product to be cross-listed must have no additional manufacturing by the owner or by the company buying in the product. (It is the same product that has been certified e.g. re-branded with a different name)
Cross listing is dependent upon valid certification of original product.

22. Future Update to EN 15804 BRE Methodology update/alignment
ISO 21930
ISO
superseded
EN 15804

23. EN 15804 BRE Methodology update/alignment
Cradle to grave
(Optional)
Cradle to gate with options
(Optional)
(Optional)
Cradle to gate
Production
A 1 - 3
Construction
A 4 - 5
Use
B 1 - 7
End of life
C 1 - 4
Reuse
Recycling
Recovery D

24. Manufacturer-specific product
Variants of EPD
Average product Or
Manufacturer-specific product
Product range
Product-specific
Declared unit
Functional unit
Business to business
Business to consumer

25. Creating an EPD Data collection Data review LCA, modelling
Verification
Publication of EPD

26. Creating an EPD Data collection Data review LCA, modelling
Verification
Publication of EPD
Client (and LCA Practitioner)
LCA Practitioner, with client support
LCA Practitioner
Independent verifier
Programme Operator

27. What does an EPD contain? As required by the Standards:
Owner, operator, validity
Type of EPD, information modules covered
Product details
Scenarios, calculations & results
Any other relevant product information

28. but currently excludes toxicity…
Results of LCA
Damage to environment Climate Change, Acidification, Eutrophication, etc.
Waste & other output flows Hazardous waste, Materials for reuse and energy recovery, etc.
Resource use Renewable and non-renewable resources, Water consumption, etc.
but currently excludes toxicity…

29. Information Transfer Matrix

30. Summary, aspects of note
Ownership
Comparability
Usage scenarios
Reference Service Life
Verification
Sample of BRE’s EN EPD:

31. Andrew Dutfield dutfielda@bre.co.uk
Thank you
Andrew Dutfield