Last month, I wrote about the USGBC’s ongoing efforts to transform the LEED rating system’s Materials and Resources credits from single-attribute-based criteria to a more comprehensive, balanced, and scientific method through newly emergent Environmental Product Declarations. There are other standards and certifications out there for many building materials and products—all of which have EPD-like qualities, but as I wrote last month, they are problematic due to a lack of transparency. It is transparency that people are after and what proponents of EPDs promise will be the core of every EPD produced.
Nutrition labels are to food as EPDs are to building materials or so the oft-repeated analogy goes. EPD proponents envision that eventually every building material will come with a label that indicates quantitative values for things like global warming, ozone depletion, acidification, eutrophication and more. The idea is a simple one: Give consumers quantitative, consistent, and comparative environmental information and they will be able to intelligently and confidently choose materials and products that best meet their sustainable goals.