The age of sustainability is upon us. Terms like green-building, recycled content, regional materials, life-cycle analysis, and environmental product declarations fill the air as architects, designers, and engineers plan out their respective contributions to creating aesthetic and environmentally sound structures.
This latest movement in the world of construction has given manufacturers of building products the responsibility to provide products that meet these standards. Initially manufacturers invested in a product life-cycle analysis to determine what their current products were made of and mapped out the process of manufacturing starting with material and energy inputs through the final packaging. These LCA’s gave life to Environmental Product Declarations that describe with great depth the entire manufacturing process, typically from gate-to-gate (i.e. once the raw materials entered the facility all the way to the products final packaging ready for delivery).