Just published: How to Read an EPD and Use It for a Building LCA
Building Life Cycle Assessment is becoming a practical reality – and understanding EPD data is becoming essential.
With life-cycle GWP requirements being phased in from 2028 and 2030, environmental performance will increasingly become part of building assessment across Europe. In the longer term, environmental characteristics will also be integrated into the Declaration of Performance and Conformity under the Construction Products Regulation.
Until harmonised product data, calculation rules and verification scenarios are fully established, however, Environmental Product Declarations – EPDs – will remain one of the most important sources of environmental data for building LCAs.
But an EPD is not a building LCA.
EPD values have to be understood, converted to the actual quantity of material used in the building and combined with the relevant scenarios and national calculation rules.
To support designers, manufacturers, LCA practitioners and other professionals, EAACA has published a new practical guide:
How to Read an EPD and Use It for a Building LCA
The guide uses Autoclaved Aerated Concrete – AAC – as a practical example and explains step by step how EPD information can be translated into meaningful building-level LCA data.
It covers, among other topics, the declared unit and product quantity, the different life-cycle modules, transport and installation scenarios, missing modules and national fallback rules, as well as the correct selection of end-of-life scenarios.
A particularly important topic for AAC is recarbonation.
AAC continues to absorb CO₂ during its use phase. The guide explains how this effect is reported in Module B1, how it relates to the 50-year EPBD reference study period, and why the underlying assumptions have to be understood before the EPD value is transferred into a building LCA.
The guide also includes a complete worked example for a 365 mm AAC wall, showing how the values of an EPD are converted from the declared unit to one square metre of an actual wall and how the individual life-cycle modules contribute to the result.
From understanding the data to applying it
The new Practical Guide is closely linked to the EAACA Wall LCA Calculator.
While the guide explains how EPD data should be read and interpreted, the EAACA Wall LCA Calculator helps users apply environmental data to actual wall constructions, calculate their environmental impact and compare alternative wall solutions.
Together, the two resources provide a practical route from understanding environmental product data to using it in building-level assessments:
Understand the EPD → apply the data → compare wall solutions
For AAC, particular attention has to be paid to aspects such as product density, wall thickness, transport scenarios, service life, surface conditions, end-of-life assumptions and recarbonation.
Start here
Download the new EAACA Practical Guide and learn how to turn EPD data into meaningful building LCA information.
→ Download: “How to Read an EPD and Use It for a Building LCA”
Already working on an LCA?
Use the EAACA Wall LCA Calculator to apply environmental data to real wall constructions and compare different solutions.
→ Try the EAACA Wall LCA Calculator
Two practical EAACA resources – one common objective: making building LCA easier to understand and easier to use.