Pollution Prevention & Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

Sponsored by:

Sustainable DesignCommittee on the Environment

AIA

EPA Definition: source reduction & other practices reducing or eliminating creation of pollution through: increased efficiency in raw materials, energy, water, resources &protecting natural resources by conservation.

It is prior to recycling, treatment or disposal & includes reducing or eliminating pollution hazards to public health & environment.

Pollution Prevention: P2

equipment or technology modifications process or procedure modifications reformulation or redesign or products substitution of raw materials & improvements in housekeeping, maintenance, training or inventory control

Source:

P2 Includes:

NRDC Report Benchmarking Air Pollution from Top 100 Electric Companies Shows Carbon Dioxide Pollution Increasing.

Green-erenewable electricity certificationwww.green-e.org

In contrast, on a life cycle basis, green energy eliminates more pollution than any other industrial activity.

Green Energy

State of Minnesota Design for Environment (DfE) Toolkit helps improve product LCA benefits throughout the

supply chain (fig. 1 Sustainable Textile Standard).

General Product Life Cycle

EPA’s DfE Program uses LCAs to examine product environmental impactsover their entire life cycle, from raw materials extraction to manufacturing, use, & disposition.

LCA can help achieve P2.

Source:

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

• Auto refinishing• Adhesives• Garment & textile care• Flexographic & gravure printing• Industrial & institutional laundry• Integrated environmental management systems• Lead free solder

Source:

EPA also used LCA to improve product design in:

How are LCA Tools Used? For product design and improvement For product evaluation and comparison For product specification and purchase

What might be in an LCA toolkit? MTS Standards for Sustainable Products eLCie™ Web-tool for Product Selection BEES® System for Product Improvement LEED™ Green Building Rating System

http://www.epa.gov/ord/NRMRL/std/sab/iam_traci.htm

EPA Sustainable LCA Technology

• Ozone depletion• Global warming/climate change• Acidification• Eutrophication• Smog• Human health cancer• Human health noncancer• Human health criteria• Ecotoxicity• Fossil fuel use• Land use• Water use

http://www.bfrl.nist.gov/oae/software/bees.html

EPA’s TRACI is used in the BEES LCA Tool & characterizes impacts including:

Interface SabiInterface TransformationJ&J Industries- SBR LatexJ&J Industries- LIFESPAN*MGMohawk Regents RowMohawk MeritageNatural Cork Parquet TileNatural Cork Floating Floor Forbo Linoleum/No-VOC GlueTrespa Virtuon ceiling/casewk.Trespa Athlon ceiling/casewk.

Trespa Meteon exterior finishISG Brick & Fly Ash MortarISG 3-coat Stucco w/Fly AshISG 1-coat Stucco w/Fly AshTrespa Virtuon partition/lockersTrespa Athlon partition/lockersShaw Ecoworx Carpet Tile C&A ER3 Carpet Tile Bentley Prince Street HyperionBentley Prince Street MercatorInterface PrairieSchool

BEES ISO Compliant LCAs are available for 32 products

Herman Miller Aeron ChairHerman Miller Ambi Chair Trespa Toplab Plus CountersTrespa Athlon CountersLafarge Silica Fume CementISG IP CementLafarge NewCem Slag CementGeneric 35 % Fly Ash CementLafarge Portland Type I CementLafarge CKD Soil Enhancer BioTrans Transformer Oil

Products Cont…

BEES supports Federal agencies purchase of biobased products & is Sponsored by EPA’s Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Program, USDA & NIST.

NIST needs information on manufacturers’ products so that Federal personnel may consider them in their purchase decisions.

http://www.bfrl.nist.gov/oae/software/bees/please/USDA/bees_please.html

BEES LCAs on Bio-based Products Allows Them to be Considered for Preferable Federal Government Purchasing

Climate Change

Environmental Performance

Overall Performance

US Green Building (USGBC) Council LEED LCA Initiative Launch in 2004

USGBC Initiated ASTM & ISO LCA Standards in 1993

Product Example

Milliken Earth Square carpet tiles: ISO compliant LCA meet MTS’ LCA Standard.

LCA identifies product benefits/impacts throughout the supply chain, & is required by law for sustainable, green, or EPP products because consumers believe these products are environmentally beneficial in all respects.

For 99% postconsumer recycled content For extended product Life For more than 20% takeback For transparent closed loop process For achieving social equity For LCA & DfE process

Milliken Earth Square Certified Gold Sustainable Textile

The Institute for Market Transformation to

Sustainability (MTS) worked with the textile,

design & government communities, in approving a

National Consensus Sustainable Textile Standard©

for carpet, fabric & apparel.

Sustainable Textile Standard©

Substantial Global Benefits for Carpet, Fabric & Apparel- Environmental, Social, & Economic over the supply chain

Textile Rating System: Certified, Silver, Gold & Platinum

Business Benefits: cost savings, product differentiation, long term customer relationships, liability reduction

Market Definition of Sustainable Textile

Life Cycle Environmental Performance Requirements

Social Performance Requirements over the supply chain

Defines Sustainable Agriculture for Textile

Sustainable Textile Standard© Benefits

MTS Ad Promotes LCA Label on Products

Clearly links with our message, and with the needs of our customers.

Advertisement asks the most pertinent question in the mind of our customers.

Thus, the best environmental choice is the lowest mercury content, highest energy efficient, & longest life lamp, as specified in LEED-Existing Buildings.

LCA of Lamps

Using LCA, the Greatest Impact by Far Over all Environmental Impact Categories, is the Energy Efficiency of the Lamp, which Supplants Primarily Coal Fired Power.

Components Inventory & Impact Assessment of Releases & Energy Use

Collection and Evaluation of Data

LCA of Wallboard

LCA is product specific (MARMOLEUM® ), not category specific (linoleum). Every product stage in MARMOLEUM® and ARTOLEUM® is evaluated

against each environmental impact category below.

Product Example

Life-Cycle Assessment… the true measurement of environmental performance

Forbo Linoleum’s ISO 14040 Compliant LCA Meets MTS’ LCA Standard.

Forbo provides a legally binding & publicly disclosed certification.

How do we use what we learn from LCA’s?

Manufacturing

Comprehensive life-cycle data shows a significantly smaller total environmental impact than is typical for that industry.

LIFE-CYCLE ENVIRONMENT

AL IMPACTS

Environmental Impact of Typical Carpet Face Fiber (In Lbs unless noted)Per pound of fiber in carpet

Typical Antron ChangeIndustry 2000

Depletable Resources 7.4 lbs 6 -20%

Global Warming Emissions 21.3 12.6

-41%

Other Air Emissions 0.17 0.14 -20%

Land Emissions/Solid Waste 10.7 7.2

-33%

Water Use (In Gals) 5 3.3 -34%

Safety/Health (Benchmark) 10 4 -60%Value Recovery 0 0.1 +10%

(Actual numbers behind the index)

total environmental impact

….environmental considerations as part of the normal purchasing process.

Emphasize pollution prevention…....

Examine multiple environmental attributes…...

Compare relevant environmental impacts…..

Based on …. Accurate and meaningful information….

Uses a life cycle approach

EPA Final Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Guidance

product or serviceis tested to perform to industry standards

Product Performance

Actively Specifying

• Developed by the International Design Center for the Environment

(IDCE) working in collaboration with Sylvatica, Tellart and others

• Primary users: architects, interior designers, and facilities managers

• Additional usage: manufacturers communicate the environmental

impacts of products using common metrics

A science-based streamlined web LCA tool, comparing & reducing

product environmental cradle to cradle impacts

What does eLCie add to LCA tools?

Increases designers’ access to LCA results

Lowers manufacturers’ data collection time

Improves data quality and transparency

Reduces LCA costs for manufacturers

Advances collaboration on LCA based tools

Thanks to our Sponsors

Sustainable DesignCommittee on the Environment

AIA