LCAs and EPDs

LCA

Life Cycle Assessment is a globally recognised framework for the evaluation of environmental impacts of products and services. The LCA practice is regulated by standards; fundamental standards are ISO 14040 and 14044, with additional ones to keep in mind depending on the objective of the assessment.

The main standard applicable to LCA of products in the construction sector is EN 15804, however it is good practice to follow rules focused on more specific product categories to make sure that the LCA results are accurately reflecting a product’s impacts.

EPD

This is also the requirement to produce Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs); EPDs are documents reporting the impact results of an LCA study carried out strictly following the requirements of Product Category Rules (PCRs), published by entities called Program Operators (POs) and verified by an independent party.

Harmonisation

Despite being regulated by several standards and rules, LCA results may be challenging to compare, if they were obtained following PCRs from different POs. This is why, in order to minimise these uncertainties and strive for harmonisation, it is important that PCRs are aligned with each other or at least linked by mutual recognition agreements.


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Further information and initiatives

As discussed in great detail in a recent article (link to mondo article #139), it is important to have an LCA perspective when looking at the wider environmental impact of products. This also means considering other impact indicators in addition to the global warming potential. For example, to understand the harm on the environment caused by manufacturing using virgin materials we can consult the Abiotic Depletion Potential of Elements (ADP-E), or to realise how important it is to properly recycle electronic components we can see how damaging burning electronic waste is for the release of toxic substances into the environment and the formation of particulate matter.

Given the complexity of the LCA process it is important that rules and guidelines are standardised, to be able to reduce result variations based on rule interpretation or modelling choices. If we all adopt harmonised rules, the comparison of the results will also be possible and more meaningful.

An important advancement to support result comparison is included in the update to edition 2 of PEP Ecopassport PSR0014, with the definition of the Functional Unit (FU) for luminaires, as “to produce artificial light of 1000 lumens over 35000 hours”. By defining this universal function, it is possible to compare the impacts of luminaires at the scale of the FU, i.e. only necessary to fulfil this specific function.

The definition of the FU, with several other additions to the PSR, were carried out in the framework of a LightingEurope-led task force of lighting experts – of which we were proudly part too. The update contributed to make the PSR for luminaires more complete and robust and, as a result, it was recognised by other POs and organisations as a set of rules to align with, to support the development of a harmonised LCA approach in lighting.