DAPcons® provide valuable information about a product’s environmental performance. It is therefore necessary to understand and be familiar with the environmental information contained in a DAP in order to apply these values at the different stages of a construction project. We explain this in this section. As indicated in UNE-EN 15804:2012+A2:2020/AC 2021, point 7.
EPD content
A DAP must include the following information:
- General Information: Includes details about the manufacturer, product, reference standards, and scope of EPD.
- Product Lifecycle Information: Provides details about the lifecycle modules covered by the EPD.
- Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Methodology: Explains the methodology used to assess the life cycle.
- LCA basics: Includes assessing data quality and interpreting results.
- Environmental Impact Data: Presents data on the environmental impacts identified in the assessment.
- Verification Statement: Contains the statement that verifies the accuracy and validity of the EPD data.
- Validity of the DAP. The environmental product declaration is valid for 5 years. If significant changes occur during this period that affect the environmental impact of the product in a range of 5-10%, a review should be initiated to update it.
Environmental impact indicators
What environmental impact indicators do we find in an EPD and how to interpret them?
We can find in accordance with sections 6.5.2 and 6.5.3 indicated in UNE-EN 15804:2012+A2:2020/AC 2021.
Basic environmental impact parameters by impact categories. The basic environmental impact parameters are those that must be included in each declared module of the EPD. They are classified into 7 categories of impact: climate change, depletion of the ozone layer, acidification, eutrophication, formation of photochemical ozone, depletion of abiotic resources and water consumption, with a total of 13 parameters.
Environmental Impact Categories
Climate change. Environmental impact parameters:
- Climate change – total. Global warming potential (GWP-total, Kg CO2eq.)
- Climate-fossil change. Global warming potential of fossil fuels (GWP-fossil, Kg CO2eq.)
- Climate change – biogenic. Biogenic Global Warming Potential (GWP-biogenic, Kg CO2eq.)
- Climate change – land use and land use change. Global Warming Potential of Land Use (GWP-luluc, Kg CO2eq.)
Depletion of the ozone layer. Environmental impact parameters:
- Depletion of the ozone layer. Stratospheric Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP, Kg CFC 11 eq.)
Acidification. Environmental impact parameters:
- Acidification. Acidification potential, cumulative surplus (AP, mol H eq.)
Eutrophication. Environmental impact parameters:
- Eutrophication of fresh water. Eutrophication potential, fraction of nutrients that reach the final freshwater compartment (EP-freshwater, Kg P eq.)
- Eutrophication of seawater. Eutrophication potential, fraction of nutrients reaching the final seawater compartment (EP-marine, kg N eq.)
- Terrestrial eutrophication. Eutrophication potential, cumulative surplus (EP-terrestrial, mol N eq.)
FPhotochemical ozone formation. Environmental impact parameters:
- Photochemical ozone formation. Tropospheric ozone formation potential (POCP, kg NMVOC eq.)
Depletion of abiotic resources. Environmental impact parameters:
- Depletion of abiotic resources – minerals and metals. Abiotic resource depletion potential for non-fossil resources (ADP-minerals&metals, Kg Sb eq.)
- Depletion of abiotic resources – fossil fuels. Abiotic resource depletion potential for fossil resources (ADP-fossil, MJ, net calorific value)
Water consumption. Environmental impact parameters:
- Water consumption. Water deprivation potential (user), water-weighted deprivation consumption (WDP, m3world eq. private)
Additional environmental impact parameters
In addition, the EPD may contain other environmental impact parameters in addition to the declared basic environmental impact parameters. In total we find 6 additional environmental impact parameters. They are as follows:
- Impacts related to land use and quality. Soil Quality Potential Index (SQP, dimensionless)
- Particulate matter emissions. Potential incidence of diseases due to particulate matter emissions (PM, incidence of diseases)
- Ionizing radiation, human health. Exposure efficiency of human potential relative to U235 (IRP, kBq U235 eq.)
- Ecotoxicity (fresh water). Comparative Toxic Unit Potential for Ecosystems (ETP-fw, CTUe)
- Human toxicity, carcinogenic effects. Comparative Toxic Unit Potential for Ecosystems (HTP-c, CTUh)
- Human toxicity, non-carcinogenic effects. Comparative Toxic Unit Potential for Ecosystems (HTP-nc, CTUh)
- Impacts related to land use and quality. Soil Quality Potential Index (SQP, dimensionless)