leeding with lca & epds€¦ · • use the same lca software tools and iso 14044 compliant...

A business unit of AISIwww.recycle-steel.org

LEEDing with LCA & EPDs

MBA Green Builders Symposium – October 15th, 2015

Presentation Objectives

• Background on AISI/SRI• LCA Overview• Whole Building LCA

– LEED v4 credits– Whole Building LCA tools

• PCRs/EPDs– LEED v4 credits – EPD examples

• LCA in other green building programs, codes, and standards

http://www.steel.org/

American Iron & Steel Institute

Steel Recycling Institute

http://www.recycle-steel.org/

N. American Steel Industry Overview

• Direct employment of over 150,000 people in the U.S.

• Steel shipments of 98 million tons in 2014

• 81% recycling rate in 2013 (higher in construction)

• Voluntary 32% reduction in energy intensity since 1990

Sustainable Construction is Here to Stay!

Overview of LEED

LEED v4 BD+C

What has changed?• Clear focus on transparency and performance• New Integrative Process credit incentivizes LEED

considerations at project start• New credit category to address project location and

transportation considerations• Incorporates international requirements

o LEED is used in over 145 countries• Complete rewrite of Materials & Resources section

o Whole-building LCAo EPDso Disclosure of Chemical Ingredientso Responsible Extraction of Raw Materials

Product Life Cycle

Life Cycle Assessment

LCA is a standardized technique to assess potential environmental impacts associated with a product, process, or service

ISO 14040:2006 (en) – Environmental management – Life Cycle Assessment – Principles and Framework

Collection of Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) Data

Product Manufacture

Emissions

Waste

Water

Materials Product

Co-Products & Materials for Recovery

Water

Energy

Materials

Collection of LCI Data

M/E/H2O = Materials, Energy, and WaterMR = Materials for Recovery (e.g., steel scrap)W/CP = Wastes and Co-products

Adapted from: T. Gloria, “Life Cycle Assessment: A Tutorial”, Greenbiz webinar, Feb. 19, 2013

Raw Material Extraction

Materials Manufacture

Product Manufacture

Use End-of-life Treatment

M/E/H2O

Emissions

W/CP MRMR

M/E/H2O

Emissions

M/E/H2O

Emissions

M/E/H2O

Emissions

M/E/H2O

Emissions

W/CP W/CP W/CP W/CP

LCI Data

– Hot Rolled Coil– Cold Rolled Coil– Hot Dip Galvanized– Plate– Sections (interim)– Rebar (interim)– Pickled Hot Rolled Coil– Finished Cold Rolled Coil– Tinplate

North American LCI datasets available for these products:

New LCI data being collected globally this year.

LCI Data

LCI Data Sources

• Primary– Product manufacturers– Retailers– Suppliers– Industry associations (average data)

• Secondary or average– Literature and published LCA reports– Public and proprietary databases

• GaBi databases (licensed) – up to 5,000 datasets• Ecoinvent databases (licensed) – 2,000+ datasets• NREL U.S. LCI Database (free) – 3,000+ datasets• ILCD (free) – over 36 linked data libraries

Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA)

ß Most commonly reported

Additional impacts:• Human health toxicity• Eco-toxicity• Resource depletion (fossil fuel

and mineral)• Land use change• Habitat disruption

Source: Architectural Record, Continuing Education Center

Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA)

Necessity of LCIA

Adapted from: T. Gloria, “Life Cycle Assessment: A Tutorial”, Greenbiz webinar, Feb. 19, 2013

Emission Amount(kg)

Share Significance

Carbon dioxide (CO2) 2,000 98.90% High?Nitrous oxide (N2O) 20 0.10% Low?Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) 2 0.01% Very low?

Emission Equivalence (GWP)

GWP Contribution (kg CO2eq)

Share Significance

CO2 1 2,000 3.7% LowN2O 298 5,960 11.1% ModerateSF6 22,800 45,600 85.1% High

Inventory:

Impact Assessment:

Benefits of LCA

• Credibly, transparently assess and report potential environmental impacts across entire product life cycle

• Examine tradeoffs for between life cycle stages and/or impacts à product development, decision-making, policy initiatives

• Hot spot identification à areas for improvement, best practices

• Fair comparisons between competing materials

LEED v4 BD+C

Possible Points: 13Y Prereq 1 Required

Y Prereq 2 Required

Credit 1 5

Credit 2 2

Credit 3 2

Credit 4 Building Product Disclosure and Optimization - Material Ingredients 2

Credit 5 2

Building Product Disclosure and Optimization - Sourcing of Raw Materials

Building Life-Cycle Impact Reduction

Construction and Demolition Waste Management

Construction and Demolition Waste Management Planning

Materials and ResourcesStorage and Collection of Recyclables

Building Product Disclosure and Optimization - Environmental Product Declarations

Total Possible Points: 110C ert if ied 4 0 t o 4 9 p o int s Silver 50 t o 59 po int s Go ld 6 0 t o 79 po int s Plat inum 8 0 t o 110

LEED v4 BD+C

Building Life Cycle Impact Reduction (5 points)• Intent: encourage adaptive reuse and optimize environmental

performance of products and materials• Four options, including full or partial building reuse

– Option 1: Historic building reuse (5 points)– Option 2: Renovation of abandoned or blighted building (5 points)– Option 3: Building and material reuse (2-4 points)– Option 4: Whole-building Life Cycle Assessment (3 points)

LEED v4 BD+C

Option 4 – Whole-building LCA• Building structure and enclosure• Cradle-to-grave (excluding operational energy)• Baseline and proposed buildings must be of comparable:

– Size– Function– Orientation– Operating energy performance as defined in EA Prerequisite Minimum

Energy Performance. • Building service life: at least 60 years. • Use the same LCA software tools and ISO 14044 compliant data sets.• Narrative describing LCA assumptions, scope, baseline building, and

proposed building.

LEED v4 BD+C

Option 4 – Whole-building LCA• Design must show 10% reduction in at least 3 of the following vs.

“reference building” (one must be GWP):– Global warming potential (kg CO2e);– Depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer (kg CFC-11);– Acidification of land and water sources (moles H+ or kg SO2);– Eutrophication (kg nitrogen or kg phosphate);– Formation of tropospheric ozone (kg NOx or kg ethene); and– Depletion of nonrenewable energy resources (MJ).

• No impact category may increase by more than 5%.

Whole Building LCA

Source: Athena Sustainable Materials Institute

Whole Building LCA

• Comprehensive LCA software– GaBi – SimaPro– OpenLCA

• Whole Building LCA-specific tools– Athena Impact Estimator (referenced in LEED)– Tally (accepted by USGBC)– eToolLCD– buildLCA (worldsteel)

• Guidance Documents– AIA (2010)– Athena Sustainable Materials Institute (2014)– In-development: USGBC, Structural Engineering Institute

Whole Building LCA - Athena Impact Estimator

• Free software specifically mentioned in LEED v4• Intended to make LCA accessible to designers

– Limited understanding of LCA necessary (good and bad!)– Can model over 1,200 structural and envelope assembly

combinations– BOM import from any CAD program

• Version 5.1.01 released July 2015

Whole Building LCA - Athena Impact Estimator

Whole Building LCA

http://choosetally.com/

Tally®A joint development project from KT Innovations, PE International, and Autodesk.

Whole Building LCA - Tally

• Annual licensing fees• Requires use (and costs) of Autodesk Revit model

• Cradle-to-grave whole building scope– Manufacturing, maintenance and replacement,

and end-of-life– Currently excludes impacts from construction and

operational energy

Whole Building LCA - Tally

LEED v4 BD+C

Next 3 M&R credits have a two-part focus:• Part 1 = Disclosure• Part 2 = Optimization

Disclosure (noun): Transparency of product supply chains, ingredients, and life-cycle impacts

Optimization (verb): Reward for products meeting thresholds or benchmarks for performance

Market Transformation

LEED v4 BD+C

Possible Points: 13Y Prereq 1 Required

Y Prereq 2 Required

Credit 1 5

Credit 2 2

Credit 3 2

Credit 4 Building Product Disclosure and Optimization - Material Ingredients 2

Credit 5 2

Building Product Disclosure and Optimization - Sourcing of Raw Materials

Building Life-Cycle Impact Reduction

Construction and Demolition Waste Management

Construction and Demolition Waste Management Planning

Materials and ResourcesStorage and Collection of Recyclables

Building Product Disclosure and Optimization - Environmental Product Declarations

Total Possible Points: 110C ert if ied 4 0 t o 4 9 p o int s Silver 50 t o 59 po int s Go ld 6 0 t o 79 po int s Plat inum 8 0 t o 110

LEED v4 BD+C

Building Product Disclosure and Optimization – Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs)• Intent: To encourage the use of products and materials for which

life-cycle information is available and that have environmentally, economically and socially preferable life-cycle impacts. To reward project teams for selecting products from manufacturers who have verified improved environmental life-cycle impacts.

LEED v4 BD+C

Building Product Disclosure and Optimization – EPDs (2 points)• Option 1 (1 point) – EPDs for 20 different products from at least 5

manufacturers– Product Specific Type III EPD = 1 product– Industry-wide (generic) EPDs = ½ product– Product Specific Declarations (LCA) = ¼ product

LEED v4 BD+C

Building Product Disclosure and Optimization – EPDs (2 points)• Option 2 (1 point)– Multi-attribute Optimization : must meet one

of the following (50% of total cost)– Third party certified products – demonstrate impact reduction below

industry average in at least three of six impact categories– Products sourced (extracted, manufactured, purchased) within 100

miles are valued at 200% their base contributing cost

Building Products LCA & EPDs

Source: Athena Sustainable Materials Institute

Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs)

Background on PCRs/EPDs

Source: BuildingGreen, Inc., “The Product Transparency Movement: Peeking Behind the Corporate Veil”, December 27, 2011.

Note: Not every LCA comes from a PCR or leads to an EPDCaution: EPDs can appear more comprehensive than they are.

Product Category Rules

A set of detailed rules, requirements, and guidelines for developing Type III environmental declarations for specific product categories

http://pcr-library.edf.org.tw/

Background on PCRs/EPDs – Who is Involved?

Source: Architectural Record, Continuing Education Center

Framework & basic requirements for a building products PCR

Core PCR for construction product EPDs

e.g., PR EN 16485 for wood

Principles & procedures for Type III EPDs

Overarching standards for life cycle assessment

EPDs

Source: Adapted from ArcelorMittal presentation, worldsteel LCA Expert Group, October 2013.

Background on PCRs/EPDs

Steel Construction Product PCR

Industry-wide Steel EPD: In-progress

Manufacturer-specific Steel EPD

Limitations

• “Potential” environmental impacts

• All relevant environmental impacts should be considered

• Only one of several environmental management techniques (e.g., risk assessment, environmental impact assessment, auditing)

• Assumptions and data sources can significantly affect results

• Comparability – proceed with caution

*Transparency and communication is key!

LCA – Other Building Programs/Standards

Green Building Ratings Programs• Green Globes BSR/GBI 01-201X, Public Comment Draft:

Whole Building LCA and EPDs• Living Building Challenge 3.0: product carbon footprint

Building Standards/Codes• IgCC 2012: Whole Building LCA (EPD provisions in next version)• ASHRAE 189.1: Whole Building LCA

Coming Soon!

Brandie M. Sebastian, LCACPManager, Life Cycle Assessment

Steel Recycling Institute(412) 458-5819

[email protected]

Questions??