What do EPD regulations and legislation mean for concrete producers and how to get started

While you likely have heard of current and upcoming regulations and legislation that require EPDs, perhaps you have been looking for an executive summary of, not just what the EPD guidelines are, but how you can take tangible steps towards being ready for your state’s deadline.

What projects does this apply to?

Each individual state’s regulations vary, though in general, regulations apply to all governmentally funded projects and, in the not too distant future, every-day concrete projects will require EPDs as more and more developers, architects and engineers make GWP (global warming potential) a deciding factor for their projects.

To qualify for GSA projects, let’s take a look at the GSA GWP Limits by Compressive Strength.

A one-time setup fee includes:

• A complete and fully verified life cycle assessment report with detailed information on the environmental impacts of your entire operation

• Verified EPDs for all selected products produced from any or all selected plants

• An online, self-service tool to create unlimited new verified EPDs for any new mix design

• A database that can be extended to support new environmental management applications

Initial system setup time required: 90-120 days

Your annual subscription includes:

Unlimited new EPDs and an annual update to ensure EPDs are always current with your newest suppliers, materials, and processes, all at a fraction of the cost of traditional EPDs.

Sample EPD 

EN15804 Ready Mix EPD Generator

Climate Earth’s EPD Generator™ for ready-mix concrete is operational in Germany, the UK, Switzerland, Singapore, and New Zealand. Numerous other countries are currently being deployed. Following an initial life cycle assessment and database implementation, customers can generate unlimited, new, fully verified facility product-specific EPDs (Type III environmental declaration) in minutes at a tiny fraction of the normal cost of an EPD.

The EN15804 Ready Mix Generator includes the following features

EPD generation: Once running, a customer can generate unlimited mix-specific EPDs for any project, any time, in minutes, not months. A mix design is entered into the easy-to-use interface, and a mix-specific EPD is generated and published to the program operator site, or a confidential project-specific EPD is generated for use by the project team.

EPD refinement and evaluation: After entering a mix design, the system will display an LCA results summary table. If the user wishes to rework the mix design for eco-design purposes, for example, a single click will allow the user to return to the mix design and make modifications. Once satisfied, one click is all it takes to publish a fully verified EPD in seconds, eliminating the need for manual verification for each EPD.

Quick EPD Lookup and Download: EPDs are stored on the system, and any EPD can be retrieved from a dropdown menu at any time, eliminating the need to set up storage and organize your EPDs.

Instant digital upload to the ECO Portal: Our EPD Generator is the only one that fully supports the ECO Platform ILCD+EPD digital interface so that new EPDs are instantly uploaded to the ECO Portal in real-time.

Three-Tier verification: The Europe EN15804 generator and the EPDs are subject to a rigorous three-tier verification process that is unmatched in the industry.

• Tier 1 is a system verification by the program operator to ensure the generator calculations comply with the PCR. 
• Tier 2 is Guided data collection. Our LCA professionals work with every customer throughout the data collection process to help ensure the quality and integrity of the customer data.
• Tier 3 is a comprehensive verification of the LCA by the program operator.

API support: Climate Earth API support ensures seamless integration with almost any IT system, enhancing operational efficiency and making EPD data digitally available externally or across your company.

Software subscription and annual database refresh: Stay ahead with our software subscription, offering endless EPD generation and annual database updates to keep your sustainability data up-to-date and reliable.

Sales Tool: Climate Earth’s Project Builder

Engage with the AEC community early in the design/build cycle to minimize embodied carbon. 

Climate Earth’s Project Builder is the first of its kind online lead generation tool designed to quickly see the range of possible embodied carbon impacts for an entire project, by mix design, at any stage in the project cycle.   The tool is built to demonstrate low carbon design expertise and shift the buyer from prescriptive to performance metrics.  Downloadable online reports show users the range of possible embodied carbon impacts for the entire project by mix, at any stage in the project cycle.  Producers receive email notifications of all downloaded reports.

Project Builder is customized for each Climate Earth customer to match the producer’s website.  Architects, engineers, and any prospective customer can register and enter the compressive strength and total cubic yards needed for each mix required for a project. The Project Builder then instantly generates an embodied carbon profile of the project, showing the high, low, median, and average embodied carbon, by mix, for the complete project and the producer receives an email including the report and the contact information for the prospective customer.

Project Builder enables the design community and concrete producers to engage early in the design/build cycle to minimize embodied carbon.

Mix Design Tool: Climate Earth’s Concrete Designer

Powerful sales and research tool that supports low carbon mix design and development.
Concrete Designer is a tool for concrete QC managers to engage directly with customers and prospects to refine mix requirements by optimizing mix design to meet performance requirements at the lowest possible carbon impact. It is also designed to be used by lab technicians designing new mixes and wanting to see the carbon impact of the new mix.

It is available as a stand-alone product for Essential users and is fully integrated with EPD Advantage.

With Climate Earth’s Concrete Designer tool, simply enter a new mix design then review the environmental impacts and modify as needed.   Once you finalize your design, download the PDF report which includes the carbon footprint (GWP), the mix design itself, and a comparison to the industry average mix design of the same strength in the local region.  Concrete Designer enables producers to easily share their innovative mix designs, including the GWP without producing an EPD.