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Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs)
Required to provide EPDs for your project? Looking to learn more about EPDs? Here is what you should be aware of regarding EPDs in general, the role they play towards a more sustainable construction industry, and how Systemair can support your project with a wide range of EPDs, well-suited for global markets.
Systemair EPDs
At Systemair, we are dedicated to providing accurate and non-misleading environmental information in our EPDs, in line with the globally recognised ISO 14025 and EN 15804 standards. Our EPDs are typically 'Cradle to Gate', reflecting what is generally applicable across all projects we deliver to. While operational energy use is generally the most significant factor, it is not included in our EPDs due to the large variability in how and where our products are used.
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For almost all Systemair products, you will find a very high degree of project variability in key determining factors such as airflow, pressure drop, climatic conditions, running hours, indoor conditions, and the like. Different markets will also have different sources of electricity, a key variable for determining the environmental impact.
As a result, the "Use Stage" will typically vary with several orders of magnitude from one project to another, and must therefore be calculated and evaluated based on your project-specific conditions.
Fortunately, Systemair offers user-friendly product selection tools and life-cycle cost calculators to help you accurately assess the energy performance and energy use for your specific project, enabling a well-informed and holistic decision.
As Life Cycle Assessments for buildings become mandatory, EPDs play an important role in enabling accurate assessments and well-informed decision-making in the projects. Both active and passive ventilation components make up ventilation systems in buildings, where the system design determine both crucial IEQ parameters as well as energy use. Any evaluation of products must therefore be done on the basis of their contribution to the environmental performance of the building in question.
Group Product Sustainability Manager, Systemair
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Compliance and Accessibility
Systemair EPDs are generated and published as ECO Platform ECO EPDs, via the global Program Operator the Norwegian EPD Foundation.
ECO Platform is an international EPD umbrella organisation working towards mainstreaming Lifecycle Assessments (LCAs) for buildings and infrastructure.
Systemair EPDs comply with EN 15804, ISO 14025, and ISO 14040/14044, making them suitable for construction projects worldwide.
Explore our product catalogue and make a sustainable choice for your next project.
You can conveniently find and download Systemair EPDs in our online product catalogue in all frequently demanded file formats, alongside other essential product documentation. Look for the EPD label in the certification section of our product pages for easy identification.
Understanding EPDs
Environmental Product Declarations are mainly requested in the context of buildings and construction work. EPDs are increasingly demanded as LCAs for new buildings are becoming mandatory via national building codes. EPDs can also contribute towards credits in green building programmes, such as BREEAM and LEED.
This might be the reason why you have been asked to provide EPDs for the products that you plan to use in your project. But what exactly are EPDs?
EPDs in Brief
A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is the systematic mapping and assessment of the environmental and resource impacts during a product or product system’s lifecycle.
EPDs for construction materials are tools used in a building’s LCA, providing the necessary environmental information about the materials and components used in the construction process. For ordinary construction materials, EPDs have been available for many years. Now, requests and demands are evolving for technical equipment and HVAC products as well.
All construction sector LCAs adhere to the same basic structure, be it for a single construction product (EPD) or a full building.
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Basic Life Cycle Assessment structure - from "Cradle to Grave" and beyond.
Key characteristics of EPDs
Based on LCA
EPDs derive from a Life Cycle Assessment of the product.
Combinable
EPDs present environmental information on a standardised format for easy top-level summation.
Verified
EPDs are verified by a third party.
Published
EPDs are made available and published through accredited EPD Program Operators.
Comparable
EPDs are sometimes said to be comparable, but this is only true under strict conditions.
What do EPDs provide?
The Core Product Category Rules (PCRs) for construction products, the rules which define how EPDs are made, are provided in the European standard EN 15804:2012+A2 – Sustainability of construction works - Environmental product declarations - Core rules for the product category of construction products.
According to EN 15804, “An EPD communicates verifiable, accurate, non-misleading environmental information for products and their applications, thereby supporting scientifically based, fair choices and stimulating the potential for market-driven continuous environmental improvement.”
The environmental information in an EPD is provided for the different lifecycle "Stages" defined in the standard, further divided into "Modules" for which the environmental data is declared. The standard is written from the point of view of the construction project:
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Systemair EPDs cover A1-A4, C1-C4 and D.
The LCA results in an EPD consist of 13 different environmental indicators provided for each of the declared Life Cycle Modules, including Global Warming Potential (GWP), Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP), and Water Deprivation Potential (WDP), among others.
In addition to the standardised structure, all EPD values are provided in the Scientific format (E+n, in which E (exponent) multiplies the preceding number by 10 to the n'th power). Although unfamiliar at first glance, this enables easy aggregation of data and summation on a top level.
EPD types
EN 15804 defines different types of EPDs with different scopes, depending on the Stages included. The main ones are:
Cradle to Gate
Covers the Product stage (A1 – A3), End-of-life stage (C1 – C4), and Benefits and loads beyond the system boundary (D).
Cradle to Gate with options
Same as "Cradle to gate", with the option to declare any other module as well (A4 – B7).
Cradle to Grave
All Life Cycle Stages & Modules are mandatory to include in the EPD.
These equally valid EPD types indicate an important underlying premise: EPDs are not the only source of information for building LCAs.
Some pieces of the LCA puzzle are best provided via EPDs, whilst other pieces must be sourced separately. One such example is building energy performance calculations.
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Are EPDs for HVAC products comparable?
While EPDs are sometimes said to be comparable, this is only true under strict circumstances. According to EN 15804, the comparison shall be based on the product's contribution to the environmental performance of the building, considering the entire life cycle.
'Cradle to Gate' EPDs are unsuitable for direct product comparison as they only cover parts of the life cycle. ‘Cradle to Grave’ EPDs based on fictive Use Stage scenarios will also not meet the criteria for comparison defined in the standard.
Instead, ‘Cradle to Gate’ EPDs provide a small part of the total LCA puzzle. In conjunction with the proper Use Stage assessments, the total picture will emerge. This project-specific and holistic picture is the only proper basis for comparing different HVAC products and solutions.