Sustainability

 Sustainability

While the codes regulate how a building aids occupants in the event of a fire or emergency, sustainability focuses on the impact that a building has on the environment. Sustainable development is defined as the development that meets the needs of current generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Essentially, this means that sustainability is creating and using certain elements that will not prove detrimental to the world and future generations. Certain measures are implemented to hold standards for these specific elements including Green Rating Systems, Life Cycle Assessments, and Environmental Product Declarations.

Green Rating Systems

The first green rating systems established was known as the Building Research Establishment’s Environmental Assessment Method and ten years later, the U.S. Green Building Council developed the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). Both these continue to expand, however, two systems specific to residential are GreenPoints Rated and EarthCraft House. While each rating system varies from project to project and building to building, typical rating systems consist of credits and/or points that must be obtained in order to make a building 100% sustainable.

This “test” starts before the construction process when selection of materials is beginning. Elements that are efficient, durable, renewable, and/or recycled are key in creating a sustainable building or space. In addition, certain states require certain buildings to be of a specific certification based off the rating system. The LEED rating system is the most used in the world and provides a framework for assessing and rating a building’s performance and overall environmental impact. This assessment is based off of energy use, water efficiency CO2 emissions reductions, and indoor environmental quality.

Life Cycle Assessments

Life Cycle Assessments provide a more comprehensive view of a sustainable product because it is the assessment of the environmental impact that a product gives off throughout its life span, otherwise known as Cradle-to-Cradle or Cradle-to-Grave. This assessments usually consists of information on raw material production, manufacture, distribution, use, and disposal. A full LCA includes global warming, acid rain, water pollution, fossil fuel depletion, indoor air quality, habitat alteration, water use, ambient air pollution, ecological toxicity, human health, ozone depletion, and smog. This means that whatever product or element that is being assessed is tested in all of these 12 categories.

Environmental Product Declarations

An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) includes all the data from and LCA and data pertinent to human health, mechanics, and safety, to provide a higher level of detail and product information containing more analysis, transparency, and disclosure of information. An EPD typically includes the manufacturers LCA information and any product certifications the item has passed to be able to review comparable information on the sustainability and environmental performance of the same, if not similar, products. This helps in judging whish if the least harsh to the environment, also known as an EPP, Environmentally Preferrable Product.