Sustainability of construction works. TC 350 and EN EPD for concrete. ERMCO 2013 June 6-7 CASCAIS

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1 Sustainability of construction works TC 350 and EN EPD for concrete J.M. Potier SNBPE

2 Useful definitions

3 Sustainable Development Définition What is Sustainable Development? Environmental, economic and social well-being for today and tomorrow Sustainable development has been defined in many ways, but the most frequently quoted definition is from Our Common Future, also known as the Brundtland Report "Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs

4 Sustainable Development The three pilars of sustainable development Environ ment Sustainability Social Economy Technical Quality Functional Quality 4

5 Life Cycle Analysis Définition What is Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)? LCA is a technique to assess environmental impacts associated with all the stages of a product's life from-cradleto-grave (i.e., from raw material extraction through materials processing, manufacture, distribution, use, repair and maintenance, and disposal or recycling).

6 Life Cycle Analysis Inventory What s in What s out Production Primary materials Energy Water, Transport Construction Use Emissions into air Emissions to ground/water Waste Reusable products Other emissions End of life

7 Life Cycle Analysis Use of LCA in European countries LCA has been used in the construction industry in Europe since the early 1990s, and by 2008, there were schemes in Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and in the UK to assess the environmental impact of manufacturing construction materials. Although these assessments of construction products all use life cycle assessment and comply with the ISO Standards, these have only been written to provide a consistent framework for the assessment, but the detailed approach of the different schemes remains highly varied.

8 Why LCA For concrete Concrete is always present in the construction of an habitation building 100 % of foundations and slab 75 % of walls French data 2010

9 Why LCA For concrete For many people concrete means Long lasting material Few maintenance Transmission of the patrimony for many generations Adaptability to various environmental conditions

10 Why LCA For concrete But for many people, concrete is also a CO2 emitting material

11 Why LCA For concrete It is for this reason that concrete should give accepted and verifiable data on its real environmental impact In addition, for CO2 emissions, we have to explain that construction stage count for less than 10 % of the total emitted during its life cycle Use stage 92 % Construction stage 6 % End of life stage 2 % French data 2010

12 The task of TC 350

13 Sustainable Development Sustainability of construction works: The mandate for CEN/TC 350 standards CEN s Technical Committee 350 (CEN/TC 350) was set up under a mandate given by the European Commission to CEN to provide a method for the voluntary delivery of environmental information for construction. The mandate states that to ensure that comparable environmental information is generated and used, without creating barriers to trade, national schemes need to be based on a common European programme founded upon European or International standards for Environmental labels and declarations type III environmental declarations.

14 The CEN/TC 350 Approach CEN/TC 350 to answer this mandate : covers sustainability by looking at the three aspects of Environmental, Social and Economic performance, and at the different levels of construction product/component, building and through framework documents which set out the approach.

15 CEN/TC 350 today All environmental standards are published EPD according to EN All frameworks standards are published Ready for formal vote 15

16 Projects of CEN/TC 350 Integration of the 3 sustainability columns Could be placed into 1 document To be completed Civil enginee ring Framework for Civil engineering Methods for Civil engineering Social and economic for C.I.??? 16

17 EN The «EPD» standard

18 EN EPD Standard The latest significant development of TC 350 works is the publication of EN 15804, a standard providing the core rules for the production of Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) for construction products, Going back to the original mandate, EN provides the common rules for type III environmental declarations which can be used by EPD schemes across Europe as a consistent method for providing the core environmental information on construction products which can then be used with data for other products to evaluate the building. This new standard will ensure that comparable environmental information is generated wherever a product is manufactured or used and it is hoped that this core information can be transferred from scheme to scheme across Europe, minimising barriers to trade.

19 Life cycle modules Building assessment information Building life cycle information Building Product (EPD 19

20 Product Stage A1 A2 A3 Raw material supply, Transport, Manufacturing Construction A4 Transport process stage A5 Construction - installation process Use stage End of life stage Recycling potentials B1 U se B2 Maintenance B3 Repair B4 Replacement B5 Refurbish ment B6 Operational ener gy use B7 Operational water use C1 De-construction demolition C2 Transport C3 Waste processi ng C4 Disposal D Reuse - Recovery - Recycling - potential Cradle to gate Option Construction Option Use Option Waste processingt Option Recycling Optional in any case Life cycle modules Cradle to grave

21 Life cycle modules LCA cradle to gate System boundaries Szenario Bau Szenario Nutzung Building assessment information Szenario Entsorgung Building life cycle information Datenbanken oder technische Daten LCA cradle to gate with options LCA to grave (all modules) 21

22 Functional/Declared Unit Functional unit The functional unit defines the way in which the identified functions or performance characteristics of the product are quantified. The primary purpose of the functional unit is to provide a reference by which material flows (input and output data) of construction product s LCA results and any other information are normalized to produce data expressed on a common basis. Example of functional unit 1 m² of reinforced concrete wall (C 25/30) of 18 cm thick Declared unit The declared unit is used instead of the functional unit when the precise function of the product or scenarios at the building level is not stated or is unknown. Example of declared unit 1 m3 of concrete C 25/30

23 Indicators Indicators are classed in three main categories Indicators for environmental impacts Indicators for resource use (environmental aspects); Indicators for additional environmental information (environmental aspects).

24 Indicators

25 Indicators

26 Indicators

27 Indicators

28 Emission into indoor air and soil & water Test results according to CEN TC 351/ format to be discussed Precise description of what is declared, Manufacturer, program operator, verifier, validity Sites, Types of EPD ( averages, templates) Product content Rough identification SVHC Technical data in support of construction, transport, use and end of Life scenarios Additional Information 28

29 Too many Indicators? The present strategy of CEN/TC350 to provide information in an EPD on its 24 indicators is of course a best approach that only a focus on Global warming, but: Too many indicators, some of them not easily understandable => back to CO2 It would be better to have these 24 indicators combined into a single score, but that will be very difficult. ERMCO objective could be to provide in addition to the 24 indicators a resource score that combines the 12 resources indicators. The indicator developed by the University of Dundee and supported by the ECP is a suitable method. At present this indicator is called the Current Scarcity Score and if used in this context, it may be worthwhile re-branding it as a Combined Resource Indicator. Given the present view within CEN/TC350, this is not an achievable objective in the short term, but we need to push in this direction

30 Product Category Rules (PCR) PCR Guidance texts EN may need to be applied some guidance documents PCR may be developed by product TCs for specific products (i.e. PCR for concrete) If it is not done by product TCs, it will surely be done by others! A CEN decision asks to TCs preparing specific PCR to liaise closely with TC

31 Product Category Rules (PCR) CEN/TC 104/SC 1/TG 20 : PCR for concrete First meeting on 30 April 2013 Task: development of a PCR document for both ready mix and precast concrete The PCR will cover all life cycle stages and encourage its users to develop cradle-to-grave EPDs. Editorial group open to consider carbonation Assignment of processes at the end-of-life of concrete to the life cycle stages C1 - C4 and D was discussed. Discussions: provide typical orders of magnitude for processes in the life cycle of concrete in the PCR or an annex (e.g typical transport distances for ready mix and precast concrete, typical fuel consumption of a concrete pump and concrete crushers)? Possibly in a National Annex

32 Why EPDs for concrete?

33 Why EPDs for concrete? Within the next few years, there will be increasing numbers of requests for EN15804 compliant EPDs for concrete and precast concrete products. To comply with evolution of regulation (i.e. French decree on EPD) or to comply to environmental label This will require then provision of EN15804 compliant EPDs for the constituent materials for concrete and the other components of precast concrete products, e.g. reinforcement.

34 Why EPDs for concrete? Concrete sector should be able to provide EN15804 compliant EPDs for concrete and precast concrete products using at least European average data by the end of This requires EN15804 compliant EPDs for the constituents of concrete and other components within the same time scale. Concrete and precast concrete producers will take the information supplied by the constituent material suppliers as being reliable and therefore its derivation needs to be traceable and, ideally, covered by certification. The future concrete PCR will help concrete producers in this task

35 Why EPDs for concrete? EN15804 is based on a list of indicators While concrete does not do particularly well with respect to global warming potential, it does do very well with respect to resource use, ozone depletion and eutrophication, and also at a smaller level on primary energy With a valid EPD we could argue more easily on our best points

36 ECO (The European Construction Organisation) enables mutual recognition of EPDs among European EPD program operators with respect to credibility, quality and comparability. Mutual recognition means acceptance of EPD provided by ECO members EPDs Valid everywhere? without further verification and without restrictions in applicability 36

37 Thank you for your attention See you next year in Paris