Green Public Procurement of construction materials and products in Italy: from Life Cycle Thinking to environmental procurement criteria definition

Transcription

1 Green Public Procurement of construction materials and products in Italy: from Life Cycle Thinking to environmental procurement criteria definition A. Dominici Loprieno, M. Tarantini ENEA - Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and the Environment 2009 ISIE Conference June 2009, Lisbon

2 Green Public Procurement (GPP) One of the building blocks of the EU Policy on Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) aimed to increasing innovation and efficiency in the use of energy and materials. Any public procurement procedure that includes environmental criteria in technical specifications or in award criteria. The concept of GPP relies on having: scientific environmental criteria for products and services, considering their entire life cycle, based on reliable data and methods.

3 The EU importance of GPP GPP public procurement market: 16% of Community Gross Domestic Product (GDP). European Commission is highlighting the importance of GPP for greening the supply and demand of products/services. Result: GPP will increase innovation and the development of environmental technologies. COM (2008) 400 on GPP specifies the following objectives: to achieve 50% of all tendering procedures green by the year 2010; to define a process for setting common and shared criteria. A scientific approach is necessary: to improve GPP rules to establish minimum harmonised criteria

4 The Italian context for GPP: the NAP EU Commission recommended Member States to adopt National Action Plans (NAPs) for GPP (COM(2003) 302 on IPP): Italian NAP was approved in April 2008 (Environmental Ministry, Decree April 11 th, 2008, n. 135) Main environmental objectives: efficiency in the use of natural resources (in particular energy - with reduction of CO 2 emissions); reduction in the use of hazardous or polluting substances; reduction of waste generation.

5 Priority sectors of intervention for GPP Italian NAP identifies 11 priority sectors for GPP according to EU GPP guidelines; mainly on the basis of: environmental impacts and improvement potential public expenditure existence of relevant and easy to use criteria market availability economic efficiency Furnishings Construction Waste management Urban services Energy services Electronics Textiles and footwear Stationery Catering Building management services Transport The construction sector: subject of our study key sector of the Italian economy (12% of Italian GDP), responsible for significant environmental impacts (use of energy/raw materials, emissions, waste production).

6 GPP for construction materials and products In Italy: despite: green building rating and certification systems (e.g. CasaClima, Itaca, LEED, ) Type I and III eco-labels concerning construction materials and products (e.g. cement and concrete, clay bricks, ceramic tiles, windows, ) Environmental Ministry set up an Italian working group (2008) requirements on building materials: don t foster energy and resources efficiency along the production chain are not sufficient to deal with the GPP strategy GPP criteria of construction materials and products

7 The Italian working group The working group (WG), led by ENEA, includes: University s experts; Research Bodies; consultants; representatives of Producers' Associations. Aim of the group: definition of scientific, shared and easily verifiable environmental criteria in compliance with future and current laws (EU and national); qualifying the environmental performances of a product along its life cycle (production process, use phase, end of life); feasible for the market.

8 GPP: first product group WINDOWS on the basis of: review of existing EU and national Type I and Type III eco-label criteria; interest of the Producers' Associations and Local Authorities; experience of the members of the WG; information on the life cycle of the products given by industrial stakeholders.

9 The case study of windows WINDOWS key role in the environmental performances of buildings: energy losses through windows during the use phase can reach ~ 25-30% of the total losses The dominance of the use phase has been confirmed, among others, by a study of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) (ENEA, 2003) to identify the key environmental impacts of windows. Functional unit: double opening wood window (manufactured in Italy); double glazing mm water based paints life span: 30 years installed in Bologna City (IT)

10 % Contribution % Contribution Results of LCA Contribution to the Primary Energy Consumption: Window production phase Primary Energy Consumption Use phase Maintenance End of life of the life cycle of the window use phase contribution: ~ 85% of the total due to the energy required to compensate the energy losses during the use phase Primary Energy Consumption 4,5 4 3,5 3 of the production of the components of the window 2,5 2 1,5 1 0,5 0 Wood tables Glass Window Ironware Maintenance production production frame and gasket production production

11 Review of data sources Besides this LCA case study to define the environmental criteria for windows WG: review of data sources: Type I and III eco-labels: Nordic Swan (Nordic Countries), Energy Star (USA), Green Seal (USA), FDE&S PVC windows (FR), ; Laws and standards: analysis of IT and EU significant legislation and standards; Projects on GPP: Check it! (AT), GPPnet (IT), APE (IT), Procura+ (EU), Eco-bau (CH), ; LCA studies: European Commission PVC LCA report, ENEA technical reports, Italian network on LCA, bibliographic research. As a result: environmental improvement is expected: at the production phase and at the use phase at the building scale

12 A methodology to define environmental criteria for a building product (windows) With LCA: key environmental indicators responsible processes Technical characteristics influence the environmental impacts of a specific process Mitigation strategies synergies with economic policies or voluntary industry commitments or are in compliance with laws and technical standards Key environmental Indicators Responsible proc ess or life cycle stage Technical characteristics Mitigation strategies U w (thermal Better U Energy losses in use phase w and air Primary energy transmittance) tightness, appropriate Glazed pane production consumption g (solar factor) g, Frame production air tightness Bioclimatic architecture Hazardous or polluting chemicals Waste production Plastic production Wood impregnation Metal and plastic production Windows end of life Content of selected chemicals Recycled content Limit on classified chemical Use of low VOC paints Recycling of window frames Increase the window service life Laws and technical standards Directive 2002/91/ EC Decree 135, 11/03/ 08 UNI EN 410:2000 UNI EN 12207:2000 Directive 2004/42/ EC Directive 67/548/EC Directive 1999/45/EC Vynil 2010 comm. UNI EN ISO 11469:2001

13 Proposal of GPP criteria for windows Can be included in a tender process as: Technical Specifications: Product description and material summary Presence of a warranty Heat transfer coefficient (U w ) (fixed value) Air tightness ( fixed value) VOC in impregnation and surface treatment products ( fixed value) Wood materials (e.g. FSC certification) Award Criteria: Solar factor (g) e daylight transmittance (τ V ) Heat transfer coefficient (Uw) (< fixed value) Recycled materials (> minimum fixed %) Virgin plastic materials Marking of plastic parts Take-back system for windows recycling pass/fail criteria that have to be fulfilled by all the products involved give additional points to the total score Work is in progress: criteria will be finalized in the next months

14 Criteria: an example Heat transfer coefficient (U w ) as Technical Specifications : to be included in a tender process The heat transfer coefficient for the entire window, including the frame, must be in compliance with the Ministerial Decree March 11 th, 2008 (Attachment B) and must have at least the following values: Six climatic zones by the number of heating degree-days Temperature Italian Climatic Zones Heat transfer coefficient (U w ), (W/m 2 K) A 3,9 B 2,6 C 2,1 D 2,0 E 1,6 F 1,4 As Award Criterion : additional points should be awarded for lower values of U w.

15 Towards a working procedure for GPP criteria for building products Windows case study suggested to adopt a working procedure for GPP to connect environmental performances of construction materials/products building scale Integration: production and use phases This approach considers the subdivision of building in 3 levels of components: UNI 8290: Residential building. Building elements. Classification and terminology Price lists of the tender processes Technological Units Technical Elements Materials Foundations Systems (heating, ventilation, air conditioning, mechanical, electrical) Roofing systems Wall systems: Windows Insulations Paints Floorings Plastering Masonry: Wood Aluminium Plastic Concrete Cement Clay bricks:

16 On this subdivision: definition of GPP criteria Technological Units Technical Elements Materials GPP criteria concern the performance of the construction phase, use phase and of the end of life at the building scale Heat transfer coefficient (W/m 2 K), superficial mass (kg/m 2 ) or easy disassembly/recycling of the wall systems GPP criteria concern the performance of the production phase Recycled materials (%) or embodied energy (MJ/m 2 ) of the masonry GPP criteria concern the performance of the production phase Recycled materials (%) or embodied energy (MJ/kg) of the clay bricks Criteria based on life cycle approach: identifies the environmetal impacts of the technical element Criteria are valid for any technical elements in which are used

17 Conclusions On the basis on the windows case study with the involvement of: sector experts Producers' Associations with the support of: LCA review of state of the art on GPP practices and eco-labels information by the industries methodology to define environmental criteria for GPP for building materials and products It seems suitable to connect: environmental performances of construction materials/products building scale This approach could be adopted for all building products

18 For any questions: Thank you for your kind attention