EPDs, HPDs and Red Lists (Oh My)!

The latest Green Globes and LEED green building rating systems have introduced new building materials credits that move away from simpler single-attribute credits and points we have all grown used to. Both rating systems are instead now placing more emphasis on transparency and disclosure. Green Globes offers a new credit that rewards project teams for submitting building materials’ Environmental Product Declarations, something this author wrote about at length not too long ago. LEED has introduced a similar credit that, in addition to rewarding teams for submitting EPDs, also includes credit for submitting Health Product Declarations.

In a white paper entitled “A More Effective Approach to Selecting Materials & Resources,” Green Globes explains that HPDs, in their current state, are misleading to the design community because they simply list hazardous (or potentially hazardous) ingredients that come from several “red lists” without addressing the actual risk (or lack thereof) to people and the environment. By contrast, EPDs include thorough Life Cycle Analyses and are consensus-based, making it possible to conduct a meaningful evaluation between one EPD and another.