OVERVIEW
It’s easy to select a product from a catalog without thinking about where it comes from. But if you care about hidden impacts like embodied carbon, toxic ingredients or byproducts, or social responsibility in the supply chain, a lack of information from manufacturers can hinder your selection process.
We offer tips, insights, and analysis on all these issues and more. We also look at:
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the quality of the information that’s available to you
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why it’s so hard to get
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what makes it important
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IN-DEPTH
Filter results:
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Dances with Hazards: How Real Experts Pull Human Health into Design
November 2, 2015Feature Short
John and Catherine prove that designers can work successfully with HPDs, especially if they have a toxicology consultant to support their multi-faceted selection process.
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Opinion: Chemical Ingredients in Building Products—What Do You Really Need to Know?
November 2, 2015Op-Ed
HPDs can’t be used in isolation to make decisions about the safety and environmental performance of a product.
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Finding HPDs: How We Do It At BuildingGreen
November 2, 2015Op-Ed
There are several ways you can find Health Product Declarations. Here’s a look at them, including what BuildingGreen offers.
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Opinion: Transparency Is Just the Beginning—How Manufacturers Can Use HPDs
November 2, 2015Op-Ed
Ingredient inventories and assessment are important. But ultimately, we need to design for an indefinite future.
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At David Edward, Material Transparency Is a Given
November 2, 2015Product Review
Tracking materials is standard practice at David Edward, giving the company an edge in a market where transparency is a priority.
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Vinyl Group Launches Reporting Label for Toxic Chemicals
November 1, 2015News Analysis
Flooring manufacturers and their Product Transparency Declaration (PTD) will compete with the Health Product Declaration (HPD) format for industry acceptance.
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How to Read an EPD: 7 Tips from the Field (Video)
August 3, 2015Primer
In this short video primer, Arup engineer Frances Yang explains how to get what you need from environmental product declarations.
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What’s an EPD? Environmental Product Declaration FAQs
August 3, 2015Feature Short
We answer FAQs on EPDs, which allow manufacturers to disclose a product’s carbon footprint and other impacts.
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Wood, Concrete, and Steel—And Their Incomparable EPDs
August 3, 2015Feature Short
Don’t expect the turf battles over sustainability of structural systems to be settled anytime soon by EPDs.
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EPDs Will Change How We Build—But Slowly (Executive Summary)
August 3, 2015Feature Short
Are EPDs actually going to have an impact on sustainable design and construction practices? Eventually. Just don’t get caught up in the hype.
