Environmental Product Declarations: EPDs
Capitol Aggregates is proud to be the first cement producer in the United States to publish an EPD for cement.
Environmental Product Declarations are independently verified documents that provide transparent and comparable information about the environmental impacts of similar products. This data analyzes the impacts across a product's complete life-cycle: from extraction and manufacturing, through usage and disposal. By examining a product's complete life-cycle, a consumer can truly design a project that has the least environmental impact and highest resiliency.
Capitol Aggregates Cement Environmental Product Declaration
This declaration has been prepared in accordance with ISO 14025 and ISO 21930, the cement category rules and NRMCA EPD Program Operator Instructions. The LCA and EPD was developed and prepared by the Athena Sustainable Materials Institute and independently verified by Sustainable Solutions Corporation. The intent of this document is to further the development of environmentally compatible and more sustainable construction products by providing comprehensive environmental information related to potential impacts of cement available in the USA in accordance with international standards.
Products Covered:
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Type I
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Type III
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EcoMent Endure
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Ecoment Spec
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Masonry N & S
Concrete’s Contribution to LEED v4
Since its inception, the LEED green building rating system has been used to reduce environmental impacts of the built environment. LEED has been a market transformation device affecting all sectors of the construction industry, including concrete production and construction. The system is credit-based, allowing projects to earn points for environmentally friendly strategies employed during the design and construction process.
Because of concrete’s versatility there are many applications where concrete can be used in a building project, from foundation and superstructure to sidewalks and parking lots. That means concrete can contribute to every credit category.
Guide to Specifying Concrete for LEED v4
In the past versions of LEED, the focus of material impacts has been on single attributes such as recycled content, rapid renewability or regional materials. While these attributes are important, they only tell part of the story. A product could perform well in one attribute but poorly in another. The new LEED v4 MR credits attempt to take a holistic look at materials by adopting life cycle assessment (LCA) and product transparency.
This document can assist in the preparation of a LEED v4 MR submittals for concrete. Other structural materials such as structural steel, reinforcing bars, masonry, precast concrete, wood, etc. could follow a similar concept.