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Challenges in Integrating Environmental Product Declarations in the Decision-Making
Process Amlan Mukherjee, PhD
Associate Professor
[avniR] Life Cycle Management Conference
8-9 November 2017 in Lilliad, Villeneuve d'Acsq, France
This workshop is being conducted under Federal Highway Administration's Contract# DTFH61-11-D-00009 awarded to Engineering & Software
Consultants, Inc. (ESCINC) and hosted by the Michigan Tech Transportation Institute under a subcontract from ESCINC.
Outline
• Understanding market drivers
• Broad consensus at FHWA Workshop in September 2016
– Organizing the domain information, underlying data and model
• Industry response: Case of the asphalt industry
• Agency response: Case of California Department of Transportation
increase the awareness, visibility, and the body
of knowledge of sustainability considerations in
all the life cycle phases of pavement systems.
FHWA Sustainable Pavement TWG
2011
Working group of stakeholders
to address the challenges of
conducting an LCA.
UCPRC
2010
Stakeholders:
- State agencies (DOT)
- City municipalities
- Industry
- Private owners
Drivers: LEED v4
Challenges:
- Organizational Challenges
- Technological Challenges
PCR for Concrete2013
PCR for Asphalt
2016Guidelines and framework
Sustainable Pavements 2015
2016
LEED v4 (10/31)
2 points for having 20
products and materials
with EPDs & having
50% of the products by
cost demonstrating
lower impacts than
industry baselines
through EPDs
Objective
• Introduction of EPD in the decision-making process
– Organizational challenges
– Technical challenges of delivering a life cycle inventory database
• Long term: provide access to life cycle inventory data for construction materials
– comprehensive, inexpensive, reliable, and transparent.
Extracted
Crude Oil
Transportation
Refining
Process
Various
Co Products:
Heating oil
Diesel
Propane
RFO
Asphalt mixture
Transportation
Polymer
Manufacturing
Asphalt binder
Transportation
What level of detail is
necessary?
Multiple industries
Allocation:Protocols to be
used
Plant data collection protocols
Organizational
ChallengesTechnical
Challenges
• LCA applied to
decision-making –
which level?
- Network
- Project
- Procurement
• Who should lead
implementation?
• What is an
acceptably
reviewed
PCR/EPD?
• Who harmonizes
PCRs?
Workshop: Participation
• Stakeholders: 35 attendees
–US DOT (CA, MI, TX); Calif. HSR; IL Tollway
–City: Detroit, Austin, Ann Arbor
– Foreign: Netherlands, Sweden, Spain
– Industry and consultants,
–Academics
Who and how is it organized?
What data?
What are the driving
contexts?
EPDs are a vehicle
Summary of Discussions
• Technical challenges to get a valid EPD
– PCRs, System Boundaries, Databases
• Business and organizational processes
– EPD delivery mechanisms, Role in process
• Decision-making
– Using EPDs to support decision-making
Summary: Challenges and Gaps
• Significant data gaps in life cycle inventories for upstream impacts of (including but not limited to):– Project level material flows, aggregates, additives (various),
polymers, fibers, lime, transportation and asphalt binder. – Further guidelines on handling capital equipment impacts. – Recycled material handling
• Determine where the conflicts are in PCRs and EPDs: – Find common areas, conflicts (lateral and vertical) and
prioritize gaps
• Update the FHWA LCA Framework – Consensus on best practice, eventually leading to
requirements instead of just recommendations
Summary: Challenges and Gaps
• Increase knowledge in the industry regarding PCRs and EPDs: – Identify how they can best be produced and develop
rules and best practices for use.
• Develop a funding plan for curating transparent and reliable public datasets.
• Produce guidelines for agencies: – How to manage and use EPDs through management of
Information and benchmarking quantities and impacts, use in design, procurement and interpretation in decision-making.
EPD Delivery
• Outline types of tools needed tied to IT
– Standard templates for pulling data into EPDs,
– Seamless operation with LCA tools and
• Example of system in Sweden:
– Design + Bill of Materials + Tied to GaBi = LCA/EPD
(from presentation by Larissa Stromberg, NCC Construction, Sweden)
EPD Delivery: Organization
• Create single governmental
operator, or an effective consortium of
industry operators.
- Public Federal LCA Commons
• Collaboration of allied industry and agency groups.
• Examine the critical review process.
– Uniformity in the process followed by PCR program operators.
Decision-Making
• Uncertainty analysis to be considered
• Sensitivity analysis should be carried out in
most of the life cycle stages,
– More data is needed before these analyses can really be performed;
• Consider the indicators that are significant to the decision-making organization
Asphalt Mixture EPD Program
• PCR compliant with ISO 14025/EN 15804
• Asphalt industry:
– PCR specifically identifies upstream datasets
– Only public datasets used
– Average trends in regional foreground data
– Development of guides for design aid
– Automated third party reviewed EPD software
CompanyTest Organization 1 is a plant asphalt mixture producer.
TestPlant 1
Suite 1010, 3000 Asphalt Ave
SomeTown, CO
This EPD reports the impacts for
Mix 1, a Dense-Graded Superpave
asphalt mixture which can be
incorporated as part of the structure
for a roadway, parking lot and
recreational pavement and meets
mix specifications provided for its
application. This asphalt mixture is
categorized as a hot mix. This
asphalt mixture was produced
within a temperature range of 10.2
to 300.1 °F.
Product Description
An Environmental Product Declarationfor Asphalt Mixtures
Declaration Number: 2.7.19.18
Date of Issue: Mar 29, 2017 Period of Validity: Dec 31, 2021
This declaration is an environmental product declaration in accordance with ISO 14025:2006
Type III environmental performance labels which transparently describes the potential
environmental impacts of the described product caused during the identified stages. The data
specific to this product can be found on page 3 of this document.
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
0.00% 0.50% 1.00% 1.50% 2.00% 2.50% 3.00% 3.50%
%ReduconinGWP-kgofCO2Eq.
%AsphaltBinderReplacement
5%Ini alVirginMix
8%Ini alVirginMix
5% Virgin Mix
- 11.4% - by RAP
- 10.9% - by RAP+RAS8% Virgin Mix
8% Virgin Mix
- 8.8% - by RAP
- 8.4% - by RAP+RAS
5% Virgin Mix
Reduction in GWP / 1% reduction in binder content
Specified upstream datasets
Program Operator:
PCR ISO 14025/EN
15804 CompliantAutomated Third Party Reviewed
Software Interface
User Interface: Asphalt Producers
EPD Production for
Asphalt Mixes
- Reliable
- Transparent
- Inexpensive
- Easy to use
CompanyTest Organization 1 is a plant asphalt mixture producer.
TestPlant 1
Suite 1010, 3000 Asphalt Ave
SomeTown, CO
This EPD reports the impacts for
Mix 1, a Dense-Graded Superpave
asphalt mixture which can be
incorporated as part of the structure
for a roadway, parking lot and
recreational pavement and meets
mix specifications provided for its
application. This asphalt mixture is
categorized as a hot mix. This
asphalt mixture was produced
within a temperature range of 10.2
to 300.1 °F.
Product Description
An Environmental Product Declarationfor Asphalt Mixtures
Declaration Number: 2.7.19.18
Date of Issue: Mar 29, 2017 Period of Validity: Dec 31, 2021
This declaration is an environmental product declaration in accordance with ISO 14025:2006
Type III environmental performance labels which transparently describes the potential
environmental impacts of the described product caused during the identified stages. The data
specific to this product can be found on page 3 of this document.
Agency Response
• Some states moving towards using EPD in procurement
– Caltrans considering product EPDs
– California high speed rail requiring the submission of EPDs
– Oregon Dept. of Environmental Quality assisting contractors get EPD
• Primarily informational rather than for decision-making purposes
– Benchmarking purposes – this is for now.
Market Drivers: Push and Pull
Availability of
Consistent
Upstream Data
Uncertainty
Foreground
Reporting
Reliability
State Agencies
Requiring EPDs
During Procurement
Market Driver
Nature of use:
- Decision-making?
- Benchmarking?
Industry EPD
Programs based on
Compliant PCR
Facilitator
Nature of use:
- Easy to use
- Low cost
Effective Integration of EPD into Design and Procurement
THANK YOU
Technical Questions to Consider
• Goal: Construct a data guidelines for the checklist provided
• Question T1: Limit scope to cradle to gate (no use stage):
– Identify data set for each item on checklist – unit and granularity
– Who will provide the data sets
– How does a data item affect the conceptual - program description
– How does a data item affect the design and network levels
– Challenges and gaps
• Would this be the first step to a “single PCR”?
Organizational Questions to Consider
• Goal: Managing processes to collect and organize data
• Question O1: What is the best way to develop and make available data inventories from suppliers outside the immediate supply chain
• Question O2: Identify existing data collection procedures that can be used to collect flow data at the local government level.
• Question O3:How to manage multiple PCRs?
• Question O4: How should we manage the certification and review process?
Decision-Making Questions to Consider
• Goal: Understanding uncertainty in data (variability and epistemic) and its impact on decision-making
• Question D1: When and how should sensitivity analysis apply?
• Question D2: How to use multiple indicators for decision-making?
– What is a “significant difference” in different contexts? (For example: When is 5% difference significant and 20% not?)
Workshop Structure
• Discuss and discover– Day 1: Talks by representative speakers
– Day 2: Break into stakeholder groups
• Consider what we learned from speakers
• Identify gaps in knowledge/ organizational needs
• Consider immediate and long-term “solutions”
• Present back to group
– Gaps, Needs, Priorities
Technical: Status of PCRs
• European approach to PCR
– Nation level PCRs
– Towards an European standard PCR
• Possibility of a Core PCR for all materials
– “Single PCR”: 80% of the rules are common
– Similar to EN 15804 with product specific “Part B”
– Allows better coordination and harmonization
• Who would be the common program operator?
Technical: System Boundary
• Consistent use of declared units
– Mass based definitions be normalized to reflect
specific gravity
• EPD for a material with 100% recycled content
– Allocation and cut-off
• Consistent and appropriate definition of a “gate”
– Avoid missing impacts between gates
• Capital equipment used to produce construction materials
Technical: Reporting Guideline
• Pavement LCA Checklist needs updating– Reflect the EN 15804 framework.
• Data collection should be organized by – Life cycle stages and
– Within the context of network,
project and design/execution levels
• Emphasize collection of flow data at
local/city levels– Life cycle thinking (LCT) on projects
Technical: Databases
• Need for rules for reporting and using upstream background data across all industries.
– Upstream producers outside the immediate supply chain– Encourage collaboration with allied industries
• Consistent use of “proxy” datasets– Specifically for incomplete upstream datasets.
• Need for guidelines for following:– Characterization of uncertainty in reported foreground data.– Reporting data from models - validation and documentation necessary
• Develop benchmarks for processes to standardize across available databases and reported datasets.
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