Embodied Carbon 101: Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs)
2020-BSA02
Included in subscription
1.00
LU|HSW
4.28
Course expires on: 11/15/2026
Included in subscription
Description
Learn what environmental product declarations (EPDs) are—plus how to write them, how to read them, and how to they can be integrated into your work to reduce the embodied carbon impacts of a project. Get familiar with the Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3) tool, including its applications and the limitations posed by available EPDs. Learn what it takes to create an EPD—whether you’re a manufacturer or an advocate—and learn what to focus on when you’re deciphering EPDs that others have written. Get introduced to the concept of biogenic carbon and how biogenic carbon in EPDs can help you to select carbon-smart materials.
Course expires 11/14/2026
Learning Objectives
Define the terms “Environmental Product Declaration (EPD)” and “Life Cycle Assessment (LCA),” and explain the relationship between the two concepts.
Use the Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3) tool in order to determine the embodied carbon—and resultant environmental impact—of a project.
Explain how biogenic carbon is calculated in EPDs and identify materials with positive biogenic carbon content to reduce the net carbon footprint of a building.
Identify which information in an EPD will help one determine the embodied carbon of a material or product and its impact on a project.
Mikhail Davis is Director of Technical Sustainability at Interface. He is responsible for advancing Interface’s globally recognized Mission Zero and Climate Take Back commitments in the Americas by building internal leadership capacity and creating external partnerships that shift the market toward sustainability. He also chairs the LEED Materials & Resources Technical Advisory Group for the US Green Building Council. Previously, he served as manager to environmental icon David Brower and spent five years with Blu Skye Sustainability Consulting building sustainable business strategies for Fortune 500 companies. He holds a B.S. in Earth Systems from Stanford University and is a certified Biomimicry Specialist.
Since 1984, Kalin Associates has prepared specifications for over 4,000 projects worldwide, over 600 Massachusetts MGL Chapter 149 and MGL Chapter 149A public bid projects, 300 projects seeking sustainable design certifications (LEED, Living Building Challenge, Well, Passivhaus), master specifications for over 500 building product manufacturers, and design standards for many public agencies, universities and trade associations.
Mark Kalin lectures frequently on sustainable design, specifications, and the integration of specifications and BIM.
He is the author of the original GreenSpec and founder of the Sustainable Facilities Practice Group of the Construction Specifications Institute.
Chris Magwood is obsessed with helping reverse climate change by making carbon-storing buildings that are also healthy, beautiful, efficient and inspiring. Chris is currently the executive director of The Endeavour Centre, a not-for-profit sustainable building school in Peterborough, Ontario. The school runs a full-time certificate programs – Sustainable Building and Design – and hosts dozens of hands-on workshops annually.
In 2019, he helped to establish Builders for Climate Action, which will be rolling out a set of tools and policy options to help governments, designers and builders reverse climate change with their buildings.
Chris has authored seven books on sustainable building, including Essential Sustainable Home Design (2017). He is co-editor of the Sustainable Building Essentials series from New Society Publishers, and recently, he contributed a chapter to the book The New Carbon Architecture. In 1998 he co-founded Camel’s Back Construction, and over eight years helped to design and/or build more than 30 homes and commercial buildings, mostly with straw bales and often with renewable energy systems.
Chris has completed an MA at Trent University. His thesis, Opportunities for Carbon Removal and Storage in Building Materials which was published in the fall of 2019.
Chris is an active speaker and workshop instructor in Canada and internationally.
Jesce is a designer at Perkins&Will and a leader in embodied carbon advocacy. She approaches emissions reduction from a whole-systems perspective, with interest in carbon sequestration and innovation. She pursues research alongside design via her work as a Living Futures Ambassador, member of the Carbon Leadership Forum Community, and member of Perkins&Will’s Material Performance and Building Technology labs.