[Los Angeles] At Greenbuild 2016, held here Oct. 5-7, the Tile Council of North America (TCNA) announced UL certification of the Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for tile mortars and tile grouts made in North America. With this announcement, TCNA said building design professionals have even more reason to "think tile" and "think North American" when building green. The reasoning, TCNA said, is because virtually all green building standards and rating systems, including LEED v4, provide pathways for earning points and fulfilling criteria by using products with EPDs.
"With the grout and mortar EPDs now also completed and certified, architects, designers and building owners can inherently garner three times the credit from a single tile installation by specifying tile, mortar and grout made in North America on LEED and other green building projects," said Bill Griese, director of standards development and sustainability initiatives for TCNA.
TCNA said EPDs have become increasingly relied upon in green construction because they provide a comprehensive disclosure of the environmental impacts of a product. For example, the EPDs for North American-made tiles, mortars, and grouts show the carbon footprint of each product type, plus how much they contribute to smog formation, ozone depletion, abiotic resource depletion, acidification and eutrophication --- the environmental impact categories of greatest interest and concern in green construction.
Together, the three EPDs provide an unprecedented amount of information about the environmental impact of a full tile installation, not just one component, when North American products are selected. "This is a level of transparency not possible with other materials or with products not made in North America," said Griese. "It's exactly what green building is all about — making informed choices."