Integrative Analysis of Building Materials

I found this excersice helpful for that too but I was surprised to see how for the material portion HPDs are still not informative enough on the overal impact of the product. Whereas an EPD can tell you the impacts per stage, the HPD focuses on the composition only, meaning you still need to look into maintenance and cleaning guidelines, intallation manuals and things like emissions certificates to get a better understanding. 

I found the end of life human impacts category the hardest to assess with the existing industry documentation available. 

I liked how this credit allowed me to piece together the information that we were alredy gathering and informally comparing but now in a more stantardized way. 

I agree that this is a helpful exercise to unpack product EPDs and HPDs. In addition, we looked at Material Safety Data Sheets which I found informative. Environmental Data Sheets and Product Data Sheets (if available) also provide information/data needed for this credit documentation.

Agreed with Christian and Sumaiya - it forced me to read EPDs and HPDs more thoroughly, as well as create EPDs to input into our LCA since Revit/Tally has a couple standard EPDs built in, but aren't applicable all the time. Extremely time-consuming, but worth it, especially if you plan on going for the BPDO credits and have compiled a good chunk of the data/documentation needed.

What we found to be most helpful in gathering information for this Innovation credit were the Safety Data Sheets (SDS), and if the manufacturer has one, their Corporate Sustainability Reports (CSRs) for some of the more detailed asks in the worksheet.

I used EPD's, HPD's, manafacturer's websites and the SM Transparancy report to understand the possible harmful affects of the products on manufacturer's employees and installers. I also tend to look for products that are Greenguard Gold, Cradle to Cradle or Declare label certified to give me an extra layer of confidence.  

The credit allowed the design team to discuss the pros and cons of three key building products. The credit language and excel template was easy to use.

Our team has now completed this Pilot credit for the second time, this time for a Commercial Interiors project. We are finding HPD and health related information much easier to find. The process has helped us to understand a wider range of issues for material selection.