The Aluminum Association released the 2017 version of Aluminum in Green Buildings – A Guide to Environmental Declarations. The updated Guidelines detail how life cycle assessments (LCA) and environmental product declarations (EPD) are awarded for green building credits in major rating systems, and what architects and designers can do to meet the requirements. 

The Guidelines, created by the Aluminum Association for the building and construction market, reflects the latest development of environmental declaration requirements in major green building codes and rating systems, including:

• LEED v4
• Green Globes 2013
• IgCC 2012
• CALGreen 2010/2012

The Guide is available on www.alumiunum.org.   

“Our industry is committed to utilizing aluminum’s many benefits to advance sustainability efforts in the building and construction sector,” said Heidi Brock, President & CEO of the Aluminum Association. “The guide’s updates will help stakeholders in every stage of the process make informed decisions regarding environmental declarations as well as what aluminum can bring to the process.”

The Guide looks at different stakeholders along the building product manufacturing value chain and how roles and responsibilities vary for each when it comes to meeting credit requirements using LEED v4, the latest version of the U.S. Green Building Council’s rating system, as an illustration. 

The updated Guidelines provide stakeholders further information crucial to producing meaningful declarations on aluminum building products.

The association released the first set of Guidelines, A Guide to Green Building Development, in 2015 at Greenbuild in Washington, D.C., which focused on guiding stakeholders to better utilize aluminum’s unique material properties and life cycle characteristics to maximize green building credits.