Why Is One EPD Available In The Building LCA Tools But Not In The Product LCA Tools?

Why is this EN15804:A1 EPD not available in the Product LCA tools?

The answer to this question lies in the automated quality checks we have in place which display or hide an EPD in the Product LCA tools if it does not meet certain quality requirements. If a resource is missing certain emissions in an EPD, it will not be displayed in the Product LCA tools.

While for a Building LCA project it may not matter if one project is missing e.g. the ODP or POCP, for a Product LCA calculation these emission indicators are much more important, as we are dealing with a smaller quantity of datasets we use in our assessment.

The general data QA rule in this regard is as follows. If an EPD has a mandatory indicator that has a value of 0.0 or leaves the value empty, the data set is not accepted in the Product LCA tools. 

The following results indicators require an actual numeric value, and if this is missing or 0, it will not be automatically be hidden from the Product LCA tools.

• Global Warming Potential 
• Ozone Depletion Potential 
• Acidification Potential 
• Eutrophication Potential 
• Photochemical Oxidation Potential 
• Depletion of abiotic resources (elements)
• Depletion of abiotic resources (fossil)
• Total use of non renewables
• Use of net fresh water
• Non Hazardous Waste disposed

In the below example, this EPD has values listed as 0,000, which is not meeting our quality requirements as these emissions generally are not 0.