Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Page 90 Page 91 Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96 Page 97 Page 98 Page 99 Page 100 Page 101 Page 102 Page 103 Page 104 Page 105 Page 106 Page 107 Page 108 Page 109 Page 110 Page 111 Page 112 Page 113 Page 114 Page 115 Page 116 Page 117 Page 118 Page 119 Page 120 Page 121 Page 122 Page 123 Page 124 Page 125 Page 126 Page 127 Page 128 Page 129 Page 130 Page 131 Page 132populate product information data- bases. Such databases are being used increasingly today by A&D and building life cycle experts for Building Information Modeling (BIM) and to make informed prod- uct decisions. Furthermore, the three EPDs show- case the industry’s minimal environ- mental impact. For example, the industry-wide tile EPD, though it does not itself draw conclusions or report on ceramic tile’s environmen- tal performance relevant to com- petitive surface materials, tells an interesting story when reviewed side by side with publicly available EPDs of other flooring products. When compared to other product EPDs, ceramic tile has the lowest 60-year environmental impact per square meter. Similarly, the industry-wide EPDs for mortar and grout report very low 60-year environmental impacts per installed square meter. With regard to green building, the industry-wide EPDs for North American-made tile, mortar and grout are important tools for archi- tects and specifiers who wish to use tile to satisfy green building project requirements. A product manufac- tured by any of the manufactur- ers who contributed data to these EPDs can contribute toward points and/or satisfy the criteria of virtu- ally every North American green building standard and rating sys- tem: LEED, Green Globes, NAHB National Green Building Standard, ASHRAE 189.1, International Green Construction Code, CalGreen, CHPS and GSA Facilities Standards for Public Buildings. Also, having submitted data for the industry-wide EPDs, many participating manufacturers have already or will soon start to develop and release product-specific EPDs, which could potentially qualify those products to additionally con- tribute toward points and compli- ance in green building. But, the most exciting aspect of the tile industry’s EPD trifecta? As most green building standards, codes, and rating systems provide incremental credit for each product that is addressed by an EPD, joint use of EPDs for tile, mortar, and grout means that a single tile instal- lation could potentially contribute “triple!” Moving Forward Publicly-available North American industry-wide EPDs for tile, mortar, and grout, when used together, can provide in-depth envi- ronmental data and paint a clearer picture of the life cycle environ- mental impact of a tile installation. With the transparency provided by EPDs for the main materials used to install tile, along with the multi- attribute performance thresholds of Green Squared® which have been established for several years, speci- fiers are fully equipped with the information they need to specify green tile industry products in 2016 and beyond. GREEN TIP ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 84 TileLetter | August 2016