b'GREEN TIP building material can contributedoproductsincludedinindus-onefullproductifitscarbontryaveragesnowcontributea footprint is lower than compara- full product toward the environ-blebuildingmaterial(s)consid- mentallifecycletransparency eredforthesamefunction,1.5threshold, such data can be used productsifithasa10%lowerasanimportantreferencepoint carbon footprint, and two prod- foramanufacturertostrivefor ucts if it has a 20% lower carbonoptimizationthroughcontinu-footprint.ous improvement. Averaged data canalsobeusedtocompare Industry-wide EPDs facilitatecarbonfootprintsoftwosepa-optimization strategiesrate types of products within the FortileandEPDs,thebigsame product category for opti-pictureLEEDv4.1takeawaymizedspecification.Industry-issimple.Industry-wideEPDswideEPDsfacilitatebothopti-arehelpfulnow,moresothanmization strategies. everbefore.USGBChasclear- Withindustry-wideEPDsand lyemphasizedtheimportancethedirectioninwhichUSGBC ofindustry-averagedlifecyclecontinuestoevolvewithLEED, data, which is inherent to EPDs,thetileindustryremainspoised assuchdataiscriticaltowardforsustainedcontributionto optimizedenvironmentallifeLEED building projects for years cycleperformance.Notonlyto come. 32 TileLetter | August 2019'