Aluminum Association releases environmental product declarations for main aluminum products

The Aluminum Association, Arlington, Va., has released environmental product declarations (EPD) for various types of aluminum products. An EPD is a comprehensive, internationally harmonized report that describes the potential environmental impact of a particular product through its life cycle. EPDs now are being used to help earn LEED® credit points for green building certification under LEED V4.

The Aluminum Association partnered with PE Intl. to develop EPDs for five representative aluminum products through an industry life cycle assessment (LCA). Twenty-five aluminum companies participated in the effort and supplied data for almost all of their operational facilities. The EPDs were certified by UL Environment.

The industry has developed EPDs on hot-rolled aluminum, cold-rolled aluminum, extruded aluminum, primary ingot, and secondary ingot. The EPDs provide detailed information on major aspects of a product's potential environmental impact such as global warming, acidification, and eutrophication. The declarations will educate end users of aluminum on the metal's impact.