EPDs Becoming Standard for Lighting
Clients in commercial and public sectors are increasingly requiring Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) as part of the tender process for lighting projects. According to sustainability leads at major European firms, specifier focus has expanded beyond energy efficiency to include a luminaire's disassembly, repairability, and material reuse potential. This shift pressures manufacturers to invest in lifecycle assessments and modular designs.
- An Environmental Product Declaration is a standardized document that reports the environmental impact of a product throughout its entire lifecycle, based on a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). EPDs for construction products, including lighting, generally follow the European standard EN 15804, which ensures they are transparent and comparable. - Green building rating systems like LEED and BREEAM award credits for projects that use products with EPDs, driving specifier demand. While LEED focuses on the number of compliant products used, BREEAM integrates EPD data into a whole-building life cycle assessment. The WELL Building Standard, focused on occupant health, also considers lighting quality, which indirectly encourages the use of high-performance, sustainable luminaires. - The EU's Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), expected to be in effect around 2026, will expand beyond energy efficiency to include requirements for durability, repairability, and recycled content. This regulation will likely mandate a Digital Product Passport to provide standardized sustainability information. - While an EPD provides a comprehensive environmental impact assessment, the CIBSE TM66 framework specifically assesses a luminaire's circular economy credentials. Created by the UK's Society of Light and Lighting, TM66 provides a standardized method for manufacturers to report on factors like repairability and material reuse, and for specifiers to compare products. - LightingEurope, representing over 1,000 manufacturers, has been instrumental in developing product-specific rules (PSR0014) for lighting EPDs. These rules help standardize the methodology, ensuring that comparisons between luminaires are based on consistent functional units, such as lumen output and lifetime. - For lighting products, the "use" stage—the electricity consumed during operation—typically accounts for the largest portion of the total environmental impact, often around 90%. However, design and material choices made during the manufacturing stages significantly influence this operational energy consumption. - The process for a manufacturer to obtain an EPD involves conducting a detailed Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), preparing the declaration according to standards like EN 15804, having it verified by an independent third party, and finally publishing it through a recognized EPD program operator. - The latest version of the core EPD standard, EN 15804+A2, became mandatory in 2022 and requires reporting on more environmental impact categories than its predecessor to better align with the EU's Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) methodology.
