Low-VOC products, EPDs and the rest: researching sustainable building products
Sustainability requirements arrive as a list of documents the product has to have. Here is what each one proves, and how to find products that actually carry them.
What the project is asking for
A sustainability requirement in a specification is almost always a documentation requirement: the product must carry a certification, a declaration or a tested value that a rating system, a code or an owner’s standard recognizes. The research question is not whether a product is “green” but whether it holds the specific document the project credits, current and in the product’s name.
The documents that answer it
- Low-emitting certifications — third-party certification that a product’s emissions, measured to a recognized test method, fall under a program’s limits; the common requirement for interior finishes, adhesives and furnishings.
- Environmental product declarations (EPDs) — a verified report of a product’s life-cycle impacts against a product category rule; required by many rating systems and increasingly by owners and jurisdictions.
- Health product declarations and material ingredient reports — disclosure of what a product is made of, to a standard format, for rating-system credits on material transparency.
- Recycled and bio-based content — manufacturer-stated and, where required, third-party-verified percentages.
- Regional and responsible sourcing — certifications of origin and chain of custody for wood and other materials.
- Energy and water performance — tested values for products whose operation the rating system credits.
What to check before you specify
- 01The document is for this product — the certificate or declaration names the exact product and line, not the brand or a related product.
- 02It is current — certifications and EPDs expire; the valid-through date is on the document.
- 03It matches the credit — the rating system version and credit the project is pursuing accept this document type and this program.
- 04The values are at the specified condition — VOC content at the applied condition, emissions at the tested loading, impacts per the declared unit.
- 05The document is on file — a link on a product page is not a submittal; the PDF goes in the project record.
Researching it with Gaudi Pro
Ask for the product and the document together: “low-VOC resilient flooring with a current EPD for a school corridor.” Gaudi Pro returns the products that fit, cited to the manufacturer’s data sheet and the documents it publishes, with a confidence indicator on each result. Start free