GROHE Discloses Ecological Impact of Products with the Release of Environmental Product Declarations

Considering the fact that carbon emissions from buildings and construction constitute almost 40 percent of global carbon emissions, knowledge of a building’s environmental impact is becoming key to enable the construction industry to work towards the necessary green transformation. Accordingly, a number of states have already established national lifecycle carbon limits for new or public buildings. Some states require carbon reporting as a minimum standard, while others have generally enacted more stringent requirements for new construction projects.

Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) are considered by the European Commission as a suitable means of evaluating the sustainability of a building since the materials and products used in it significantly determine a building’s impact on the environment. In order to provide its customers with transparency regarding the ecological footprint of its products, the sanitary brand GROHE will release EPDs for 18 product groups that cover more than 600 single products by the end of October. The first batch, published at the end of July 2022, includes basin and kitchen mixers, thermostats, and shower rail sets. A second wave will follow by the end of October 2022 and will comprise special fittings, hand showers, installation systems and flush plates.

“With the launch of EPDs for a wide range of our portfolio, we offer our customers easy orientation and transparent comparison options with regard to the life cycle assessment of our products. On this basis, they can make informed statements about the environmental impact of buildings, which is often a cornerstone for sustainability certifications such as DGNB, LEED or BREEAM, or even a prerequisite for new building permits in many European cities. With increasing pressure on the construction industry to make buildings ever more sustainable, information of this kind will be a selection criterion for products in the future, on a level with price, design or quality,” says Jonas Brennwald, Leader, LIXIL EMENA.

Transparency to promote sustainable construction projects

An EPD is a comprehensive, independently verified, and registered product pass. It reports transparent and comparable data on the environmental impact of a product’s life cycle (Life Cycle Assessment). The life cycle is considered from the extraction of raw materials through to production then the use phase to disposal, including the impact of the individual transport routes. Tomas Kvillström, Leader, Commercial Regulation, LIXIL EMENA underlines how important it is to analyze a product’s entire life cycle: “We also looked at the usage phase, which has sometimes been neglected by the industry in the past. The long use phase of our products is the main driver for water and energy consumption and therefore a crucial piece of information for building management companies and hotel operators in particular. However, this knowledge is not only elementary for our customers, but also a good benchmark for us to further increase the sustainability of our value chain and products.”

Environmental Declarations are based on the international standard ISO 14025, and with regard to the construction industry EPDs are particularly based on EN 15804 for construction products, services and processes.

Significant building block in the sustainability strategy

Today, the focus for sustainable product requirements is primarily on Global Warming Potential (GWP). Through the collection and validation of EPD-relevant data, GROHE is striving to develop increasingly low-emission product strategies in the long term while continuously improving its own carbon footprint. Potential for improvement could be identified, for example, in aspects such as sourcing materials closer to the plant or strengthening GROHE’s approach to green transportation. Since 2020 all eight LIXIL fittings plants, including the plants in Hemer, Lahr, Porta Westfalica (all Germany), Albergaria (Portugal) and Klaeng (Thailand), along with Jiangmen

(China), Danang (Vietnam) and Monterrey (Mexico), where GROHE products are also manufactured, as well as the German logistics centres, are CO2-neutral. In 2021, the European outbound logistics became CO2-neutral. All fittings plants and German distribution centers have switched to green energy. The collected EPD data shows CO2 peaks and can therefore support the goal of further avoiding and reducing emissions, and also in turn minimize the share of compensation to be paid. As a brand in the LIXIL portfolio, which is a Japanese manufacturer of pioneering water and housing products, GROHE’s efforts contribute to the corporation’s goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. “To preserve our planet, we need to change the way we create our built environment. We welcome EPD as the industry’s ‘new normal’ to foster the transformation towards low environmental impact and low energy consumption projects. They are the prerequisite for sustainable, future-ready building concepts,” says Jonas Brennwald.

Cover image: GROHE Eurosmart Kitchen – Cradle-to-Cradle Certified Gold Level

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The Society of British Interior Design and the Building Research Establishment (BRE) announced the launch of the first stage of its Environmental Strategy that puts the green agenda at the heart of architecture and interior design at the recent Sustainability Conference held by the Society.

The new joint research project is the key element of the Environmental Strategy, and will provide the link between sustainable buildings and organisational and economic performance. The aim is to assess each aspect of ‘bottom line’ sustainability, where interior design provides value and long-term savings in building refurbishment or new-build fit-out.

Nicholas C Thompson, senior partner, Cole Thompson Anders architects, who chairs the Sustainability Sub-Committee for the Society of British Interior Design, said: “There’s little in the way of case study evidence specifically relating organisational performance to good sustainable design. During the research we’ll assess case studies from the Society’s members to see how the sustainability of interior design and fit-out in the UK can be improved.”

Vanessa Brady, Chairman of the Society of British Interior Design added: “However this isn’t just a knowledge-sharing exercise. We realise the opportunity to exemplify and promote the role of design professionals in sustainable regeneration helps the environment and sustain resources. There are clear value-driven benefits for all areas of bottom line sustainability: social well-being, environmental regulations and economic profitability.”

The research project, the first of its kind between the BRE and the interior design sector, was launched by Thompson at the Sustainability Conference, held at the Building Centre, London. The conference was attended by world leaders on sustainability, architecture and interior design – including the John Alker, Head of Advocacy, UK Green Building Council and Thomas Vecchione, Principal at Gensler NY.

Jon Mussett, Head of Building Design Consultancy, BRE, highlighted that the key objectives for this research are:

1. To improve the sustainability of interior architecture, design and fit-out
2. To lead by example
3. To create a universal toolkit or organisational performance matrix for professionals that can be used to assess the impact sustainable designs have on productivity, well being and economic behaviour, as well as building performance

The Society’s Environmental Strategy is based on ‘The Big Idea’ which was identified by Thompson in a collaborative project with Orion Innovations for the East Midlands Development Agency (EMDA). The second stage of this project is being taken forward by E C Harris and the BRE on behalf of the EDMA. This phase of the Environmental Strategy will be conducted over the next six months, with an ultimate aim to create a professional toolkit for the Society’s members.