RESTON, Va. — The Brick Industry Association (BIA) announces that clay brick can now contribute toward fulfillment of Materials and Resources requirements in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) v4.0 and v4.1 for projects pursuing LEED certification.
A new United States-Canada Industrywide Clay Brick Environmental Product Declaration (Brick Industrywide EPD) has been completed, third-party certified and published, reflecting data associated with the manufacture of units that comply with nearly every currently active ASTM clay brick specification. The full EPD can be viewed here.
The Brick Industrywide EPD qualifies for use in the Building Product Disclosure and Optimization –Environmental Product Declarations credit as a Type III EPD, conforming to ISO 14025 and ISO 21930 with a cradle to gate scope. The requirements of this credit can be viewed here.
“The new EPD provides evidence of clay brick's sustainable benefits and allows designers to further recognize clay brick's role as a major element in sustainable design and construction,” said BIA President Ray Leonhard.
Products from an industrywide EPD are valued by LEED v4.1 as one (1) whole product for the purposes of the credit achievement calculation, whereas LEED v4.0 awards a value of one-half (1/2) for these products. A total of 20 products are required on a project to receive this credit.
The Brick Industrywide EPD represents the average environmental impact of clay brick production in the U.S. and Canada. The data for the EPD captures 32% of 2018 brick production submitted by 13 different manufacturers from plants in 14 states and provinces in the U.S. and Canada. The range of data includes brick formed by the stiff-mud and soft-mud processes and includes brick made in tunnel and periodic kilns.
Participating BIA manufacturers include Acme Brick Company, The Belden Brick Company, Bowerston Shale Company, Brampton Brick, Inc., Endicott Clay Products Co., General Shale, Inc., Glen-Gery Corporation, Hebron Brick Company, Lee Brick & Tile Company, Meridian Brick LLC, Meridian Brick Canada, Ltd., Pine Hall Brick, Inc. and Statesville Brick Company.