INDUSTRY COMMENT: BPF PIPES GROUP


fittings and ancillary components) inside a typical building, the building designer has a useful tool to make sustainable choices.


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In the second of the series of arcles by the Brish Plascs Federaon Pipes Group, Franz Huelle explains the concept of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) which is the fundamental building block of any Environmental Product Declaraon (EPD)


Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)


Life Cycle Assessment or Life Cycle Analysis is a technique to measure the environmental impacts, directly or indirectly caused by a product, associated with all stages of its life, from raw material extraction to processing, manufacture, distribution, use, repair, maintenance, disposal and recycling. It enables building designers to quantify a product’s potential environmental impact, compare it with other application- relevant products and identify the potential for improving manufacturing processes to further reduce environmental impact.


Readers will be familiar with the ISO 14000 suite of international environmental management standards which is designed to help companies manage their environmental responsibilities. Tools are provided for undertaking Life Cycle Assessment in a consistent manner over the entire lifetime of any product. Sitting beneath the ISO series is European Standard BS EN 15804 which describes in detail the process for carrying out an LCA for a construction product. Importantly all LCA studies meeting the ISO standards must be critically reviewed by an expert. For example, LCAs developed for TEPPFA,


y using independently verified LCAs which consider the entire lifecycle from extraction of raw material to end of life disposal (‘cradle to grave’) for a complete plumbing installation (pipes,


The European Plastic Pipes and Fittings Association, for hot and cold water supply have each been created by Belgian research organisation VITO and independently reviewed by Denkstatt of Austria.


More detail on the standards is given in the full Bulletin, but here we look at how an LCA is put together for a piping system.


Life Cycle Assessment of Piping Systems


LCA takes into account the impact of all inputs throughout all stages of life within a specified set of categories as illustrated. First, we consider the production of all components, including transport and processes upstream of the manufacturing stage, eg. raw material supply and energy provision.


Then construction, from transport of the complete pipe system to the building site and its installation in the building.


Third, we consider the product in-service, that is its operation as an installed pipe system, its maintenance and repair throughout its service life. Finally, we look at the end-of-life, incorporating the de-construction, reuse, demolition, recycling and disposal of the complete pipe system. Of course, pipes don’t function in isolation. To be useful to a building designer, an LCA needs to cover the entire pipe system, i.e. pipes, fittings and ancillary components inside a building, known as the ‘functional unit’. The TEPPFA LCAs for cross- linked polyethylene (PEX), polypropylene (PP), Polybutylene (PB) and multilayer pipes all use the


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Evaluating the environmental impacts of product choice for hot and cold water supply in buildings


same function unit from the entrance of a well- defined apartment to the tap. This makes it easy to compare different pipe systems and could also be used to compare plastic pipes with other materials provided the same function unit and full life cycle from cradle to grave is used for the LCA. Bulletins 1 and 2 in this series can be found on the BPF Pipes Group’s website at


www.bpfpipesgroup.com/sustainability-and-the- circular-economy/overview/ Next bulletin: Learn about the importance of environmental impacts and what the numbers really mean.


Franz Huelle is Chair of the BPF Pipes Group’s drafting panel and is also head of technical, building solutions – UK and Nordics – at Rehau UK.


Read the latest at: www.bsee.co.uk


BUILDING SERVICES & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER OCTOBER 2019 21


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