Life-Cycle Assessment is a tool for analyzing the energy loads and environmental impacts associated with the various phases of the entire life cycle of a product: from the extraction of raw materials to the transformation phases, production, distribution, use and finally disposal or recycling. The LCA assessment, defined by the ISO standards of the 14040 series, is an excellent support tool for sustainable design. The drafting of this analysis, which is divided into four phases, is essential to carry out adequate improvement interventions in production processes and for the recognition of ecological labels or environmental product declarations (EDP).
dott.gallina company has chosen to update the environmental performance assessments of her products in accordance with continuous technological modernizations, making updated values available to designers, builders and architects that allow them to quantify the benefits deriving from the installation of polycarbonate paneling. In fact, in the construction sector, more and more attention is needed towards energy efficiency and environmental protection.
The sustainable construction market does not only concern those who design but above all those who produce building materials, which must comply with the increasingly high energy standards. Floors, doors, windows, insulation, bricks are all products that in the design phase, must be taken into consideration by the designer and the designer, referring to the possible scores or LEED credits related to them in order to be able to support the expected final score. what building would you like to get; whether it is a new construction or a redevelopment.
The LEED® certification is issued to the building to be understood as a global construction project. However, it is essential to accurately evaluate the individual structural components of the building, as well as the choice of place, the recovery policy of waste materials, etc ... these are all elements that will contribute to the achievement of a more or less high score depending on how many points meet the criteria imposed by the LEED® standard. The certification of the building in version 4.0 of the American protocol is based on a checklist divided into eight categories: Transport and Location (LT), Site Sustainability (SS), Water resource efficiency (WE), Energy and Atmosphere (EA), Materials and Resources (MR), Quality of indoor environments (IEQ), Innovation (I), Regional Priority (PR). The building project must have characteristics such as to achieve the maximum score for each area. The maximum achievable score is 110 points and corresponds to LEED Platinum certification. The minimum score to be certified is 40 points, corresponding to the basic LEED® certification. Talking about “LEED® certification” for a product is not correct, as only a building as a whole can obtain LEED® certification. The products and materials, however, play an important role in the certification, because they can contribute to increase the credits necessary to reach the minimum level to be able to certify a building, typically in the Materials and Resources category, but not only.
