March 23, 2021

CWC releases most current wood data

The Athena Institute has prepared six industry average product LCAs on behalf of the Canadian Wood Council.  The commodity wood products studied include: Lumber, Plywood, Oriented Strand Board, Laminated Veneer Lumber, Glulam and Wood I Joists.  The new reports replace previous LCA reports and EPDs prepared by the Athena Institute. 

The new EPDs conform to ISO 21930: 2017, the consensus standard for construction product LCA.  Additionally, the new EPDs received third party verification from Underwriters Laboratories Environment (ULE) meeting the highest standards for external verification. 

The Athena Institute will include the updated product information in the next release of the Impact Estimator for Buildings LCA software tool.

“Stakeholders in the building design and construction community are increasingly being asked to consider potential environmental and GHG impacts in their decision-making,” said Kevin McKinley, President and CEO of the CWC. “EPDs are transparent and help the end-user to identify the long-term benefits of stored carbon in wood products.”

The Canadian industry results were then combined with the United States industry results to produce North American industry average EPDs.

The current EPD release gives all user groups from architects to construction industry professionals the most accurate and up-to-date environmental impact information available.

Read more about the initiative here:  https://cwc.ca/why-build-with-wood/sustainable/green/epds/