Extending the ILCD Format to Support Environmental Product Declarations of Construction Products

Abstract

The German Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR) is publishing a database of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for construction materials and components, the KOBAU.DAT. The data format is based on the European Commission s International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) data format, which has been extended to fit the specific needs of this application. With the new EN 15804 standard for Environmental Product Declarations for construction products, the KOBAU.DAT as well as the underlying data format needed to be revised to comply with the new standard. In order to make it easier for software tool developers to adapt tools to the EPD data format, it is desired to make the EPD format as much as possible compatible with the ILCD format. In this paper, it is bescribed how the ILCD data format can be used with only a few minor additions to describe Environmental Product Declarations for construction products according to EN 15804.