Everyone has the right to live in a supportive environment. In this regard, environmental requirements have sharply increased in recent years. For example, in Europe, the green goods market in 2000 was 10.3 billion euros, by 2009 it had risen to 56 billion euros, and in 2015 it is projected to reach 114 billion euros. Therefore, in Russia, the importance of the ecological component of construction products and materials is constantly increasing.
There are three types of voluntary environmental certification in the world, the requirements for them are defined by the international standards ISO 14021 (type I), 14024 (type II) and 14025 (type III). They differ in the assessment criteria and the degree of involvement of an independent (third) party in the process. Type III is an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD).
Type III environmental declarations are based on data from a complete product life cycle assessment. At its core, it is a comprehensive report on the environmental performance of all constituents of a product, including manufacturing process, reuse and recyclability, prepared by the manufacturer and verified by a third party. It is described by the ISO 14025 standard, which necessarily provides for an audit by an independent accredited specialist and registration of the declaration in an international database.
Such detailed information is usually required by professionals: architects, designers - specialists who are familiar with the characteristics of building materials, can evaluate them, for example, compare the EPD of several materials and choose the best one for use in the project.
International practice confirms that if a company is focused on the B2B market, in particular, to participate in green construction projects certified according to the LEED or BREEAM systems, then it is the type III environmental declaration that provides more opportunities.
EPD is gaining more and more popularity in the world building materials markets, despite the fact that the mechanism for developing such a document is rather complicated. This type of certification involves several stages. The first stage is the definition and approval of PCR (Product Category Rules) or product category rules - requirements for a particular group of products, which are determined by industry representatives and undergo peer review. This is followed by the preparation of a life cycle report (LCA) and only after that the declaration itself is drawn up directly. It is then assessed by an independent accredited auditor and enrolled in one of the official EPD programs (IBU, EPD International, etc.). If at least one of the listed conditions is not met, such a declaration may not be called EPD and be considered along with other EPDs registered in the official international EPD databases.
But manufacturers of building materials more and more often go to these costs of time and money, because the presence of the ecological component of the product:
- helps designers and architects to effectively select the highest quality materials for construction;
- helps to create a truly safe and comfortable living environment;
- can be actively used by PR-services of companies to report on environmental achievements of architects or developers.
Unfortunately, there is no legal definition of environmental certification in Russia yet. Despite this, the environmental aspect is increasingly playing an important role in the selection of priorities for design and construction organizations.
EQUITONE panels are environmentally friendly and durable material. They pose no danger to human health, water, air and soil, are recyclable and can be disposed of without pretreatment due to their mineral ingredients.
This product is made from a special material called fiber cement, which is made from cement, mineral fibers and sand. In the manufacture of boards, these components are mixed with water and cellulose.
Thanks to cellulose fibers, facade panels gain strength and super elasticity.
Fiber cement panels differ:
- durability of service life: retain their operational and aesthetic qualities for more than 50 years;
- high level of fire resistance: manufacturers use a special manufacturing technology, it does not ignite and does not spread flame;
- increased strength properties;
- frost resistance and moisture resistance;
- maximum comfort of installation;
- and environmental safety.
The presence of environmental product declarations (EPDs) is an indisputable argument in favor of materials manufactured under
the EQUITONE trademark.
Facade panels made of EQUITONE fiber cement by the Belgian company ETERNIT have been well known on the European building materials market for more than a hundred years, and EQUITONE fiber cement panels appeared in Russia at the end of the nineties.
In Russia, EQUITONE fiber cement panels appeared in the late nineties. There are already residential buildings in Kaliningrad with facades from Belgium, a hospital in Murmansk, an airport in Nadym, a school in Yakutia. And during the construction of the TTK in Moscow, the walls of seven motor transport tunnels were faced with EQUITONE fiber cement panels.
The new generation EQUITONE panels for ventilated facades are used in multi-storey construction and are manufactured using the most modern technologies. The color palette of EQUITONE slabs - from pure gray and graphite to dull shades of burgundy, purple, green and blue - is several dozen color options and combinations for finishing both facades and entrance groups of objects.
