Validation

Sustainability

As the focus on sustainability expands into lighting, so does UL, working with industry to build common-sense standards and programs, allowing manufacturers to truly market product sustainability using a common rule.

UL sustainability reporting offers the pinnacle of transparency and credibility in marketing.

Services

Leveraging UL's 117 years as a well-known, credible third-party testing organization to help turn the promise of more sustainable products and processes into a reality. With consumers starting to examine the impact that their products have on the planet, UL sustainability standards help bring clarity and consistency to green lighting
products.

Environmental Product Declaration

An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) reports the environmental impact of goods or services. Also known as a Type III Environmental Declaration, EPDs are based upon an established set of Product Category Rules (PCRs) and independently verified life cycle assessment data, allowing for comparability of impacts across products in a specified category. Traditionally, EPDs disclose life cycle based environmental impact information such as the carbon footprint of a product. Depending on how category specific PCRs are written, EPDs may disclose additional relevant information including toxicity and human health impacts.

Manufacturers and associations are aiming beyond the report document to establish marketplace trust and differentiation. With each customer, UL extends its top experts, its recognizable and credible brand, its global network and its full line of sustainability services to help customers make the most of their reports and certifications.

EPD Verification and Registration: For Manufacturers

UL  offers three main registration programs for EPDs; EPD Validation and Registration, EPD Certification and Registration, and Systems EPD Verification and Registration.

• EPD Validation and Registration is offered when a manufacturer wants to disclose critically reviewed life-cycle based environmental impact information in the absence of a finalized PCR. An EPD Validation engagement also leads to the development of Product Category Rules (below).
  
• EPD Certification and Registration is offered when a manufacturer wants to disclose verified life-cycle based environmental impact information that was generated following applicable product category rules.
  
• Systems EPD Verification and Registration is offered in order to accommodate customers that want to certify and register multiple EPDs using an LCA system.  Well-managed, internal LCA and EPD processes streamline LCA data collection and EPD creation, reducing overall cost to manufacturers.

UL 106 - Sustainability for Lighting

UL announced a collaborative effort to develop a sustainability standard for luminaires in March of 2010. The first edition of this standard is expected to be released in 2011 for immediate use within the lighting industry.

This standard will be designated UL 106, Standard for Sustainability of Luminaires.

The UL standards development process encourages innovation and excellence by establishing a baseline level for environmental design and performance that can be readily adopted, as well as a progressively tiered approach that rewards environmental leadership. Products that demonstrate superior performance are recognized with a higher tier achievement.

The initial standard requirements will address entire luminaires, including reflector, aperture, outer shell and connection to a power source. The standards will be based on environmental assessment of a product's entire life cycle, from raw materials to manufacture, use and disposal. These standards will assist consumers, designers, architects and building operators in identifying more sustainable options for interior and exterior light fixtures, LED modules and related lighting components.

The requirements are based on the environmental and human health assessment of a product's entire life cycle. Sustainability factors considered in the standard are: materials, packaging, manufacturing and operations, energy efficiency of the external power supply, health and the environment, product performance and disposal. Innovative aspects will also be eligible for credits.

Points will be tiered into multiple levels, with platinum being the highest. Any product meeting this standard will have made significant gains towards becoming more sustainable

The standard is currently in draft form and is undergoing revision in response to recommendations from collaborative task groups formed under UL's Standards Technical Panel (STP) for the Sustainability of Luminaires. The STP is working to develop a consensus standard, which will replace the initial standard once developed and implemented.