Building product manufacturers have new opportunities with the release of HPD Open Standard Version 2.3. The new HPD Version 2.3 emphasizes advances in data quality and consistency, and automation of new data screening options.
Building product manufacturers that want to get specified for LEED, WELL, CHPs, and other green building ratings systems must have HPDs to increase their product specification opportunities. As of 2022, over 10,000+ HPD reports published to date provide valuable data about materials and substances in building products and materials. These HPDs provide specifiers with the necessary data to select products for high profile projects.
HPD Version 2.3 introduces a number of new features and refines useability for product manufacturers and project teams. The major revisions to the program include:
• Increased Material and Substance Data Transparency and Quality – Key updates to “Alternative Materials and Substances,” “Content Differences,” and “Guidance for Substance Names”. Bottomline: This provides manufacturers with a clearer picture of the data quality requirements and best practices for producing high quality HPD reports.
• Additional Listings – The “Additional Listings” section adds substance screening results for key restricted substances lists or other non-hazard listings that are complementary to the GreenScreen for Safer Chemicals, GreenScreen List Translator and HPD Hazard Warnings results already reported in HPDs. The v2.3 release adds: Cradle to Cradle Certified Product Standard Restricted Substances List (Basic Screening), Living Building Challenge (LBC) Red List, US EPA Safer Chemicals Ingredients List (SCIL), Green Science Policy Institute Six Classes, REACH Exemption List, and Perkins&Will Precautionary List. Bottomline: Manufacturers now have more opportunities to list their products substances and educate specifiers.
• Data Consistency for Special Condition Policies – HPD v2.3 revamps data-entry for Special Conditions, introducing enhanced completeness checks, better data validation, and smarter policies.
• Additional Special Conditions Policies –For some types of materials, the ability to identify and characterize substances and/or CAS RNs may be challenging. In other cases there are specific issues relating to hazard screening using CAS RN. The HPD Open Standard includes specific guidelines, or “Special Conditions,” to address these known issues. Version 2.3 adds Special Conditions in these areas: Metal Alloys, Minor Fasteners, Form-specific Hazards. Bottomline: Manufacturers have more options to address special issues with their products and provide more data to specifiers.
• Enhanced HPD Compliance and Program Pre-Check Capabilities – Product manufacturers will receive more detailed feedback on compliance of reporting with the HPD Open Standard v2.3. Program pre-check capabilities, which have been available for LEED v4, are being greatly expanded to enable pre-check for additional certification and rating programs, including LEED v4.1.
First released in 2012, the HPD Open Standard is harmonized with reporting for leading sustainability certification systems for buildings, such as LEED and WELL, and for building products, such as Cradle to Cradle Certified, Declare, GreenScreen Certified and BIFMA LEVEL. When manufacturers report their information using the HPD Open Standard, costly repetitive and duplicative reporting steps can be eliminated. By publishing an HPD report in the HPD Public Repository, manufacturers can make their detailed product information publicly available, and also electronically transmit their information to product libraries, such as mindful MATERIALS, Ecomedes, and Sustainable Minds.Building product manufacturers that have not developed and published HPDs are at risk of not getting specified on LEED projects. Product manufacturers are encouraged to develop HPDs, update older ones, and educate their product reps on how to use HPDs. Manufacturers needing any of these services should contact Elixir Environmental for a free consultation.