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Turning the tide on climate change
Description | Indicators | Scoring Criteria | Definitions | Issues
Cradle-to-gate: Life cycle term describing the entire process of the production of the product from extraction or harvesting of the raw materials (the cradle) through all intermediate processing, refinement, and fabrication processes to the final completion of manufacture of the final product ready for sale (the factory gate). If the product utilizes recycled content, the extraction phase should be considered to begin at the "harvesting" of the recyclate - that is at the point of diversion of the material to be recycled from the waste stream.
CSI section numbers: Numbering system for organizing specifications developed by Construction Specification Institute used by Pharos. See CSI MasterFormat in PharosWiki.
Emissions to air All uncontrolled product or production-related emissions, including intentional and fugitive emissions, released directly or indirectly to the outdoor air environment.
Fugitive emissions: Uncontrolled releases not caught in a capture system which are often due to equipment leaks and evaporative processes.
Greenhouse Gas: Any of the atmospheric gases that contribute to global warming through the absorption of infra-red radiation in the earth's atmosphere. Examples of greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), water vapor, and CFC's.
Global Warming: An increase in the earth's atmospheric and oceanic temperatures due to a build up of greenhouse gases in the earth's atmosphere.
Global warming gas emissions: Total emissions to air of all greenhouse gases. All gas emissions must be converted to their carbon dioxide equivalent through use of a global warming potential factor before summing.
Global warming potential (GWP): The measure of how much a given mass of greenhouse gas is estimated to contribute to global warming, typically expressed in terms of the mass of carbon dioxide resulting in an equivalent effect. A GWP is calculated over a specific period of time, usually 20, 100 or 500 years. All GWPs in the Pharos system are based on the 100 year time scale.
Estimation of global warming potential of any product is best done using established life-cycle inventories representing the manufacturing and material content of the product being evaluated. Life-cycle inventories for building products and materials are available from several sources or through the use of specialized life-cycle software. Sources of data include, but are not limited to the following:
Product class: A group of products that perform a similar function, such as flooring, roofing, siding, or windows. Product classes may encompass multiple CSI section numbers.
Product class benchmark: Each of the categories in the Pharos system depend for scoring upon a quantified material flow indicator (such as embodied water, embodied energy, or climate change gas emissions), usually derived from life cycle inventory (LCI) data, or directly from manufacturer supplied input. Scoring in these categories is determined based upon how the specific product performs relative to the established benchmark value for its product class for that material flow. The benchmark value used for that product class will be determined by Pharos staff. The average, range, and quality of data of products in the Pharos database, along with the quantity and diversity of those products are factors that will be considered during establishment of the product class benchmark. Published industry values will also be considered. The methodology for establishing the benchmark, along with all relevant values used during the establishment of the benchmark value for the product class will be listed on the Pharos website.
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