Labour’s Ed Miliband also warned that rented homes under the minimum EPC 'C' rating will be banned and a report from Ramboll and The Climate Group revealed that nearly half of businesses are ready to pay more for low-carbon steel.
The takeaway from this news is clear: that low-carbon strategies are the way forward. It's a cause we care deeply about, and we've worked hard over the years to develop technology that delivers whole life carbon transparency for each and every product we create.
The launch of our Dynamic EPDs for example, marked a milestone for the business but also the wider industry, as we took carbon data modelling to a new level.
To date, we’re the only aluminium-clad timber composite manufacturer capable of understanding each carbon variable within a design specification, including embodied carbon and operational carbon on a project specific basis. This includes project specific glazing which is often overlooked when it comes to EPDs. The tool is also factory specific which means that the data we share with customers relates to the windows and doors they will actually receive on-site.
However, why we decided to charter this course, isn’t about gaining market advantage, it’s responding to the needs of our customers.
Increasingly, we see requests for more detailed carbon breakdown on our products and while standard or Product Specific EPDs (Environmental Product Declarations) go some way in providing this information, in our eyes, they don’t go far enough. Product EPDs show a standard size with standard glazing and this isn’t overly useful if we want to look at embodied carbon in detail.
As a result, we’ve produced a tool that offers unparalleled carbon data accuracy, that’s unique to NorDan.
The beauty of this technology is its power to scale. Architects and developers now get precise carbon data for entire projects – data that was previously out of reach. And it all happens fast, thanks to a finely tuned algorithm, meaning specifications can be tweaked with agility.
The Dynamic EPDs are also a useful design tool because we can test a window configuration in terms of embodied and operational and compare it to another design or glazing specification to see the results.
We’ve already generated over 60,000 unique Dynamic EPDs for design projects during their testing phase, including for housing associations – a testament to its value and usefulness.
So, what’s next? As the industry gears up for greater transparency on carbon calculations, NorDan is already leading the way. Yet as we’ve seen, legislation around the carbon impact of projects is gaining pace, making the need for advanced data modelling more relevant than ever.
However, whilst the industry is playing catch up, NorDan is already helping to reduce whole life carbon on projects across the UK. By providing the in-depth, granular data that architects, developers and housing associations so desperately need, we can be sure we’re playing our part in a lower carbon future for everyone.
Looking to know more about Dynamic EPDs and how they can benefit your business? Contact our team today.
