Chapel Hill, NC-----The Green Standard will launch the United States' first Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) System on November 19, 2008 during the Greenbuild Conference in Boston.

The EPD launch is part of The Green Standard's BRIGHT GREEN, BRIGHT FUTURE campaign, a yearlong educational initiative to empower manufacturers and purchasers to confidently navigate the environmental landscape while making lighter footprints.  The event will be held from 5:30-7 p.m. on November 19 at Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art.

An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) has become the gold standard for communicating various aspects of a product's performance, such as life cycle impacts, human health concerns, hazardous substances, and recycled content. To meet standard 14025 of the International Standards Organization, an EPD must be based on product criteria rules that determine what data is to be captured and how it will be measured using life cycle assessment (LCA). Demand for such information has increased rapidly over the past few years, but until now, no comprehensive EPD system has been developed to meet the needs of North American manufacturers.

With the introduction of The Green Standard EPD Program, U.S. manufacturers have an opportunity to cost-effectively complete and credibly communicate life cycle information to a broad audience.  In addition to their EPD System, The Green Standard has developed the Gaia Product Profile©, an innovative tool for integrating diverse types of performance information into a single and comprehensive document.  This web-tool provides users with a layered approach to product information, enabling them to access information according to their knowledge level, project nature, and time available.

The Green Standard EPD System gives institutional and individual purchasers independent, impartial assurance of a corporation's environmental claims, providing them with a straightforward tool they can trust as the information has been validated by a qualified third party and posted by an established NGO.  The Gaia Product Profile provides members of the A & D community with a long-awaited tool:  a single document that encompasses diverse product performance information, including environmental, human health, mechanical, safety and other performance capabilities.  The "Gaia" will provide specifiers and purchasers with a summary of all of the information in a full Environmental Product Declaration Report.

"What our EPD System offers to all U.S. stakeholders is a scientifically-robust platform with a user-friendly interface encompassing a vast array of life cycle and other product performance information," says Paul Firth, vice president of technology for The Green Standard and manager the EPD System.  Firth brings to this role close to 10 years of experience with Interface Inc., primarily in the use of product life cycle assessments.  "With LCA as its foundation, our EPD system is in alignment with ISO standards and best practices globally. We are honored to have PE International as our collaborator as they have been global leaders in the development of Environmental Product Declarations for some time."

The BRIGHT GREEN BRIGHT FUTURE event on November 19 is open to all attendees of Greenbuild and other interested parties.  Through a continuous looping video presentation, guests will come to understand the value of Environmental Product Declarations and learn of manufacturers which have committed to develop EPDs in The Green Standard System in 2009.  At the event, The Green Standard will also introduce the Green Purchasing Accredited Professional Training, an intensive online certification in global best practices in green product evaluation and purchase, as well as a new membership program with special benefits.  The event will feature complimentary hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar.