BMWSB/BBSR have been working internationally for many years to promote sustainable construction and the application of building life cycle assessment and to harmonize the processes. The topic of life cycle assessment of buildings in particular must be considered in an international context. The method is internationally recognized and standardized; In many EU Member States, EPD programmes have been established in accordance with ISO 14025, which generate their EPDs compliant with EN 15804. For this reason, the ÖKOBAUDAT team is integrated in an international network.
InData "International Open Data Network for Sustainable Construction"
The ‚International Open Data Network for Sustainable Construction (InData)’ was founded in 2015 on the initiative of the BBSR. The InData initiative, led by the BBSR, has the main goal of harmonising the digitalisation of EPDs and life cycle assessment results in the construction sector. A common data format ensures that data is communicated in a transparent, credible and user-friendly manner.
With the ÖKOBAUDAT and the related developments, the BBSR is a pioneer and an important player in this international network. The ILCD+EPD data format, initially developed for ÖKOBAUDAT and promoted in the InData initiative, has become established internationally. The data format is being further developed by InData and conformity rules are established to ensure high data quality. The official specifications, implementation guidelines and documentation are published on the InData website at https://www.InData.network.
Members from Germany, Denmark, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Spain and Austria are currently represented in the InData group.
Contact
Should you have any questions on InData, please do not hesitate to contact Referat WB 6 Bauen und Umwelt at Bundesinstitut für Bau-, Stadt- und Raumforschung - BBSR (Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development).
Dr.-Ing. Tanja Brockmann
E-Mail: wb6(at)bbr.bund.de
International use and networking
ÖKOBAUDAT is used worldwide for LCA of buildings. Selected examples for the use in building assessment systems are Green Building Council in Denmark and LENOZ by the Ministry of Housing in Luxembourg.
Among the accepted suppliers of EPD data are also EPD programme operators from abroad, such as the Austrian Bau EPD GmbH, other European EPD programme operators are currently applying for recognition. With the European association of EPD programme operators, the ECO Platform, ÖKOBAUDAT has been exchanging information and rules since its establishment.
Standardisation
An important aspect for the BBSR as operator of the ÖKOBAUDAT is the international harmonisation and standardisation. Delegates represent the BBSR in all major standardization committees, such as CEN / TC 350 Sustainability of construction works, mastermind of EN 15804 Product Category Rules for Construction Products, or ISO / TC59 / SC17 Sustainability in buildings and civil engineering works, which, for example, develops a standard for the application of Environmental Product Declarations in Building Information Modeling (ISO / WD 22057 "Enabling use of Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) at construction works level using building information modeling (BIM)").
Research
Internationalisation is being driven forward by commissioning research projects. An important success of the research projects was the international establishment of the ILCD+EPD data format and the initiation of the InData Initiative based on this. In a follow-up project, the foundations were created for a database node in which EPD data sets can be searched for simultaneously in several databases. This research work is used, for example, in the eco portal of the ECO platform. Information on ongoing and completed research projects can be found on the Zukunft Bau page.
Conferences
Research results around the ÖKOBAUDAT are regularly presented at scientific conferences in Germany and abroad, e.g. at the regional and world conferences of the "Sustainable Built Environment" series and at the international sustainability conferences.
Language
To support international cooperation, all website content is also available in English. Since 2018 the generic datasets are fully available in English.