2025 HSS SUMMIT
Session
HSS in Sustainable Construction: Policies, Impacts, and Opportunities
Description:
This session will provide a clear understanding of how Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) apply to HSS products. Participants will learn how EPDs function not only as compliance documents but also as tools for transparency and design optimization. The session will demonstrate how to evaluate HSS EPDs to extract meaningful environmental performance data and apply it to sourcing, design, and specification choices. Attendees will leave with practical knowledge on how to optimize HSS construction and promote lower embodied carbon in buildings.
Learning Objectives:
- Identify the key aspects of LCAs and EPDs as they apply to HSS products.
- Differentiate how EPDs function as tools for compliance, customer transparency, and design optimization.
- Evaluate HSS EPDs to extract environmental performance data relevant to sourcing, design, and specification decisions.
- Apply EPD data to optimize HSS construction to promote lower embodied carbon building.
PDH credits: 1.0
Speaker:
Vicki Rybl, Director of Life Cycle Assessment, WAP Sustainability Consulting
About Vicki:
Vicki is Director of Life Cycle Assessment at WAP Sustainability – a full service sustainability consulting and software development firm. She brings more than a decade of experience in life cycle assessment, environmental product declaration, green building, and renewable energy development to her work. She specializes in carbon footprinting and EPD development work and has worked in a multitude of product sectors, but extensively in the building construction realm. She has led the development of industry average and manufacturer-specific LCAs and EPDs across the steel industry in North America. She works with clients from Fortune 500 companies to start-ups to help identify environmental impacts in their manufacturing processes and supply chains, supporting decarbonization, product optimization, and sustainability storytelling. She is an active member of the American Center for Life Cycle Assessment and is a Life Cycle Assessment Certified Professional.