GreenCE Inc. has released a comprehensive education course to teach architects, interior designers, and specifiers about Health Product Declarations (HPDs). HPDs provide a standardized way of reporting the material contents of building products, and their associated health effects. HPDs can contribute points under the US Green Building Council (USGBC) LEED v4 green building rating system.

"HPDs play a significant role in LEED projects, and the top AEC firms across the country are requesting them. It's critical that the design community is educated about the health effects associated with building materials to maximize their efforts when specifying products. The HPD course will educate designers on how HPDs can help with LEED certification, and how to make better material choices," said Brad Blank, Vice-President of GreenCE, Inc.

The Health Product Declaration Collaborative (HPDC) and GreenCE, Inc. jointly developed the course entitled, The Empowered Design Professional: Using HPDs to Make Healthier Material Choices. The course is registered with the American Institute of Architects (AIA), Green Building Certification Inc. (GBCI), and the Interior Design Continuing Education Council (IDCEC). The education course is free for design professionals to take, and is available online anytime at www.greence.com.

"We are thrilled to have this course now available to the community, to provide an introduction to transparency practice using Health Product Declarations, and provide CEU credits for key programs.  We look forward to working with GreenCE to develop additional courses in the coming year," said Wendy Vittori, Executive Director of the Health Product Declaration Collaborative.

The HPD video course includes interviews with design professionals from the top sustainability focused AEC firms in the country. The education course describes how to determine if an HPD meets the criteria set by the LEED v4 rating system. In addition, the course educates design professionals on how to encourage building product manufacturers to create and publish HPDs. With the ever-increasing changes in building product technologies, education is critical to allowing design professionals to adopt these changes effectively so that new challenges can be met and unforeseen consequences can be resolved early and avoided in the future.