Transparency Catalog

LCA & material health results & interpretation EcoPower® Toilet Flush Valve TET1UA

Scope and summary

Cradle to gate
Cradle to gate with options
Cradle to grave

Functional unit

One flush valve for toilets in an average U.S. commercial environment for 10 years. The period of 10 years is modeled as the period of application based on the average technical lifespan for commercial applications. The economical lifespan of commercial applications can be longer or shorter due to aesthetic replacements or more intense use. The implication is that the LCA model assumes that the application ends at year 10 and that the materials will be treated in an end-of-life scenario.

Reference service life: 10 years

Data reporting period: 2016

Default use phase scenario

10 years of service in an average U.S. commercial environment in combination with a toilet with 1.0 gallon/use, 51 uses/day, and 260 days/year resulting in 132,600 gallons of water.

What’s causing the greatest impacts

All life cycle stages

The use and production stages are both important and dominate the results for all impact categories. The impact of the use stage is mostly due to the embedded energy arising from acquisition, treatment and distribution of the water used during the use of the toilet for which the valves are installed. The production stage itself has a significant contribution to eutrophication (mostly from emissions from copper mining), non-carcinogens (emissions from the production of coal, copper and zinc) and ecotoxicity (mostly from the disposal of steel slags and bottom ashes, as well as from barium emissions to water due to the extraction processes of natural gas).

The recovery stage includes recycling processes and benefits by preventing the need to produce primary materials. Recycling is a relevant factor for some of the impact categories, offsetting a portion of the impacts caused by production. Additionally, the delivery of the product to the construction/installation site, the construction/installation processes, the processes for dismantling the product and final waste treatment during the end of life stage do not have a significant impact.

Production stage

Bronze and stainless steel parts, together with the printed wiring board, have significant contributions to the impact categories. The stainless steel material is relevant to the carcinogenics category. The electroplating process is a major contributor to the ozone depletion category while the die casting process is relevant to the ecotoxicity and non-carcinogenics categories. Additionally, polishing and potting have a somewhat significant processing contribution to the results. Transport via oceanic freighter appears as a relevant contributor to the fossil fuel depletion and smog categories. The remaining parts and processes contribute between 3% and 15% to the overall impacts in the rest of the categories.

Sensitivity analysis

There are no sensitivity results that lead to variations greater than 10% in the LCA results.

TOTO PeoplePlanetWater™ programs improving environmental performance

TOTO’s EcoPower® products are powered by the force of running water.
The electronic and mechanical components are programmed and designed to allow water flow and accurate flush volume only when needed.
Water consumption is reduced in the use phase due to superior flushing performance.

See how we make it greener

LCA results

Life cycle stage	Production	Construction	Use	End of Life	Recovery
Information modules: Included \| Excluded *Installation and deconstruction/demolition are mostly manual. The toilets and/or urinals should not need repair, maintenance or replacement during the modeled life time. Reuse and energy recovery are not modeled for sanitary fittings.	A1 Raw Materials	A4 Transportation/ Delivery	B1 Use	C1 Deconstruction/ Demolition	D Reuse, recovery and/or recycling
	A2 Transportation	A5 Construction/ Installation	B2 Maintenance	C2 Transportation
	A3 Manufacturing		B3 Repair	C3 Waste processing
			B4 Replacement	C4 Disposal
			B5 Refurbishment
			B6 Operational energy use
			B7 Operational water use

SM Single Score

Learn about SM Single Score results

Impacts per 10 years of service	31.81 mPts	0.14 mPts	32.38 mPts	0.02 mPts	-1.50 mPts
Materials or processes contributing >20% to total impacts in each life cycle stage	Bronze and zinc parts together with the printed wiring board in addition to manufacturing processes such as die casting and electroplating.	Transportation of the product to installation site or consumer and disposal of packaging.	Volume of water use during the operation of the product and the embedded energy use (such as electricity) in the water used.	Transport to waste processing, waste processing and disposal of material flows transported to a landfill.	Plastic and metal components' recycling processes.

TRACI v2.1 results per one flush valve

Life cycle stage	Production	Construction	Use	End of Life	Recovery

Ecological damage

Impact category	Unit
Acidification	kg SO₂ eq Kilograms of Sulfur Dioxide equivalent Acidification processes increase the acidity of water and soil systems and causes damage to lakes, streams, rivers and various plants and animals as well as building materials, paints and other human-built structures.	1.65E+00	146.E-02	2.34E+00	2.17E-03	-8.72E-02
Ecotoxicity	CTU_e Comparative Toxic Units of Ecotoxicity Ecotoxicity causes negative impacts to ecological receptors, and indirectly, to human receptors through the impacts to the ecosystem.	4.73E+02	3.23E+00	1.55E+02	2.18E-01	-1.83E+01
Eutrophication	kg N eqKilograms of Nitrogen equivalent Eutrophication is the enrichment of an aquatic ecosystem with nutrients (nitrates and phosphates) that accelerate biological productivity (growth of algae and weeds) and an undesirable accumulation of algal biomass which impacts industry, agriculture, drinking, fishing and recreation and causes death of fish and shellfish, toxicity to humans, marine mammals and livestock, and reduces biodiversity.	1.10E+00	1.45E-03	2.57E-01	2.28E-04	-2.09E-02
Global warming (Embodied carbon)	kg CO₂ eqKilograms of Carbon Dioxide equivalent Global warming is an average increase in the temperature of the atmosphere near the Earth’s surface and in the troposphere, which can contribute to change in global climate patterns and is caused by the increase of the sources of greenhouse gases and decrease of the sinks due to deforestation and land use. GW leads to problems in human health, agriculture, forest, water source and damage to species and biodiversity as well as coastal areas.	8.72E+01	1.63E+00	4.49E+02	2.70E-01	-5.50E+00
Ozone depletion	kg CFC-11 eq Kilograms of Trichlorofluoromethane equivalent Ozone depletion is the reduction of ozone in the stratosphere caused by the release of ozone depleting chemicals. Ozone depletion can increases ultraviolet B radiation to the earth which can adversely affect human health (skin cancer and cataracts and immune-system suppression) and other system (marine life, agricultural crops, and other vegetation) and causes damage to human-built materials.	6.34E-06	3.59E-09	2.03E-05	3.22E-08	-3.89E-07

Human health damage

Impact category	Unit
Carcinogenics	CTU_h Comparative Toxic Units of Human cancerous toxicity Carcinogens have the potential to form cancers in humans.	2.45E-06	1.83E-08	9.22E-06	2.52E-09	-1.75E-07
Non-carcinogenics	CTU_h Comparative Toxic Units of Human non-cancerous toxicity Non-Carcinogens have the potential to causes non-cancerous adverse impacts to human health.	2.87E-04	1.71E-07	3.80E-05	1.78E-08	-1.27E-05
Respiratory effects	kg PM_2.5 eqKilograms of Particulate Matter equivalent which are smaller than or equal to 2.5 micrometers in diameter Particulate matter concentrations have a strong influence on chronic and acute respiratory symptoms and mortality rates.	2.10E-01	2.60E-04	1.58E-01	2.32E-04	-1.29E-02
Smog	kg O₃ eqKilograms of Ozone equivalent Smog formation (photochemical oxidant formation) is the formation of ozone molecules in the troposphere by complex chemical reactions which are influenced by ambient concentrations of oxides of nitrogen (NOx), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), the mix of organic compounds (OCs), temperature, sunlight and convective flows. Ozone concentrations in the Earth’s atmosphere above the natural trace amounts lead to detrimental impacts on human health and ecosystems.	1.05E+01	4.67E-01	2.14E+01	5.82E-02	-9.74E-01

Resources depletion

Impact category	Unit
Fossil fuel depletion	MJ surplus Mega Joule surplus Fossil fuel depletion is the surplus energy to extract minerals and fossil fuels.	4.67E+01	2.33E+00	2.07E+02	4.52E-01	-4.57E+00

References

LCA Background Report
TOTO Sanitary Fittings Products LCA Background Report (public version), September 2017

SM Transparency Report Framework
Part A: LCA Calculation Rules and Background Report Requirements v2017 (compliant with ISO14040-44 and ISO14025)
Part B: Product Group Definition – Commercial Flushometer Valves

Transparency Reports™ / environmental product declarations enable purchasers and users to compare the potential environmental performance of products on a life cycle basis. They are designed to present information transparently to make the limitations of comparability more understandable. TRs/EPDs of products that conform to the same PCR and include the same life cycle stages, but are made by different manufacturers, may not sufficiently align to support direct comparisons. They therefore, cannot be used as comparative assertions unless the conditions defined in ISO 14025 Section 6.7.2. ‘Requirements for Comparability’ are satisfied.