30 June 2026
The Future of Clean Air: Aligning with Eurovent in a Global Sustainability Perspective: What Attributes of a Filter Are Important?
Using EcoStatic® Technology to Meet and Exceed Eurovent Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) Standards
Introduction: The Shift Toward Verifiable Sustainability
Building owners and HVAC engineers increasingly require independently verified environmental data rather than general manufacturer sustainability claims. Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) are rapidly becoming the preferred method for comparing competing filtration products. This paper explains how the Eurovent EPD methodology evaluates air filters and examines the performance of EcoStatic® media against those strict criteria.
1. Executive Summary
The air filtration industry is transitioning from a narrow focus on capture efficiency and initial cost toward full lifecycle environmental accounting. The 2026 Eurovent Guide on Environmental Product Declarations for Air Filters formalises this shift, establishing a standardised framework built on five pillars:[1]
i. Production Impact (A1–A3): The environmental burden of raw materials, manufacturing, and distribution.
ii. Electricity Consumption (B6): The indirect contribution of average filter air resistance to operational energy use and Scope 2 emissions.
iii. Service Life (B4): Real-world durability dictating replacement frequency and cumulative environmental load.
iv. Indoor Air Quality Benefits: The positive health impact of reducing harmful particulate matter, formally recognised in EPD impact categories.
v. End-of-Life Circularity (C1–C4): Low-impact disposal and material recyclability.
Available performance data indicate that Lanaco’s EcoStatic product line aligns strongly with all five pillars. Through the use of a biogenic wool base material sourced from the Astino® programme in New Zealand, combined with a triboelectric depth-loading fibre structure, EcoStatic optimises production emissions, operational energy, and end-of-life performance simultaneously.
2. The Eurovent 2026 Framework
An EPD is a standardised, independently verified document reporting a product’s environmental impact across its life cycle, including Global Warming Potential (GWP), acidification, eutrophication, and particulate matter emissions. EPDs follow ISO 14025 and are underpinned through Life Cycle Assessments governed under ISO 14040/14044.
Why Air Filters Require Specific Evaluation
The Eurovent Guide makes a critical distinction: air filters are consumables, not permanent building components. This has profound implications:
• Replacement frequency: Filters typically last 6 to 12 months, whereas buildings last 50+ years. Dozens of replacements occur, each carrying production, distribution, and disposal impacts.
• Indirect energy impact: Filter pressure drop directly dictates fan electricity consumption.
• Variable use conditions: Use-phase impacts vary across buildings, prompting Eurovent to specify scenario-based data in a mandatory EPD annex.
| Stage | Main Modules | What it Represents for Filters | Eurovent Pillar |
| Product | A1–A3 | Raw materials, transport, and manufacturing | Pillar I: Production Impact |
| Use | B1, B4, B6 | Operational energy drop, service life, and PM/VOC filtration benefits | Pillar II, III & IV: Energy, Service Life & IAQ |
| End of Life | C1–C4, D | Disposal footprint and circular recycling potential | Pillar V: Circularity |
Table 1: Eurovent Five Pillars mapped against EN 15804 Lifecycle Modules to reflect short-term consumable filtration lifecycles
3. Pillar I: Production & Material Impact (Modules A1–A3)
The Conventional Challenge
Most air filters use synthetic media, primarily PP meltblown or electret nonwovens, derived from petrochemical feedstocks. Standard PP meltblown carries a cradle-to-gate carbon footprint of approximately +3 kg CO₂e/kg. Over a building’s lifespan, this burden repeats with every filter change.
The EcoStatic® Approach: Biogenic Carbon Storage
EcoStatic incorporates Astino® wool, a biogenic material. Through photosynthesis, pasture grasses capture atmospheric CO₂, which sheep then convert into keratin protein.
Based on ISO 14067 calculations, EcoStatic® media exhibit negative cradle-to-gate GWP values when including biogenic carbon storage reported by EN 15804 A2 requirements.
Calculated Cradle-to-Gate Carbon Footprint:
• EMP-055P16 (EcoStatic®): -4.46 kg CO₂e/kg
• EMP-100P16 (EcoStatic®): -0.65 kg CO₂e/kg
• Standard PP Meltblown or Synthetic Tribo: +3 kg CO₂e/kg
Astino® wool originates from New Zealand’s Southern Lakes region, an area characterised with low-intensity pastoral farming and an electricity grid operating on ~82% renewable generation. Within EPD reporting, this provides a Carbon Handprint that offsets impacts in subsequent lifecycle stages.
4. Pillar II: Impact on Electricity Consumption (Module B6)
Operational Energy Mechanics
The Eurovent Guide identifies operational energy as a dominant dimension of filter environmental performance. While filters are passive components, their resistance to airflow dictates the power demand placed on HVAC fans. Crucially, pressure drop increases by accumulating dust, making the time-averaged pressure drop over the entire service life the defining metric for energy consumption.
Standardised Energy Calculation Methodology
Annual filter-related fan energy can be calculated using the Eurovent 4/21 framework:[2]
W = (Qv x ΔP x t) / (η x 1000)
Assessment Assumptions:
• Airflow (Qv): 0.944 m³/s
• Operating Hours (t): 6000 h/a
• System Fan Efficiency (η): 0.5 (50%)
• Pressure Drop (ΔP): Evaluated as the life-average resistance.
The EcoStatic® Advantage
Conventional surface-loading media accumulate particles on the upstream face, forming a dense layer that rapidly increases pressure drop. In contrast, EcoStatic utilises a depth filtration architecture. The open 3D fibre matrix captures particles throughout its full thickness via mechanical interception and triboelectric attraction, maintaining a lower average pressure drop across the loading curve.
At equivalent efficiency ratings, EcoStatic demonstrates initial pressure drops 50 to 70% lower than competing synthetic electrets. When modelled using the stated assumptions, a reduction of 10 Pa in average pressure drop translates directly into ~31.8 kWh of avoided energy consumption per filter annually. For a commercial building operating hundreds of filters, this translates directly to significantly lower operational electricity demand and reduced Scope 2 emissions.
5. Pillar III: Service Life & Dust Holding Capacity (Module B4)
Determining Replacement Frequency
A filter requiring replacement every six months instead of twelve effectively doubles its lifecycle production impact, transport burden, and waste generation. Service life is determined by Dust Holding Capacity (DHC), representing the total particulate mass a filter can hold before reaching a terminal pressure drop.
Measured Performance
ASHRAE standard testing demonstrates that EcoStatic achieves approximately 40% higher DHC compared to conventional synthetic electrets of equivalent efficiency.
Quality Factor
Quality Factor (Qx) captures the relationship between high filtration efficiency and low pressure drop. While Eurovent does not directly use Qx in EPDs, a higher Qx correlates strongly with a lower annual energy classification. Testing under ISO 16890 conditions indicates EcoStatic achieves a QF exceeding 800, compared to values of ~350 for premium synthetic electrets and ~200 for standard meltblown media.
6. Pillar IV: Health & Indoor Air Quality
Particulate Matter Reduction (Eurovent Core Scope)
The Eurovent Guide formally recognises positive health impacts through PM removal, referencing SETAC-UNEP modelling methodology. EcoStatic provides initial ePM1 and ePM2.5 performance, achieving up to 99% efficiency at 0.3 µm and final ePM10 performance.
Synthetic electrets can degrade in charge under high humidity conditions, but the intrinsic triboelectric mechanism within EcoStatic maintains robust charge stability. This ensures EPD efficiency claims remain valid under real-world HVAC conditions.[3]
Beyond the Framework: Reactive Adsorption of VOCs
Conventional filter media provide negligible intrinsic chemical binding capacity for common VOCs without the addition of separate adsorbents like activated charcoal. While gas-phase chemical adsorption falls outside the current primary particulate scope of the Eurovent air filter EPD framework, EcoStatic offers an uncredited real-world bonus via its natural keratin protein chemistry:
• Formaldehyde: Amino groups form covalent methylene bridges.[4]
• Ammonia: Carboxyl groups form ammonium-carboxylate salts.
These chemical bonds are irreversible under normal HVAC operating conditions, positioning the media as a multi-functional indoor air quality solution addressing both particulates and gaseous pollutants simultaneously.
7. Pillar V: End-of-Life & Circularity (Modules C1–C4)
The Disposal Burden
Billions of synthetic filter units enter landfills or incinerators annually. Conventional filters present challenges including non-biodegradability, microplastic generation, and the release of toxic compounds from halogenated flame retardants during incineration.
Regenerative Material Cycles
The EcoStatic EML Series is 100% USDA Certified Biobased and is made from wool and plant-based fibres. Furthermore, the high nitrogen and moisture content inherent to keratin makes the wool naturally self-extinguishing. This eliminates the need for halogenated flame-retardant coatings, ensuring safer incineration and zero microplastic soil contamination at end-of-life. The rest of the EcoStatic range is also USDA Certified Biobased with varying percentages.
Case Study: NASA Artemis Orion
The real-world reliability of this technology has been demonstrated in extreme environments. Following a comparative evaluation against alternative global filtration technologies, NASA selected EcoStatic for the Orion spacecraft on the Artemis programme. The media ability to maintain high efficiency with minimal pressure drop extended the lifecycle of the spacecraft vital catalyst cartridges from 10 minutes to 120 minutes.[5]
This exact depth-loading principle directly translates to commercial building systems. The open 3D structure that prevents premature clogging in space life-support systems delivers the extended service life and sustained energy savings required to excel under Eurovent commercial HVAC standards.
Conclusion
Historically, air filters have been evaluated primarily on efficiency and purchase price. The Eurovent EPD framework broadens that assessment to include lifecycle carbon emissions, operational energy demand, service life, health impacts, and circularity. Under this comprehensive evaluation methodology, media characteristics such as average pressure drop, durability, and embodied carbon become just as important as filtration efficiency itself.
EcoStatic has been engineered around these principles, providing a mathematically defensible reduction in both operational energy and cradle-to-gate carbon footprint. This positions it as a vital technology for organisations seeking filtration solutions strictly aligned with emerging global environmental reporting standards.
References
[1] Eurovent AISBL (2026). Guide to Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) for Air Filters. Brussels, released 31 March 2026, developed by Product Group ‘Air Filters’ (PG-FIL). https://www.eurovent.eu/publications/eurovent-guide-on-epd-for-air-filters/
• ISO 14025:2006, ISO 14040:2006, ISO 14044:2006, ISO 14067:2018, ISO 16890
• EN 15804:2012+A2:2019
• Fantke, P. et al. (2016). Global Guidance for Life Cycle Impact Assessment Indicators. SETAC-UNEP
• Lanaco Product Data: PALAS MFP 1000 HEPA tested efficiency; ISO 14067 carbon footprint; ASHRAE standardised testing for DHC.
(Limitations: Performance depends on installation quality and system design. Energy savings vary in accordance with specific operating hours and fan efficiency. VOC removal capacity depends on contaminant concentration and exposure time.