Smardt chillers, product range, and the EPD opportunity

Who Smardt is and where they play

Smardt builds oil‑free centrifugal chillers and related plant controls, with installs across mission‑critical environments like data centers, hospitals, and large offices. Their positioning is clear: magnetic‑bearing, oil‑free compressors for high efficiency, low maintenance, and fast restart.

The product portfolio in plain English

Smardt covers three core chiller archetypes and supporting controls.

• T‑Class air‑cooled oil‑free chillers, roughly 30 to 520 tons.
• T‑Class and V‑Class water‑cooled oil‑free chillers, roughly 45 to 3,600 tons.
• E‑Class evaporatively cooled oil‑free chillers, roughly 45 to 530 tons.
• CPECS plant optimization plus a special‑products group for bespoke heat pumps and packaged plants.

Recent launches add breadth. AeroPure AF introduces a new generation of air‑cooled oil‑free models with 72 pre‑designed configurations and low‑GWP refrigerant options, aimed at data centers and comfort cooling alike (Smardt press release, 2025). Smardt also introduced ECO AeroMod, a modular, non‑oil‑free platform that signals expansion beyond the pure oil‑free play (PR Newswire, 2025).

How many SKUs are we talking about

Reading across the ranges and size points, Smardt offers products in the dozens, and configurable combinations easily run into the hundreds. AeroPure AF alone lists 72 pre‑configured models that slot into standard tonnage bands for both data center and comfort applications (Smardt press release, 2025).

EPD coverage today

As of December 20, 2025, we could not find any public, third‑party EPDs published by Smardt for its chillers. That is a missed commercial lever because HVAC has mature PCR pathways available, including a North American Part B for water‑cooled chillers used by peers. For instance, Carrier’s AquaEdge 19DV and 19MV water‑cooled centrifugal chillers have NSF‑listed EPDs current through 2029 (NSF listings, 2024) and Trane’s Agility magnetic‑bearing water‑cooled chiller page includes a downloadable third‑party EPD (Trane, 2025).

Why the gap matters in bids

LEED projects still lean on the Materials and Resources credit for EPDs. Under LEED v4.1, teams need at least 20 qualifying products from five manufacturers, and a product‑specific Type III EPD with external verification counts as 1.5 products, which is a real multiplier for project teams trying to finish the credit on time (USGBC Credit Library, 2024). LEED v5 was ratified on March 28, 2025 and keeps disclosure while tightening outcomes on embodied and refrigerant carbon, so credible product‑level data remains table stakes (USGBC, 2025).

A likely best‑seller without an EPD

Smardt’s V‑Class water‑cooled oil‑free centrifugal line is built for high‑tonnage plants where owners expect both energy savings and documentation. Without an EPD, the line risks being sidelined on specifications that prefer or require product‑specific declarations, especially where owners want simple LEED documentation or corporate procurement screens. Meanwhile, a competing water‑cooled centrifugal like Carrier’s AquaEdge 19DV shows up with a current EPD, which can tilt submittals its way on documentation‑sensitive jobs (NSF listings, 2024).

Who Smardt meets most often

Competitive lineups on large commercial and mission‑critical projects typically include Carrier, Trane, Daikin Applied, and Johnson Controls/York. Regional alternatives like Mitsubishi Electric’s Climaveneta and Multistack appear in certain segments. Several of these brands already publish product EPDs for air‑cooled and water‑cooled chillers, which simplifies selection on EPD‑aware projects. Smardt’s oil‑free performance story is compelling, but documentation gaps can still cost wins.

What a credible EPD path looks like

The rulebook is straightforward once scoped. Pick the correct PCR Part B where it applies, align your functional unit and system boundaries, and gather a clean twelve‑month data set for utilities, materials, yields, and packaging. For brand‑new models, a prospective EPD can bridge the gap, then be updated after a full production year. The heavy lift is data wrangling across plants and suppliers. Teams that streamline this step usually move 70% faster to a publishable declaration because they avoid late rework on missing meters and BOM details.

Sustainability signals worth noting

Smardt has begun formalizing sustainability governance with policies and reporting that matter to enterprise buyers. They published a Modern Slavery Report in April 2025 and maintain a whistleblowing channel, and announced joining the UN Global Compact in December 2025. If they pair that governance with product‑level EPDs, the story will feel complete for procurement. See their Modern Slavery Report and whistleblower policy or the UN Global Compact note on their news page for details.

Bottom line for spec wins

Smardt covers the right product categories with oil‑free efficiency and has expanded model depth. The commercial unlock now is simple, measurable proof. Publishing EPDs for V‑Class and AeroPure would remove paperwork friction, protect margin on EPD‑sensitive jobs, and keep sales from getting filtered out early. Without them, great performance still risks losing to a peer that shows up with the same tonnage and a clean EPD PDF. That’s avoidable, and its definately worth fixing fast.

Sources cited in‑text

• USGBC MR credit requirements for EPD counts and weighting, 20 products minimum and 1.5 multiplier for product‑specific Type III with external verification (USGBC Credit Library, 2024) (USGBC, 2024).
• LEED v5 ratified by members on March 28, 2025 with continued emphasis on disclosure and embodied carbon outcomes (USGBC, 2025) (USGBC, 2025).
• Carrier AquaEdge 19DV and 19MV EPD listings current through 2029 on NSF’s directory (NSF, 2024) (NSF, 2024).
• Trane Agility magnetic‑bearing water‑cooled chiller page with downloadable third‑party EPD (Trane, 2025) (Trane, 2025).