The Pharos Project is a project of the Healthy Building Network. HBN is:

In Vermont:
Melissa Coffin, Bill Walsh

In California:
Tom Lent

In Washington, DC:
Larry Kilroy, Sarah Gilberg, Sarah Pickell, Susan Sabella

In Maine:
Jim Vallette

HEALTHY PAINTS PART 1: PAINT INDUSTRY DRIVES TOWARD ZERO VOCS – WILL CERTIFICATIONS CATCH UP?

 

Low-VOC labels and certifications abound on the paint shelves today. What do they all mean?  Not necessarily what you think. 

First, let’s look at the certifications.  Green Seal, EcoLogo, CRGI GreenWise and MPI Green Performance all base their certifications on VOC content – and 50 grams/liter (g/l) is the magic number.  Almost every single one of the certifications sets 50 g/l as the maximum VOC content for flat sheen paints. (Flat sheens are primarily for ceilings and walls, with a matte look and are the least scrubbable of the sheens).

The consensus goes out the window for other sheens, such as semi-gloss, gloss, satin or eggshell (each preferable for different areas/parts of a building, depending on need for moisture resistance, scrubbability, and/or shine).  MPI holds its threshold to 50 g/l for all sheens, while GreenSeal and CRGI allow up to 100 g/l for the non-flat sheens.  EcoLogo has a more complex set of criteria, limiting interior non-flat paints to 100 g/l, 125 g/l for exterior non-flat sheens and 150 g/l for gloss sheens. 

Some of the relevant government standards are running ahead of the third party certification programs. Since 2008, the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) has mandated a standard maximum VOC content of 50 g/l for flat and non-flat paints/coatings used in buildings in Southern California.  The SCAQMD standard is used by the LEED certification system as the standard for credits in its certification program.

Meanwhile, in many cases, the paint industry is ahead of both the certifications and standards.  All of the 23 semi-gloss paints (non-flat) Pharos evaluated as of June 8, 2010 have VOC content less than 50 g/l – and hence meet the lowest current standard.  But they don’t stop there.  Almost three quarters of those paints (17) have less than half the allowed VOC content (that is less than 25 g/l). More than half (13) are close to or at zero VOC content (with 5 g/l or less).  Clearly the 50 g/l and higher thresholds of the standards and certifications are needlessly high and the discerning specifier can hold out for much better paint specifications.

You can do better than the certifications and standards by using the Pharos scoring filter to find paint products with lower VOC content in the Pharos Building Products Library.  Setting the filter to a minimum VOC score of 6 will only display those products with VOC content of 25 g/l or less.  A minimum VOC score of 7 will limit the display to those paints with true zero VOCs.*  Despite standards and certification programs, there is no need to accept paint with VOC content even close to 50 g/l anymore. 

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*“True zero VOCs” here refers to the fact that most VOC disclosures by manufacturers only include the VOCs that contribute to smog formation. Other VOCs are exempt even though they may have health effects. To get a VOC score of 7 a product must be known to have no VOC including these exempt VOCs, See Sorting Out The VOCs for more about this issue.

Tom Lent is a researcher with the Pharos Project and the policy director of the Healthy Building Network.

Comments

There are 3 comments.

  
call it what it is. if it has vocs after the pigmentation is added, declare it. it gets tiring to read flase advertisement (marketing) when the paint manufacturers know that if the cliets knew what it really has, it would call it differently. LEED needs to catch up and remove the blinders quickly...

  
DCA makes some important points that bear discussion here. On LEED & SCAQM: The draft LEED for Healthcare references the most up to date SCAQMD rules. LEED NC (for New Construction) and most of the other LEED tools reference the most up to date SCAQMD standard for adhesives and sealants but reference an out of date version of the GreenSeal standard for paints and an out of date SCAQMD standard for primers (as well as clear wood finishes, floor coatings, stains and shellacs). On tints adding VOC: Indeed tints can be important VOC contributors as well as we discussed in a previous blog (http://www.pharosproject.net/index/blog/mode/detail/record/33/beware-the-tints). VOC free tints offered by some manufacturers can avoid 50-100 grams of VOCs per liter for the deepest of colors. Additionally, a base intended to support deeper tints sometimes has significantly higher VOC content than the white base. (http://www.pharosproject.net/index/blog/mode/detail/record/33/beware-the-tints)

  
The comment "The SCAQMD standard is used by the LEED certification system as the standard for credits in its certification program." is untrue. LEED still relies on outdated standards well above SCAQMD rules and are in fact the least stringent VOC rules of any third party "green" organization. That you make no mention of VOC levels post tinting is puzzling since a "0" VOC product can easily exceed 100 gpl after tinting in a deep color. To date, only Greenseal even considers the impact of colorant on VOC levels but even then, they are too generous. The use of exempt solvents in interior products is insignificant compared to the added VOC from conventional universal colorants.

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