Has USGBC taken into consideration the overlap for the Low-Emitting Materials categories with v2009 (NAUF) and v4 General Emission Standard (GES) and whether or not they would allow the GES certification in lieu of NAUF construction. Due to the CARB requirement over the past several years assembled wall products are able to meet the GES with materials which contain UF resins. The GES is a better methodology that requires VOC levels that have to be met for certification. If USGBC does not allow the use of the GES on v2009 projects it would require manufacturers to maintain 2 inventories of raw materials for the one credit. NAUF is a prescriptive requirement instead of a performance based method such as the GES.
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Michelle Halle Stern
Senior Sustainability ConsultantGreenwood Consulting Group
120 thumbs up
May 24, 2016 - 8:40 am
If I'm understanding correctly, you want to use the v4 GES standard on 2009 projects for composite wood, the only place that NAUF comes into play. I don't see a specific interpretation, but there is precedent for using new version requirements in older projects, and you could certainly propose it in your documentation.
You probably already know the following: For v4, composite wood follows the CARB formaldehyde standard (composite wood standard) only when it doesn't fit into one of the other categories (walls, ceilings, floors....). For the latter composite wood follows the GES.