RAVOCs

The current architectural coatings regulatory system relies on a binary decision of whether a given VOC contributes to ground level ozone in the presence of sunlight and nitrogen oxides (tailpipe and power plant emissions). In the regulatory scheme, all VOCs are created equal. In the real world, there are reactivity gradients; some VOCs contribute very little to ozone production and some very much proportional to their mass. In addition, mass VOC has less to do with ozone generation than nitrogen oxides. RAVOC is one potential tool (calculation method) to look at the actual ozone impacts of a product and its specific VOC contents. However, LEED looks at this from the perspective of minimizing exposure to applicators and occupants to the VOCs themselves. RAVOC would not be a means to make that assessment. The flip side to this is that not all VOCs have the same health and safety impact. Ethanol emitted from a coating is the same chemical species as the ethanol in an alcoholic beverage. It technically is not on par with the health effects of a chlorinated solvent, but policy is a complicated thing.