Our project is located outside of US and pursues LEED for CS 2009.
The local product manufactures declare VOCs for paints in accordance with Directive of European Commission 2004/42/EC. While LEED v4 accept this equivalent for Low-Emitting material credit, I would like to know if the reviewers accept this standard equivalent for LEED 2009 instead of Green Seal GS-11 or SCAQMD Rule 1113?
Also, I could not find any CIRs for this topic.
Thank you for any information.
Dwayne Fuhlhage
Sustainability and Environment DirectorPROSOCO, Inc.
169 thumbs up
June 19, 2014 - 11:23 am
I don't believe there are any relevant CIRs on this topic. Last year, the California Air Resources Board 2007 architectural coatings Suggested Control Measure (CARB 2007 SCM) was allowed as an alternative to the 2004 Rule 1113 or referenced Green Seal standards.
Offhand, I would approach use of the Decopaint Directive limits cautiously for four reasons:
1. For moderate and high solids coatings, the VOC content is calculated inclusive of water and exempt solvents. This allows for a substantially higher VOC content than the less water/exempt solvents approach in any of the credit referenced standards.
2. The boiling point cutoff for VOCs is higher in the Decopaint Directive vs. the U.S./Canada/Hong Kong regulatory systems. That means there are solvents treated as exempt in the EU that are not in the referenced standards.
3. The coating category definitions do not match, so it is hard to properly determine specialty coating VOC limit equivalents. The referenced standard categorize every functional or decorative coating, whereas the EU version only defines a subset.
4. Not every EU member state has adopted the Decopaint Directive. Some that have added their own exemptions.
I am a current member of the IEQ TAG and the subject matter expert for coatings and sealants. The TAG welcomes interpretation requests routed through the standard GBCI and USGBC channels.