Issue 22, April 2007

Cetec can test your building materials to the Green Building Council of Australia's (GBCA) Green Star.  Email (link above) or call us on (03) 9544 9111 to find out more.

According to one study, 96% of volatile organic compounds (VOC) found in a large office building following construction resulted from materials used to construct and furnish the building. Thus, there is increasing awareness and emphasis on reducing the chemical emissions gained from the use of building materials.

The Green Building Council of Australia’s (GBCA) Green Star – Office Design V2 credit on Indoor Environment Quality: - Volatile Organic Compounds (IEQ-13) encourages product suppliers, designers and specifiers to use low-VOC emitting materials. This is achieved by awarding Green Star credits (one point each) to either not using or using low-VOC:

• Paints;
• Carpets (or other flooring materials); and/or
• Adhesives and sealants.

Cetec Pty Ltd conducts chemical emissions studies of flooring materials (carpet, timber, vinyl and coatings), adhesives, furnishings (fabrics, furniture, blinds) as well as other building materials, in order to evaluate them as low-VOC.
 

Flooring Materials

The Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) of the USA has an Indoor Air Quality Testing program covering carpet, carpet cushion, and floor covering installation adhesives. This indoor air quality testing program identifies floor coverings that meet stringent indoor air quality requirements for very low emissions. The criterion for floor covering is based on emission rates of TVOC (Total Volatile Organic Compounds).

The GBCA Green Star credit uses this CRI introduced Green Label program, in which the chemical emissions of carpet/flooring material has to meet the following limits, based on a 24 hour emissions period:

• Total VOC < 0.5 mg/m²/hr
• 4-Phenylcyclohexene < 0.05 mg/m²/hr
• Formaldehyde < 0.05 mg/m²/hr
• Styrene < 0.4 mg/m²/hr

The Carpet and Rug Institute has also developed the Green Label Plus program to establish the highest standard for indoor air quality that can be achieved for carpet product. The Green Label Plus program has been established to meet the growing demand to make indoor environments as healthy and “green-friendly” as possible. The rigorous testing of the Green Label Plus program involves stringent criteria for low chemical emissions from carpet product. Compliance to the program requires a fourteen-day testing period that measures carpet emissions for a range of chemicals:

• Total VOC < 0.5 mg/m²/hr
• Identification and quantitation of “chemicals of concern” such as formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, benzene, caprolactam, 2-ethylhexanoic acid, 1-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone, naphthalene, nonanal, octanal, 4-phenylcyclohexene, styrene, toluene and vinyl acetate.

The Carpet Institute of Australia has also developed VOC emission criteria for its newly released Environmental Certification Scheme. Chemical emissions are evaluated at 24 hours for total VOC and “chemicals of concern”.
Other flooring materials can be assessed by a 24 hour emission test and the determination of total VOCs emitted.


Adhesives and Sealants

The GBCA Green Star IEQ-13 credit requires adhesives and sealants to be tested according South Coast Air Quality Management District (California) Rule 1168. This requires the indoor carpet adhesive or carpet pad adhesive to have less than 50g of VOCs per litre. An outdoor carpet adhesive must emit less than 150g/L of VOCs.  In the near future this requirement may be changed to determine the chemical emission rate.

Furnishings

Under GBCA Green Star requirements furnishings such as chairs, partitions and workstations should be tested as the whole item for chemical emissions at seven days. However, the access to testing facilities to conduct such large scale emission testing is very limited. 

Changes are pending in which component testing of the furnishing item can be done. If all the components have low-VOC, then so should the completed item. An advantage of this approach is that you can quickly identify any component or supplier that has unacceptable emissions.

Do you want to know more about the testing options for your product? You can contact Dr Robert Schiller or Dr Lakshmi Yerramilli via email or on (03) 9544-9111.
 

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