Building Products And Furniture For Improved Indoor Air Quality

By Author: Berkeley Analytical
Total Articles: 8
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The US Green Building Council’s LEED rating system for buildings is promoting the use of interior building products and furniture that have lower impacts on indoor air quality. The LEED green building standard was first released in 2000. It currently is in its third major revision known as LEED 2009. The standard focuses on energy use and other sustainable building attributes but also awards credits toward LEED certification of buildings for the use of interior products and office furniture that have low emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The objective of giving credit for products with lower VOC emissions is to reduce occupants’ inhalation exposures to airborne chemicals of concern.
Flooring products are the most affected interior building product category. For flooring, there are two compliance options. To obtain the LEED low-emitting interiors credit, all of the carpet and carpet cushion installed in the building must meet the requirements of the Carpet and Rug Institute’s ...
... Green Label Plus™ program. Plus, all hard surface flooring must meet the requirements of the Resilient Floor Covering Institute’s FloorScore™ program. Both of these programs require VOC emission testing of representative product samples following a method developed by the California Department of Public Health that is known widely as California Section 01350. Alternately, the architect can specify that all of the flooring products in the building project meet the requirements of CA Section 01350. The chamber testing to determine product compliance is done by an accredited environmental testing laboratory. Many manufacturers choose to have their low-emitting product claims validated by a recognized environmental claims certification body. It also is permissible for a manufacturer to make their own self-declarations of compliance based on their manufacturing quality control systems and the test results.
LEED additionally contains a credit for low emitting office furniture consisting of workstations and chairs. Again, there are two compliance options. One option requires testing and validation of low VOC emissions by a proprietary certification program. The other requires testing of office furniture following standards developed by the furniture industry association, BIFMA International. The testing procedure is similar. A newly manufactured and representative piece of furniture, e.g., a chair, is selected by the manufacturer or their certifier and sent to a qualified environmental testing laboratory. Compliance is determined by modeling the test results to a standard office configuration and comparing the predicted indoor air concentrations of VOCs to the acceptance limits.
The USGBC’s rating system for LEED certification of buildings is now undergoing major revision. The new standard is expected to be released in the latter half of 2013. The proposed credit structure for low emitting building products and furniture is substantially upgraded and will extend the credit to all major interior surfaces including walls and ceilings. Additionally, the draft requirements apply the same VOC criteria, including very low limits for some compounds such as formaldehyde, to all products.