Leed Version 4 Will Include All Interior Building Products In Indoor Environmental Quality Credit

By Author: Berkeley Analytical
Total Articles: 8
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Architects seeking LEED certificationfor new commercial buildings and interiors currently have an opportunity to earn indoor environmental quality (IEQ) credits by utilizing low emitting flooring products and office furnishings. They also can earn IEQ credits by using interior architectural paints and coatings and adhesives and sealants that are compliant with ambient air quality VOC content regulations. Carpeting and resilient flooring must have low emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in order for a project to earn the flooring credit. This performance attribute often is demonstrated by Green Label Plus certification for carpeting and FloorScore certification for resilient flooring. Alternately, manufacturers of low emitting productsin these two categories can demonstrate compliance by having VOC emission tests performed by a third-partyenvironmental laboratory that ...
... s accredited to the specified test method.

The LEED rating systems are evolving toward a more comprehensive systems approach to indoor air quality. The LEED Version 4 credits for low-emitting interiors that are anticipated to be published in 2013 are likely to follow Pilot Credit 21, which was released for trial use in 2013. The new credit system organizes interior building products into five categories: paints and coatings; adhesives and sealants; flooring; composite wood; and ceilings, walls and insulation. All layers of the floor, walls and ceiling are included. Additionally, the wet products (paints/coatings and adhesives/sealants) must be tested for emissions of VOCs as well as be compliant with current VOC content criteria. Under this systems approach, architects are incentivized to select low emitting interior building products for use throughout an entire project, not just low emitting floor coverings. There will be many challenges for architects seeking to implement the new IEQ credits as well as for product manufacturers. Although the new credits correctly consider all major interior surfaces as potential VOC sources, the procedures for demonstrating compliance have become substantially more complicated. One complexity is that projects must carefully account for surface areas of building components and products. Plus, it may be difficult to find compliant products in some categories, such as paints and coatings where manufacturers traditionally have focused on meeting VOC content regulations and not on VOC emissions. Hopefully, new projects attempting to utilize Pilot Credit 21 will provide valuable feedback to clarify and refine the LEED Version 4 procedures.