Green design. Eco design. Environmental design. There are many different terms for
it, but the idea of sustainable design is all around us in a wide range of products we
use every day.
From the symbols on food and drink
packaging that show the containers are
made of recycled or recyclable materials,
to the move towards solar power in
buildings and cars, companies in every
industry around the world are working
to make their products, and their
companies, more sustainable. It’s so
common, it’s now expected.
The concept of sustainable design is
not a new phenomenon; it is something
that has been around since probably the
mid to late eighties, but it has developed.
Over time, as this concept has been
widely embraced, ways of incorporating
sustainable design into as many aspects
of a product as possible have increased.
We’ve moved from awareness, through
recycling, to renewable resources and
onwards.
More and more, we as consumers
expect this from our products and
from the corporations (big and small)
that produce them. That goes for
buildings, too. Anyone with an interest
in architecture and design, anyone
working in the architectural coatings
industry, anyone who’s walked into a
building and saw the “green building”
logo on a wall as they enter, will know
about sustainable design in architecture.
For a long time, architects and designers
have aimed to create buildings that are
better for us and our planet. The general
feeling is that it’s about building the
future, not just building.
Sustainability Initiatives
There are literally thousands of
things that can be considered when
making a building more sustainable
to the community and the planet; for
example, location, proximity to public
transport or cycle paths, directionality
of the location to take advantage of
natural heating/cooling, community
areas, recycled and renewable materials,
solar, wastewater, energy used in
construction, longevity of product…the
list goes on. And on.
With the focus on sustainable
design in architecture entrenched in the
industry for so long, it is only natural
that ways to formalize, recognize and
improve the design approach and thought process didn’t take long to
come about. These days there are several
organizations, some global, some more
U.S. focused, that attempt to guide
design professionals through the myriad
of ways that a building can be made
more sustainable.
The International Living Future
Institute introduced the Living Building
Challenge, Zero Energy and Declare.
The International WELL Building
Institute developed WELL, a standard
for buildings, interior spaces and
communities seeking to implement,
validate and measure features that
support and advance human health and
wellness. On a smaller scale, Google
introduced their own “Red List” of
banned substances, and a group of
leading U.S. architectural firms got
together to create mindful MATERIALS,
a free platform with aggregated
information on human health and
environmental impacts of products from
leading manufacturers, vetted by experts
passionate about making it easier to
make informed product choices.
Perhaps I should have prefaced this
article with “Welcome to the world of
acronyms,” as it seems there are a large
number of them used constantly when
covering this topic. VOCs, LEED, EPDs
– it’s acronym city here, but don’t worry,
keep going and we will explain them all
as we get to them!
The United States Green Building
Council (USGBC) has really taken
the lead with LEED. Leadership in
Energy and Environmental Design,
better known as LEED, has been at the
forefront of sustainability in
architecture on a global scale.
It’s the most widely used green building rating system in
the world and is available for virtually
all building, community and home
project types. The USGBC states that
LEED provides a framework to create
healthy, highly efficient and cost-saving
green buildings, and LEED certification
is a globally recognized symbol of
sustainability achievement.
Where Do Powder Coatings Come In?
“Human beings don’t have a
pollution problem; they have a design
problem. If humans were to devise
products, tools, furniture, homes,
factories, and cities more intelligently
from the start, they wouldn’t even
need to think in terms of waste, or
contamination, or scarcity. Good design
would allow for abundance, endless
reuse, and pleasure,” states an excerpt
from The Upcycle by authors Michael
Braungart and William McDonough,
2013, this is the issue that design
professionals wishing to practice
sustainable design run into every day.
So, what if there were coatings that were
a more sustainable option compared to
some of the traditionally used options
out there?
It will come as no surprise to
those in the powder coatings industry
that powder coating, including high
performance powders for architectural
applications, are a more environmentally
responsible coating choice. But why so?
There are no solvents and therefore
no, or extremely low, Volatile Organic
Coatings (VOCs) in powder coatings.
As solvents and VOCs are classified as
bad for the environment, the fact that
powders are virtually VOC-free is a huge
advantage for any design professional
wishing to practice sustainable design,
especially when they use powders over
large areas such as building envelopes.
In many cases, high performance
powders are a single coat application that
achieve the same chemical, mechanical
and weathering performance as
competing coatings. Not only does this
mean less product is used, but also less
energy in both application and curing.
From an application perspective,
powder overspray can be reclaimed and
reused or recycled. This one speaks for
itself.
The pretreatment options for
high performance powders are more
varied. Both chrome and non-chrome
pretreatments can be utilized, while
still giving AAMA 2605 levels of
performance. (AAMA 2605 is the
highest North American standard
available for coated architectural
aluminum extrusions). This means
the ability to remove chrome from the
environment and around people is an
option. Chrome-based pretreatment does
not have to be used, nor does a
chrome-based primer.
As well as reducing solvents and
VOCs, we can also reduce the amount of
hazardous waste.
Toxic hazardous waste is much
reduced in both the manufacture and
application of powder coatings when
compared with competing coatings. That
has to be a good thing!
For these reasons, and more, the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
recognizes and recommends powder
coatings as a sustainable coating option.
So, it makes sense that high
performance powder coatings for
architectural applications should be able
to contribute to sustainably designed
buildings, right? Absolutely.
Just how does this work? Well let’s
take LEED projects as an example. A
product does not get LEED certified, the
project or building does. When plans
for the building commence, a decision
is made as to whether or not to pursue
LEED accreditation. It’s not a decision
that’s taken lightly, as it takes a lot of
hard work and resources to make it
happen. However, once that decision
has been made then the architectural
team builds sustainable design into
every possible facet of the building,
and essentially tracks what they do.
Incorporating various environmentally
responsible aspects into the building
earns the project LEED points. The building has to earn a
certain number of points to be LEED certified, and then
there are three additional levels of LEED
certification: LEED Silver, LEED Gold
and LEED Platinum. The higher you go,
the more points it takes to earn
that level.
Earning a LEED point is not easy.
There are many different categories that
must be accounted for – and how do
you know whether a product will count
towards a LEED point? This is one area
that LEED v4, the current version of
LEED, is trying to make easier. (It should
be noted that at the time of this writing,
LEED v4.1 is in draft form only.) LEED
v4 requires that all vendors to a LEED
project must have an Environmental
Product Declaration, or EPD.
The Perot Museum in Dallas achieved three environmental certifications – Green
Globes® highest possible ranking for sustainable building design, a LEED Gold
rating from the U.S. Green Building Council, and certification from the Sustainable
Sites Initiative.
What is an EPD?
An EPD provides a third party-
verified, transparent look at a product,
its ingredients and its impact across
the entire life cycle, from raw material
extraction to disposal. Similar to a
nutritional label, an EPD is used to
communicate information about the
potential environmental and human
health impacts of a product.
The good news is powder coatings
can achieve EPDs. To get an EPD,
architectural grade powder products
go through a full life cycle analysis
that examines ingredients, production,
energy usage, packaging, application
requirements, and more. The products
are then tested in all of the LEED EPD
categories, which include acidification
Powder Coatings LEED the Way
potential (when acids are emitted into
the atmosphere and subsequently
deposited in surface soils and waters)
and eutrophication potential (yep,
I had to look that one up too!).
Eutrophication or hypertrophication,
is when a body of water becomes
overly enriched with minerals and
nutrients that induce excessive growth
of plants and algae. This process may
result in oxygen depletion of the water
body. Additional categories are global
warming potential, smog potential and
primary energy demand.
This means that using powder
coatings that have been independently
verified and have an EPD contributes
towards LEED points, specifically a
Materials Resources Credit.
So, Who Benefits With EPDs?
Clearly design professionals can
quickly find products that will meet the
LEED criteria, assess how sustainable
they are, and make a more educated
decision as to which products to
incorporate into the building design.
Coaters who are using powders
from companies with EPDs and
are producing coated pieces for
architectural projects can (and should)
advertise that fact! Knowing that the
powder coated objects come with
an EPD can influence who gets the
coating work. There have been cases
where simply having the ability to offer
coatings with an EPD have not only
won the coaters work but made a loyal
customer of both the contractor and
architect. So keep this in mind: If you’re
going to work in the architectural space,
specifying an EPD is helpful for the
environment and for your bottom line.
Fiona Levin-Smith is vice president
marketing & specification at IFS
Coatings.