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MPI, the North American developer of green coatings performance standards, is adding a rigorous new ‘Extreme Green’ (X-Green) standard to its lineup.
X-Green is “the most rigorous environmental standard in the world,” MPI said in a statement. X-Green will complement MPI’s two current Green Performance paint standards, known as GPS-1 and GPS-2. MPI’s GPS-3 is currently under development.
The X-Green Performance Standard establishes new “green” editions of MPI’s existing paint categories, as well as a new emissions requirement.
“X-Green is now the toughest standard in the world,” said MPI president Barry Law. “But it’s also the most appropriate, because it encompasses the three requirements for a truly ‘green’ paint: indoor air quality, environmental safety, and the durability needed to promote sustainable building practices.
“Our existing Green Performance Standards already required durability as well as VOC <50 g/l. MPI felt it was timely to now add emissions requirements because they’re required by CHPS (Collaborative for High Performance Schools).”
The VOC emissions requirements of CA/DHS/EHLB/R-174 (commonly referred to as California Section 01350) are designed to increase indoor air quality through a variety of measures, including limiting the amount of VOCs emitted from the painted surface in the 14 days after paint application. VOC emissions (rather than the old standard of VOC composition) are increasingly used as measures to determine if a coating is ‘green’ and are also cited in the LEED 2009 for Schools Rating System.
PPG and Akzo Nobel will have the first products approved under the Extreme Green standard. Those products will be listed on MPI’s site (www.mpi.net) in early February and published in this month’s Approved Products List book.
In addition, MPI will publish its first "Green” Guide Specification in the coming months, to help specifiers and end users choose products that maximize performance along with compliance.
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