Last month, the US Green Building Council posted its “Pilot Credit 21: Low Emitting Interiors” draft for comment and pilot testing under six LEED project types: New Construction, Core and Shell, Schools, Commercial Interiors, Retail/Commercial Interiors, and Retail/New Construction.

Our assessment, in brief: getting a “paint point” will be far more complex in this system than LEED 2009 or the preceding versions. But the good news is that any MPI Extreme Green (X-Green) Approved Product will meet the requirements.

The pilot credit divides interiors into five systems: flooring, ceilings, walls, thermal and acoustic, and furniture. ”Paint” alone no longer yields a point; instead, paint is treated as just one component within each system. Each component has its own emissions requirements, and every system and component in each category must meet the requirements to be in compliance.

Furthermore, the requirements for paint compliance are dramatically different than LEED NC of yore, as follows:

• All paints must pass CA Dept of Public Health (CDPH) Standard Method V1.1-2010 “Standard method of the testing and evaluation of volatile organic chemical emissions from indoor sources using environmental chambers” — the new version of California 01350, sometimes nicknamed “the CHPS test.” This standard is not concerned with total VOC, but instead measures indoor air quality by testing and exposure modeling to verify that at 14 days after application/installation, product emissions meet the standard’s allowable limits for indoor air concentrations of chemicals of concern to California EPA. Noteworthy in this requirement: formaldehyde concentrations are highly restricted and will be reduced further by 2012.
• Chemical content restrictions must be in compliance with SCAQMD Rule 1113-July 13, 2007.
  
• All VOC limits must comply with SCAQMD 2007. Some of these changes are substantial: LEED 2009 set limits at 50 g/l for flats, 150 g/l for non-flats, and for other key categories, the limits stated in SCAQMD 2004. Here are some of the new maximum limits under this pilot credit:
      - 50 g/l for flat, nonflat, and nonflat high gloss paints
      - 100 g/l for non-high-heat industrial maintenance coatings
      - 100 g/l for specialty primers and any primer, sealer, or undercoater
      - 100 g/l for stains
      - 50 g/l for quick-dry enamels
      - 275 g/l for clear wood finishes
      - 50 g/l for floor coatings
      - 100 g/l for waterproofing sealers

Requirements in the Credit Submittals section include…

• maintaining a list of all interior materials that fall under the credit including manufacturer’s name, product name, VOC data for each product along with the corresponding allowable VOC from the standard, as well as the amount of product used, using a consistent metric per system
• providing documentation on the method used to determine VOC content including tests completed and results
  
• providing MSDS, name of manufacturer, product name, and color name for all paints/coatings used to earn credit
  
• providing documentation that the tinted product (base product with color added) used in the building was tested in the VOC determination.
  

Click here to retrieve the document in its entirety.

Product Performance and MPI Extreme Green
MPI notes that the pilot credit still has neither requirement nor reference to product durability and performance, even though industry thought leaders consider these points integral to the sustainable building movement. Designers may optimize durability and sustainability while complying with these pilot LEED requirements by choosing MPI Extreme Green (X-Green) Approved Products: these products pass the same stringent performance requirements as the ‘regular’ corresponding MPI category while also offering:

• maximum 50 g/l VOC
• compliance with the emissions standard described above
• reduced or zero quantities of various undesirable chemical components

Click here to see the full list of MPI categories, and select any MPI numbers labeled “X-Green” to find approved products.