Healthful Choices
Mar 1, 2009 12:00 PM, By Julie Hall
Selecting green education furniture can reduce VOC emissions and create a more healthful environment for students.
Reaping the benefits
The effort put into specifying green education furniture can result in better student health and green building certification for a facility.
"Data show indoor pollutant levels in the air within schools and indoor spaces where GREENGUARD-certified products are used can be approximately 80 percent lower," says Black.
Also, the reduction of formaldehyde, a carcinogen at elevated levels and long-term exposure, and an irritant at low levels, is a significant concern for school administrators, she says. An elementary school study in Atlanta showed that the use of low-emitting floor cleaners, low-emitting furniture and hard-surface flooring, all meeting the GREENGUARD Children & Schools standard, resulted in air levels of formaldehyde below the ˝ California Chronic Reference Exposure Level (CREL) of 13.5 ppb, says Black.
An additional benefit to using sustainable education furniture is gaining green building credits toward certification. Credit for green furniture can be obtained under LEED for Schools (EQ Credit 4, Options 1-6), the Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) (EQ Credit 2.2 for low-emitting materials) and the Green Guide for Health Care (GGHC), which includes university hospitals (EQ Credit 4.5 for furniture), says Black.
Hall is associate editor for AS&U.
Acceptable Use Policy blog comments powered by Disqus
