The Environmentally Responsible Choice
Start the year sustainably - easy EC switches
In our Powder by Design newsletter, we have touched on embodied carbon and why it is an important consideration in building design. While operational carbon can be impacted over the life of the structure via new technologies and retrofits that improve energy efficiency, embodied carbon is essentially fixed once the building is erected. It can contribute to approximately half of the carbon footprint of the structure over its life. As the global design community continues to focus more on meeting the sustainable design goals for 2030, reducing embodied carbon is becoming a key focus for designers.
Building design comprises structure, envelope, and finishes. One approach to assessing embodied carbon reduction opportunities is to utilize carbon calculator tools to identify which of these “buckets” encompasses the biggest hit to embodied carbon. More often than not, the structure will lead the way for embodied carbon impact. Rightly, targeting mitigation strategies in this bucket should be a primary focus for any designer.
Sometimes there are simple ways to impact embodied carbon in the envelope and finishes buckets. These simple substitutions often result in no loss in performance and minimal, if any, increase in cost. One such opportunity is switching out liquid based paints for powder coatings. Most of us are quite familiar with liquid paint; we start getting familiar with it as children (as our parents chase after us with cleaning supplies!). Many liquid paints do meet Red List requirements, LEED standards, and have HPDs and EPDs. They can be part of sustainable design. Solvent- based liquid paints do contain organic solvents that are emitted when applied. If applied in the field, they are emitted directly to the atmosphere. This is why many local governments have implemented strict VOC limits for field applications to reduce environmental impact. Solvent- based coatings applied in a factory setting often rely on thermal oxidizers to decompose the organic solvents used to CO2 and water. This reduces the toxicity of the solvents emitted to the environment, but certainly doesn’t help carbon footprint. Thermal oxidizers also require significant energy to run. Powder coatings are applied in a factory or job shop setting and do require energy to run cure ovens and spray guns. Powder coatings do not need mitigation for VOC elimination or strict regulation to reduce VOC levels because powder coatings simply don’t use solvents. All of the embodied carbon that accompanies the manufacture and elimination of organic solvents is removed from the carbon footprint of powder coatings.
Architectural powder coatings have been used for years on structures of all sizes: retail, storefronts, multi- residential housing, hospitals, hotels, iconic skyscrapers, and beyond. Different grades or chemistries of powder are available that meet all performance standards and requirements. The AAMA standards are often used as a guide for finish performance on building exteriors. AAMA 2605 is the highest level of performance and can be met with liquid applied, solvent-borne PVDF fluoropolymer coatings. Fluoropolymer powder coatings also meet and exceed this standard – without solvents, and therefore with a significantly better carbon footprint. Both systems can be accompanied by EPDs and contribute to LEED credits and other sustainability initiatives. Powder coatings; however, can offer a project a reduction in embodied carbon. As the design community embraces the challenge of 2030 and works to design buildings with lower and lower embodied carbon, specifying powder coatings instead of liquid coatings can be a simple step towards this goal.
As many of us start 2022 with new health goals (maybe swapping out the slice of cake for a piece of dark chocolate!), we can also make easy switches to get closer to our sustainable design goals. Specifying powder over liquid is an easy and cost- effective way to reduce the embodied carbon on your project. Let’s start the year sustainable!