Why use IAC certified products?
Most people spend more than 80% of their time indoors, if not more. Therefore many are concerned about indoor air quality. While this is mainly an issue of proper ventilation, another important element of indoor air quality is pollution - from surrounding outside air, and from products, and materials used indoors. But too high emissions of formaldehyde and volatile organic compounds (VOC) may lead to bad odor and to irritation of eyes, throat and skin. Other health risks are under controversial discussion among scientists and regulators.
Energy efficient buildings have reduced ventilation. This increases air pollution by emissions from products that did not pose any challenge in earlier building with more natural ventilation. Emissions of volatile organic chemicals (VOC) from construction products are subject to regulations in France and Germany. Formaldehyde emissions from wood-based panels are regulated in USA (especially in California) and in some EU Member States.
Programs for low VOC emissions
Besides that, there are numerous voluntary labels that help promoting low-emitting products on the market, such as the EMICODE, Blue Angel, FloorScore, BIFMA, and many more. Most of these are having specifications on indoor air quality as only one out of many environmental aspects. And while more and more buildings are built sustainable, and certified by e.g. LEED, DGNB, HQE, BREEAM, Green Star, most of these building certification programs reward use of low-emitting products with higher ranking of the sustainable building - among many other criteria.
All these specifications on low VOC emissions from products into indoor air intend to do the same - improve indoor air qualityby encouraging use of low-emitting products - but they have different criteria and limit values, and different testing methods. This depends on local history, and on which experts were involved in set-up of the respective system. And in some countries no such information on low-emitting products is available at all.
The Indoor Air Comfort program
Within Europe, EU ecolabel could offer a combination covering all the European specifications on low VOC emissions into one label, but they prefer just to add another label instead. Now Indoor Air Comfort fills this gap.
A product labeled with Indoor Air Comfort GOLD will comply with the limit values as defined by all regulations in Europe. This does not mean at all that other products are bad. Labeled products just show that they are among the cleanest products with regard to indoor air quality.
More information
- Back to Indoor Air Comfort main page
- Why use IAC certified products
- Why manufacture IAC certified products
- How IAC works
- Product Groups
- List of certified products
- A video on VOC testing
- Links, documents and information
- Request of contact form
Contact to Indoor Air Comfort certification
Phone: +45 7022 4276
Dr. Roland Augustin, email ccs@eurofins.com.Or use our Contact form.
Contact to VOC Testing Laboratories
Please see here contact information of Eurofins VOC testing laboratories in Europe, USA and China:
www.eurofins.com/voc-contacts.
Order forms and testing request forms are available for free download here.