Eco-Product Directory

News & Events

► 2013-07-17	Revolutions in paints and coatings - GECA launched new paint standard The original GECA 23-2005 Architectural and Protective Coatings standard was replaced by GECA’s Paints and Coatings standard, in which the new only covers water based architectural paints (both interior and exterior), student and artists paints, and other water based coatings. According to GECA, statistics supported that organic solvents based paint will typically release higher content of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the surrounding environment. Solvent-based paint also contains around 50 per cent more embodied energy than water-based paint. Reference: GECA Website http://www.geca.org.au/products/standards/47/
► 2013-07-17	EU looking into wider aspect of green building The European Commission is gathering views on how to reduce the environmental impacts of buildings. Buildings use a large amount of resources when they are designed, built, used and demolished, and their impact on the environment, energy consumption and climate change is significant. Improving construction techniques is therefore important to help Europe become a more sustainable economy. The environmental impacts of buildings go beyond energy consumption for heating, cooling and lighting. In the EU, buildings account for: 42 % of final energy consumption (during their use phase) 35 % of greenhouse gas emissions (during use phase) 50 % of all extracted materials are used in building (construction and use) 30 % of water consumption (during construction and use) 30 % of total generated waste (during construction, demolition and renovation). However, existing EU policy initiatives in the area of environmental performance of buildings, mainly targeting on the energy efficiency. Instead the Authority is looking for policies on resource efficiency at a wider range of resource use and environmental impacts, across the life-cycle of buildings. Contributors are asked for their views on the main environmental issues for the buildings sector, availability of data, systems to assess and communicate environmental performance of buildings, how to stimulate demand, and how construction materials could be used more efficiently. Reference: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-13-666_en.htm
► 2013-07-17	People demanded more info about green product According to a survey conducted by the European Commission, people are changing their purchasing habits and buy more environmentally-friendly products, but many feel they lack information and distrust manufacturers' environmental claims. The survey on the "Attitudes of Europeans towards building the single market for green products" indicates that more than three-quarters of respondents are willing to pay more for environmentally-friendly products if they were confident that the products are truly environmentally-friendly (77%). However, only slightly more than half of EU citizens feel informed (55%) about the environmental impacts of the products they buy and use.