The U. S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has approved hard surface flooring products certified by the FloorScore program as an alternative compliance path to achieve credit in the LEED Rating System for New Construction.

In an October 2006 credit interpretation ruling, USGBC approved FloorScore program certified hard surface flooring products as an alternative compliance path to LEED credit EQ4.3 Low-Emitting Materials: Carpet Systems. To achieve the LEED credit, a minimum of 25% of the finished floor area (both carpet and non-carpet areas) of a building must be comprised of non-carpet floor products, and all of these non-carpet floor products must be FloorScore certified. This alternative credit is available in LEED rating systems NC, CI, C&S and EB. For more information on LEED, visit www.usgbc.org.

In the 2006 edition of the Collaborative for High Performance Schools Best Practices Manual, CHPS recognizes products certified under FloorScore for low emitting materials credit. It recommends going to the Scientific Certification Systems (SCS) website to see FloorScore product listings as well the listings on the CHPS website. Nearly all of the New England states as well as New York State are moving toward implementation of the CHPS's guidelines. For more information on CHPS, visit www.chps.net.

This recent nine page article in the Environmental Building News describes what product emissions testing is all about as well as profiling the testing programs currently available. The article comments that while the testing programs are not consistent enough to allow for precise comparisons, it is safe to say that some programs such as FloorScore are more comprehensive and have tighter thresholds. (See EBN, September 2006 or visit www.buildinggreen.com)

The Vinyl Institute has announced the launch of the Vinyl News Service Web Site at www.vinylnewsservice.net to provide current news about vinyl, vinyl products and related applications. The VNS features a unique video interview with Dr. Patrick Moore, co-founder of Greenpeace, on the benefits and safety of vinyl.

International Standards Organization Technical Committee #219 (Carpet, Resilient and Laminate flooring) is developing a new VOC emissions standard to be used worldwide. The standard outlines uniform test procedures for conducting an emissions test. Additionally the standard includes an annex which describes current European test requirements and a second annex reflecting requirements based on California Section 1350.