Overview of Green Building Material (GBM) Policies and Guidelines with Relevance to Indoor Air Quality Management in Taiwan
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Indoor Air Quality Regulations in Taiwan
2.1. Environmental Protection Administration
2.2. Ministry of Labor (MOL)
3. Green Building Materials (GBM) in Taiwan
3.1. Governing Regulations
- Recycled plastic or rubber products (not containing toxic chemical materials designated by the EPA).
- Insulation materials for building use (not contain the substances controlled under the Montreal Protocol, and toxic chemical materials designated by the EPA).
- Water-based coatings/paints (not contain formaldehyde, chlorinated solvents, heavy metals such as mercury, lead, hexavalent chromium and arsenic; not use triphenyl tin and tributyl tin).
- Recycled wood products.
- Recycled bricks (kiln-burned) for building use.
- Recycled building materials (not kiln-burned).
- Other building materials certified by the central competent authorities (MOI or EPA).
- The concentrations of heavy metals involved in any part of non-metal materials must meet the “Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) of Industrial Waste” set by the EPA (Table 3).
- Not contain asbestos.
- Not contain radioactive materials or constituents.
- Not contain the toxic chemical substances designated by the Toxic Chemical Substances Control Act (TCSCA). Under the designation of the act, there are currently 323 toxic chemical substances.
- Not contain the ozone-depleting substances controlled under the Montreal Protocol.
- Total chlorine ion content in the cement-based products must be less than or equal to 0.1%.
- Chlorine-containing polymers shall not apply for healthy GBM and ecological GBM labels.
- Interior decoration materials should be carried out the emission tests of total volatile organic compounds (TVOC) and formaldehyde by GBM performance testing agencies, which should be certified by the MOI. Their emission rates should at least meet the E3 rating of healthy GBM (Table 4), in which the rating standards are less than 0.05 and 0.19 mg/m2·h for formaldehyde and TVOC, respectively.
3.2. Developing Status of GBM
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- Over the 6 years, the certified GBM number indicates an increase of 38.0%, increasing from 474 by the end of July 2011 to 645 by the end of September 2017. This change could be attributed to the official promotion and validation for the reduction of indoor HCHO concentration [22], and the cost-down of GBM in Taiwan. Currently, a total of 645 GBM Labels have been conferred, which cover over 5000 green products.
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- Among these certified GBM, the percentage distributions indicate no significant change in recent years due to the market demands and/or consumer preferences. The healthy GBM occupied most of the market, accounting for about 75%. With the IAQMA promulgated in 2011, it is expected to significantly increase the use of the healthy GBM in the near future.
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- Under the encouragement of government policy for procuring the domestic green-mark (environmentally preferable) products (including energy-saving products, and water-saving products), the certified high-performance and recycled GBM products indicates significant increases of 55% and 47%, respectively.
4. Conclusions
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- The Indoor Air Quality Management Act (IAQMA), promulgated on 23 November 2011, took effect one year after promulgation. Under the authorization of the IAQMA, the IAQ standards provide compulsory guidelines in the non-industrial sectors.
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- The permissible exposure limits of airborne hazardous substances in the indoor workplace were recently revised in June 2013 under the authorization of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), providing compulsory guidelines in the industrial sector.
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- According to the voluntary guidelines by the Building Technique Regulation under the authorization of the Building Act, the Green Building Material (GBM) was established and launched since 2004. Currently, a total of 645 GBM Labels have been conferred, accounting for about 75% by the healthy GBM occupied in the market. With the IAQMA promulgated in 2011, it is expected to significantly increase the use of the healthy GBM in the near future.
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Indoor Air Pollutants | Standard | |
---|---|---|
Concentration | Sampling Time | |
Carbon dioxide (CO2) | 1000 ppm | 8 h |
Carbon monoxide (CO) | 9 ppm | 8 h |
Formaldehyde (HCHO) | 0.06 ppm | 1 h |
TVOC a | 0.56 ppm | 1 h |
Bacterial | 1500 CFU/m3 b | Ceiling |
Fungi | 1000 CFU/m3 c | Ceiling |
Particulate matter (PM10) | 75 μg/m3 | 24 h |
Particulate matter (PM2.5) | 35 μg/m3 | 24 h |
Ozone (O3) | 0.06 ppm | 8 h |
Contaminant | PEL (Taiwan) a | TLV (USA) b | |
---|---|---|---|
Concentration (ppm) | Concentration (ppm) | Basis | |
Benzene | 1 | 0.5 | Leukemia |
Carbon dioxide | 5000 | 5000 | Asphyxia |
Carbon monoxide | 35 | 25 | Carboxyhemoglobinemia |
Carbon tetrachloride | 2 | 5 | Liver damage |
Chloroform | 10 | 10 | Liver & embryo/fetal damage; central nervous system (CNS) impairment |
1,2-Dichlorobenzene | 50 | 25 | Upper respiratory tract (URT) & eye irritation; liver damage |
1,4-Dichlorobenzene | 75 | 10 | Eye irritation; kidney damage |
Dichloromethane | 10 | 50 | Carboxyhemoglobinemia; CNS impairment |
Ethyl benzene | 100 | 20 | URT & eye irritation; kidney damage (nephropathy);cochlear impairment |
Formaldehyde | 1 | 0.3 | URT & eye irritation |
Ozone | 0.1 | 0.05–0.2 c | Pulmonary function |
Styrene | 50 | 20 | CNS impairment; URT irritation; peripheral nephropathy |
Tetrachloroethylene | 50 | 25 | CNS impairment |
Toluene | 100 | 20 | Visual impairment; female reproductive; pregnancy loss |
Trichloroethylene | 50 | 10 | CNS impairment; cognitive decrements; renal toxicity |
Xylenes | 100 | 100 | URT & eye irritation; CNS impairment |
Heavy Metal | Detection Standard (mg/L) a |
---|---|
Total mercury (T-Hg) | 0.005 |
Total cadmium (T-Cd) | 0.3 |
Total lead (T-Pb) | 0.3 |
Total arsenic (T-As) | 0.3 |
Hexavalent chromium (Cr +6) | 1.5 |
Total copper (T-Cu) | 0.15 |
Total silver (T-Ag) | 0.05 |
Rating System | Emission Rate (mg/m2·h) | |
---|---|---|
TVOC a | Formaldehyde (HCHO) | |
E1 | ≤ 0.005 | ≤ 0.005 |
E2 | 0.005 < TVOC ≤ 0.06 | 0.005 < HCHO ≤ 0.02 |
E3 | 0.06 < TVOC ≤ 0.19 | 0.02 < HCHO ≤ 0.05 |
Category | May 2011 a | September 2017 c | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Certified Number | Percentage b | Certified Number | Percentage | |
Healthy GBM | 364 | 76.8% | 487 | 74.4% |
High-performance GBM | 71 | 15.0% | 110 | 16.8% |
Recycling GBM | 38 | 8.0% | 56 | 8.6% |
Ecological GBM | 1 | 0.2% | 1 | 0.2% |
Total | 474 | 100.0% | 654 | 100.0% |
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Tsai, W.-T. Overview of Green Building Material (GBM) Policies and Guidelines with Relevance to Indoor Air Quality Management in Taiwan. Environments 2018, 5, 4. https://doi.org/10.3390/environments5010004
Tsai W-T. Overview of Green Building Material (GBM) Policies and Guidelines with Relevance to Indoor Air Quality Management in Taiwan. Environments. 2018; 5(1):4. https://doi.org/10.3390/environments5010004
Chicago/Turabian StyleTsai, Wen-Tien. 2018. "Overview of Green Building Material (GBM) Policies and Guidelines with Relevance to Indoor Air Quality Management in Taiwan" Environments 5, no. 1: 4. https://doi.org/10.3390/environments5010004