San Francisco, Calif. — The Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) officially launched a low-emitting products listing

to ensure healthy schools for future

generations. The Low-Emitting Materials Table is a free resource available at www.chps.net/manual/lem_overvw.htm. By incorporating low-emitting materials in new construction and modernization projects, schools in California are achieving CHPS Credits for Indoor Environmental Quality, and school districts nationwide are also benefiting from access to this resource.

“We are about to experience an explosion in new school construction that is unprecedented,” California State Architect and the Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) Board Chairperson Stephan Castellanos said. “It is vital that these schools are resource efficient, healthy, well daylit community centers that provide an excellent learning environment and serve as a learning tool. The CHPS programs allow architects and school officials to learn how to integrate these concepts into their school project.”

CHPS utilizes the Special Environmental Requirements Specification (Section 01350) as its low-emitting materials benchmark. A study by the California Department of Health Services commissioned by the California Integrated Waste Management Board on building material emissions found that many materials, both with and without recycled content, currently meet Section 01350. This study and the imminent interest of school districts throughout California spurred a desire to develop a public listing of products that meet Section 01350. Los Angeles Unified School District instigated the request of manufacturers to test their products and furthered the momentum by other supportive schools districts in California and select states that have adopted CHPS. While it is not required that schools meet this credit in order to qualify as a CHPS School, this credit helps ensure enhanced indoor air quality.

“The information provided by CHPS is invaluable to school districts as they advance the design of safe, healthy and productive learning environments," stated Angelo Bellomo of Los Angeles Unified School District. “In an effort to improve indoor air quality within the learning environment, we (LAUSD) and other districts have recently committed to the use of low-emitting materials in the design of new schools and modernization of existing school facilities. The information compiled by CHPS now provides a practical means to meet that commitment.”