You may or may not know that regular paints give off solvents into the air during the curing and evaporation process, and as you’ll likely be able to suppose, this isn’t a positive thing. Volatile Organic Compounds or VOCs are getting into the air. The dangers with this are the problems of smog, the depletion on the ozone layer and issues related to global warming. As we become more and more conscious of the problems posed by global warming, alternatives to regular paints are being sought. The initial popularity of eco friendly paints was not at all impressive when they first made an entry to the market in the nineties.
Because the public are now becoming aware of the environmental problems, will environmentally friendly paints be more sought after? Resistance from paint experts will have to be overcome. If paints do not come with the volatile organic compounds, the paint masters warn that these are inferior to those that do. These experts also maintain that these eco friendly paints also need numerous coats in order to achieve the same finish as normal paints, and that they don’t last as long. People are making the switch to green paints to avert health related problems such as headaches and asthma so the paint producers are forced to take this under serious consideration.
Water based latex paints having binding qualities might be a way to deal with this dilemma. Because VOCs are absent, it means they are friendly to the environment. However, as with just about everything, there is a downside: latex paints can’t be used to paint on iron because they are water based, which ends up making the iron rust much more quickly. Latex paints, despite any of these problems, are becoming increasingly sought after.
How paint is manufactured and where it comes from, all goes to define if it is Earth friendly. For instance, Titanium Dioxide is used in numerous paints because of how white it is, which means it is able to cover other paints. Titanium Dioxide is prepared using a couple of processes that result in weak sulfuric acid being created. This acid, together with the chemicals that were dissolved in it, was released into the sea, which of course is not good for the environment.
Smog is caused by Titanium Dioxide reacting with the sun when used outdoors. Moreover, Titanium Dioxide has been connected to a carcinogen that can cause cancer in human beings. Titanium Dioxide continues to be found in paints despite all of this evidence.
Environmentally friendly paints is going to become widely used as we start to understand the adverse effects that regular paints have on our health and in our environment.