How Microbiocides Will Contribute to Further Substantial Reduction of Emissions from Coatings

By Wolfgang Lindner, Gary L. Horacek

The modem world is awash with “green” initiatives in nearly every aspect of life. Politicians, businesses, celebrities,
scientists, and the general public are supporting such diverse green developments as hybrid cars, wind energy,
solar energy, ethanol production, the production of black lists of dangerous chemicals, and sponsoring products
and processes claiming to be green. There is no argument against reasonable actions being used to avoid
environmental pollution. However, taking the complexity of air quality issues as an example, it is unclear where,
or by whom, priorities for emissions reduction should be set and where resources should be allocated.

Far less than 1 % of man-made emissions in California are coming from architectural coatings, while transportation
contributes the major part. There is no disagreement about the need to develop technologies to reduce
the impact of human activities on the environment, but there is a general disconnect with regards to priorities,
the relative magnitudes of different environmental problems, and a concept of cost/benefit analysis in deciding
what issues should be considered first.