
Baltix commercial furniture is made with a wide range of green materials, including waste-agricultural-fiber particleboard; FSC-certified wood veneers and MDF; bamboo; and recycled plastics, metals, and paper. The company’s workstations, tables, seating, bookshelves, files, cabinets, and partitions are available with low-emitting, UV-cured clear coatings or surfacings made from natural linoleum or biobased laminate. Baltix uses biobased polylactic...

DSM Functional Coatings announced the further optimization of its KhepriCoat™ solar anti-reflective coating system. The improvements have already resulted in a significant contribution to the first multicrystalline-silicon solar panels in the world to achieve a conversion efficiency of 17%, which were produced recently by REC and ECN (Energy research Center of the Netherlands). DSM’s KhepriCoat™ solar anti-reflective coating system boosts light...

In response to consumer demand, The Valspar Corporation, a leader in the paint and coatings industry, is introducing 24 new paint colors this fall to its Laura Ashley Home collection, available in Valspar Signature Colors. The updated colors range from soft peaches and corals, to deep red, muted purple, and teal, adding intriguing colors with depth while maintaining the Laura Ashley aesthetic of contemporary English elegance. The new collection is...

Drawing on a consumer desire to relax, retreat and create a calm, soothing environment at home, The Valspar Corporation – a leader in the paint and coatings industry – today reveals its 2010 color trend palettes. Each of the four palettes – Watercolor Impression, Retro Retreat, Vintage Romance and Peaceful Ambiance – is comprised of eight colors, providing an assortment of choices for consumers selecting colors within a particular trend. Inspired...

Royal DSM N.V., the global Life Sciences and Materials Sciences company headquartered in the Netherlands, announces today that its KhepriCoat™ anti-reflective coating system has contributed to achieving the highest energy conversion ever of a full-size solar module. The world record of 16.4%, achieved by the Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN), was verified by global certification and testing organization TÜV. The previous record of...

Dow Coating Materials, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company dedicated to innovation in the paint and coatings industry, has introduced Rhoplex™ EZ Clean 200, a 100 percent acrylic binder designed for premium interior flat and satin broad wall paints requiring high resistance to household stains. Ideal for playrooms, kitchens, dining rooms and other parts of the home subjected to occasional splashes and spills, paints based on Rhoplex EZ Clean...

Skyline Design’s Greenplay furnishings for children’s environments include tables, seating, shelving, and play spaces. Products are made with environmentally responsible and healthy materials and finishes, including post-consumer recycled plastic, sunflower hulls, and FSC-certified wood. All paints and coatings are zero- or very low-VOC; adhesives are entirely avoided in favor of mechanical attachments, improving end-of-life recyclability. Skyline...

Alpen Energy Group sets the bar for window energy performance using a combination of suspended films, low-e coatings, low-iron glass, gas fill, fiberglass frames insulated with vacuum-silica aerogel, and low-conductivity spacers. Its highest-performing windows achieve R-20 center-of-glass insulating value (unit R-value of 10, U-factor 0.10). The majority of the company’s products are used in projects in which different glazings are used for different...

PolyWhey is a waterborne wood finish that uses recycled whey protein, a by-product of the dairy industry, as a binder. These LEED-qualifying, low-odor coatings contain no toxic heavy metals and have a VOC level less than 180 g/L (grams per liter). They provide a clear coating that is resistant to water, chemicals, and scratches, and has twice the durability of other waterborne finishes, according to the company. This makes them well-suited for high-traffic...

Rohm and Haas has launched a new innovative binder, Rhoplex™ CS-100 Emulsion, to the North American architectural coatings market. This new thermoplastic, water-resistant binder provides excellent resistance to water blushing, is truly VOC-compliant, and exhibits an excellent balance of early block resistance and low coalescent demand in masonry and cementitious sealers and stains. Formulators can easily meet new VOC standards of 100 g/L while maintaining...