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What are they?
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) are emitted by a selection of different
gases and solids such as paints and lacquers, paint strippers, cleaning
supplies, pesticides, building materials and furnishings, office equipment
such as copiers and printers, correction fluids and carbonless copy paper,
graphics and craft materials including glues and adhesives, permanent
markers, and photographic solutions.
The VOCs, or solvents, are one of the key ingredients in coatings that contribute to ozone formation. VOCs are emitted from
coatings from the containers themselves, as the coating is applied and as the
coating dries on the surface. The VOC emissions from the coatings can then mix
in the air with other ground level pollutants (nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide,
sulfur dioxide, hydrocarbons…) and the energy from the sun acts upon this
mixture to form the brown gunk in the air known as photochemical smog.
AQMD has studied the cumulative VOC emissions from architectural painting
operations and has found that these emissions exceed the combined emissions from
a variety of industrial operations. Emissions from the application of
architectural and industrial maintenance coatings during the summer months,
typically known as the peak painting and smog season, are estimated to be more
than 38 tons each day.
Why it is Important to Limit VOCs
 This
is a projection of the VOC emissions through the year 2030. You can see
that the graph is currently dominated by on-road sources. As controls go into effect, it is projected that area sources will dominate the VOC emissions. An
area source is any non-permitted stationary source of emission. Area sources
include small combustion equipment, boilers, heaters and paint and coatings
operations.
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