What is Eco-Paint anyway?

This is a question we get asked all the time - what makes a paint an eco-paint 'eco'? So I've tried to write an answer which is easy to understand, although it's not an easy subject!

Any paint generally consists of 3 things:

- Pigment (gives colour to the surface)

- Binder (sticks the pigment to the wall)

- Solvent (the liquid in which everything is dissolved)

An eco-paint should be one where none of the ingredients can harm you or the environment AND the Carbon footprint of the product is much lower than an ordinary paint.

Let's look at Solvents first: In an ordinary paint from any of the mainstream manufacturers, many of the ingredients are derived from petrochemicals. Even if the paint is water based (you can wash your brushes out in water), there will be many ingredients which would not normally dissolve in water, so they add various chemical solvents to make them dissolve - a bit like adding washing up liquid to water to dissolve the fat off a frying pan. It is these solvents and other un-named ingredients which are harmful to our health. When we paint them on the wall, they evaporate into the air and pollute the air in our homes for years after being applied.

Eco-paints are generally 'solvent free', which means that the ingredients dissolve in water without the help of chemical solvents. Many chemical solvents are also VOCs (volatile organic compounds). The man-made variety of VOC is generally harmful to health - even in tiny quantities, the effects can be chronic (allergies, asthma, even carcinogenic effects). Any man-made VOC quantity in a paint is harmful. Look for an ingredients list - if it's not there, ask yourself why?

So - on to Binders - the things which stick the colour to the wall. Another question which we get asked is 'are eco-paints as durable as ordinary paints'. Durability generally depends on the binder - i.e. how well is the pigment stuck to the wall? With many eco-paints, because the binder is water soluble, you can rub the paint off the wall if you apply water and a lot of elbow grease. GreenSteps got round this problem by using a binder which is liquid stone (silicate). This works with a water based paint without the aid of chemical solvents and, once it has dried on the wall (cured), it can't turn back to liquid again, so you can't scrub it off the wall. Clever eh?

Finally, on to the Carbon footprint. Eco-paints should use naturally derived ingredients, which inherently have far less embodied energy than the petrochemicals in ordinary paints. The production process of an eco-paint is therefore much less energy intensive - so the paint has a lower Carbon footprint. Hooray!

Always look for an ingredients list on your paint tin (it's not a legal requirement). If it's not there, why not? What is there to hide in the paint?

GreenSteps Natural Eco-paint is free of solvents, free of VOCs and made from natural ingredients. See www.greensteps.co.uk/paint for an interactive map of where to buy it.

Keep asking those questions - we love hearing from you!

GreenSteps at Ecobuild 2010

What a great week we had at the Ecobuild 2010 exhibition. I think this is the building event of the year now and I hope the change of venue from Earls Court to Excel next year doesn't change the atmosphere adversely. Thanks to everyone who visited our stand - we met so many people with sensible views on the environment and the benefits of building to a much higher standard.

Here at GreenSteps, we're trying to bring ultra-high performance products into the mainstream by making them more affordable. We exhibited our new range of triple glazed windows and doors, which ranges from very high performance products right up to a Passivhaus Institut certified window and door solution. It seems that many more people are now talking about building either to Passivhaus standards or to Code (for Sustainable Homes) levels 5 and 6. This is a fantastic development and in order to make these dreams a reality, architects and specifiers need really to concentrate on getting the fabric of the building up to as high a standard as possible. This means not just specifying the right products in the first place, but thinking carefully about how they will work together and really importantly, how to ensure they are actually fitted together properly on site. What's the use in having a Passivhaus certified window if it's not mounted properly? More and more, we are being asked to help with detailing around windows and doors. We have the capability to incorporate our products into detail CAD drawings and we're happy to provide this service at no cost to our customers.

Most importantly, our products are fantastic value. In many cases, our customers have told us that our quotes are cheaper than quotes for much lower specification products. We'll keep striving to lower our prices and make ultra-high performance a really affordable option!

50W equivalent LED spotlight is here!

I'm delighted that we're now able to offer a real LED alternative to a halogen GU10 50W spotlight. A real warm colour, really bright light, 40 degree beam angle and only 4W energy consumption - it's the real deal. See http://www.greensteps.co.uk/sp/low-energy-light-bulbs/led-bulbs/glo-4w-led-gu10-spotlight-warm-white/497

Watch out for the newsletter for a great special offer on these.

GreenSteps Adopts the Highest Security Level for Website Transactions

We have upgraded the security on the GreenSteps website to Extended Validation - this means that customers can now see that we have been independently identified as GreenSteps Ltd by Thawte (the issuers of our SSL security certificate). When you go through to the payment pages when making an order, you will see your web browser's address bar turn green to indicate that you are now on a secure website and your payment card details are safe; known as the 'green bar of trust' and used by major banks and other high security websites.

Extended Validation uses the highest level of encryption available and confirms that GreenSteps is committed to using the highest level of security for our online transactions. GreenSteps has always taken its customer's security very seriously and we never store our customer's credit card details. They are submitted directly to our bank HSBC for processing, without being stored in our database.

Spread the word! GreenSteps Natural Eco-Paint is on the shelves at Tesco!

Just a quick update to say that our paint has found its way onto the shelves now at 61 Tesco stores. You can see which ones at www.greensteps.co.uk/paint. At just £17 for 2.5L, it's the best value natural paint around - VOC and Solvent free. Tell your friends!

GreenSteps Natural Eco-Paint at Tesco

This morning saw an exciting leap forward in GreenSteps' history. Our first delivery of our own brand Natural Eco-Paint has been made to one of Tesco's warehouses. Here is some of it on a pallet before it was wrapped up for delivery. Anyone who has ever had anything to do with a big retailer will know that their delivery standards are very exacting, so my heart was in my mouth as I phoned at 7am to make sure everything had gone smoothly. Yes, it arrived on time and in order. So, all being well, it will be on the shelves during the week beginning 26th October at 60 Tesco Extra and Tesco HomePlus stores. You can see where these are on an interactive map that we've created by clicking here.

So, why is natural paint important? Nowadays, particularly at this time of year, we spend over 90% of our time indoors. We also tend to think of the air outside as the stuff which gets polluted - by cars, planes, power stations and so on. However, this is actually a misconception, the air inside our houses is riddled with pollutants - and they are far more concentrated as they can't escape. From cleaning chemicals, to furniture, carpets and even the very materials from which the house is made, the sources of the invisible chemicals polluting the air of our homes are everywhere. However, whenever we paint our homes with ordinary paints, which are made from petroleum derived chemicals, we actively invite a toxic soup of chemical pollutants to evaporate into the air of our homes. The types of chemicals include solvents (yes, even in water based paints there are solvents), volatile organic compounds or VOC's (which are greenhouse gases in themselves and generally not very pleasant) and preservatives, amongst others. Have you ever asked yourself why a tin of ordinary paint has no list of ingredients? It's far from a case of 'what you don't know can't harm you', quite the opposite. Not only do we fill our homes with chemicals when we paint them, but we effectively cover our walls in a plastic coating, which prevents them from breathing and becomes charged with static electricity, attracting dust.

GreenSteps Natural Eco-Paint, on the other hand, is made from naturally derived minerals, not petrochemicals. During its manufacture, no pollution is produced and its ingredients have far lower embodied energy than those of an ordinary paint. Each of the ingredients is listed clearly on the tin. It contains no VOC's at all, not one little bit. No solvents (other than water). Essentially, it it a totally inert product and emits no fumes into the room at all. In fact, as the binder is liquid stone, it actually absorbs Carbon Dioxide from the air as it cures. However, this is not enough by itself, paint has to perform a function - if it doesn't work, then it's a waste of time. That's why we have been very careful to ensure that GreenSteps paint is just as easy to apply as ordinary paint and gives the same coverage level. It's also highly breathable, meaning the plaster on your walls has a chance to breathe, which will help prevent condensation at times when the air inside is particularly humid - like when you're cooking or running a bath. Because the binder turns to stone on the wall, the paint is very durable and can be wiped and scrubbed to your heart's content without coming off the wall.

All fantastic I hear you say, but surely it must come at a price? Well, we're delighted to say that it's going to be sold for a sensible price. Natural paints have traditionally hovered around the £10 a litre mark. That makes them expensive for most people. GreenSteps Natural Eco-Paint is going to be sold for £16.99 for 2.5 litres - which works out as £6.80 per litre. It's about the same price as an ordinary tin of emulsion and it's certainly amazing value for a natural paint. Now natural paint is a realistic and accessible choice for people.

In the meantime, we're working on obtaining the 'Natureplus' logo for the paint, which is an outstanding environmental standard, reserved for only the most eco-conscious paint manufacturers. It's the same standard as the 'Norweigian Swan' logo. We should have this by the end of the year. The paint will be on the Tesco shelves by 26th October, so keep your eyes peeled. Click here to find your nearest stocking store.