Certification firm acquires indoor air quality tester
Northbrook, Ill.-based UL Environment has acquired Atlanta-based Air Quality Sciences (AQS) and its certifying body, GreenGuard Environmental Institute (GEI). AQS conducts indoor air quality emissions tests, while GEI certifies building products and materials for low chemical emissions. The companies will become part of UL Environment and will join the UL Global Network. UL Environment is a business unit of Northbrook, Ill.-based UL (Underwriters Laboratories), an independent product safety certification organization.
AQS helps manufacturers better understand the chemicals contained in and emitted from the products they produce. The company has developed environmental chamber technology that has enabled it to test more than 70,000 products for chemical emissions and catalog the presence of 12,000 product-specific chemicals that can pollute indoor air.
Certification from GEI helps manufacturers provide assurance that their products have been independently evaluated for low chemical emissions.
GreenGuard Indoor Air Quality Certification and GreenGuard Children & Schools Certification are trusted third-party indoor air quality certifications in North America. About 350 manufacturers worldwide currently participate in the GreenGuard Certification Program, representing 19 unique industries and 10,000 products.
The new combination brings together AQS/GreenGuard’s testing technology and expertise of indoor air quality with UL’s experience in standards development, testing and compliance.
“This acquisition combines AQS’s world-class technology and expertise, as well as GreenGuard’s brand recognition and scientific rigor, with UL’s trusted history of standards development, testing and compliance to create a more comprehensive solution for testing and certification,” said Steve Wenc, president of UL Environment. “Together, we’ll help consumers, regulators and other interested parties make informed product purchases by providing clarity around indoor air quality claims.”
Also at UL Environment, Scot Case now serves as the market development director. Case, a frequent contributor to Penton’s Government Procurement magazine, maintains the title of vice president at Ottawa, Ontario-based TerraChoice, an environmental marketing agency.
