Painting the outside of a house can be transformative, increasing its value by more than 20%*, according to Graphenstone. However, Graphenstone, the world’s most certified eco paint will also actively capture carbon dioxide, with just three 15L buckets on the wall being enough to absorb the same amount of CO2 as a mature adult tree in one year.

If houses in some of the UK’s most polluted neighbourhoods were to come together and paint the exterior of their homes in carbon capturing Graphenstone, the effect would be equivalent to planting a forest in the heart of the City.

According to the Royal College of Physicians more than 40,000 people die in the UK due to air pollution.  The London Air Project (Kings College London) cites Oxford Street, Brixton Road and Putney High Street as some of the most polluted areas on earth.  The World Health Organisation states that 40 towns and cities in the UK have exceeded air pollution limits, with the worst affected including Scunthorpe, Manchester, Swansea, Leeds, Leicester and Liverpool.

Using paint to combat air pollution in a beautiful way has been the target of a global art collaboration - Graphenstone partners with Converse to create Converse City Forests** a series of murals around the globe, that uses its ecological air purifying paint to eliminate harmful substances.   The reduction of CO2, formaldehydes, and gases improves the air quality around the murals.  The paint’s lime base absorbs CO2 during the curing process, similar to a tree.  Any surface coated with it becomes an active air-purifying resource that helps protect people from harmful substances.

“Patrick Folkes, Graphenstone UK said, “We’ve all seen the magnetic effect that colourful pastel painted houses can have in areas like Notting Hill.  If UK homeowners and Councils were to come together and paint the outside of their homes and properties with our paint this summer, the results could be beautiful, financially rewarding and provide wider environmental health benefits; the paint improves and cleans the air that we breathe.” 

*Research from HomeOwners Alliance states that homes on vividly painted roads can be worth an average of 20% more than plain properties close by

** #conversecityforests

About Graphenstone:

Graphenstone meets the Cradle to Cradle Gold Standard which provides consumers, regulators and industry peers with a clear, visible, and tangible validation of the manufacturers’ ongoing commitment to sustainability.  Products are made from natural elements rather than chemicals and packaging is derived from 100% recycled materials which are fully recyclable too.

Graphenstone paints contain Graphene - the strongest material now known to science. It was discovered in 2005 by two Nobel Prize winners at Manchester University. It is a highly inert, innocuous, nontoxic pure carbon. Graphene’s inclusion in paints, coatings and other building materials exponentially enhances hardness, durability, compression, tensile strength, elasticity and coverage. It reduces the weight of materials and delivers significant savings in materials consumption, maintenance, manpower and costs.

It is carbon neutral – as the paint cures over its lifetime Graphenstone lime coatings absorb 5.5Kg of CO2 per 15 litres, from the local environment where it’s applied. The porous nature of Graphenstone’s lime and graphene-infused coatings ensures that walls can breathe. This improves air quality and reduces humidity and condensation. Microorganisms and microbial growth of bacteria and mould are deterred from rooms where Graphenstone paints are applied due to the high alkaline pH of the lime and the paints’ ventilating properties. Indoor odours, as well as biological and chemical pollutants are diffused, and allergens are reduced. The low odour and non-harmful characteristics of Graphenstone paint allows rooms to be occupied within a few hours of application.

Graphenstone UK is based in Norfolk, visit www.graphenstone.co.uk or email sales@graphenstone.co.uk for more details.