ABSTRACT
Indoor air quality is influenced by many different factors. Lifestyles have changed, people spend much more time indoors than even a generation ago, and it is estimated that an average household has as many as 250 different chemicals stored inside. Often, the gases emitted by these chemicals are inert, but when placed beside another chemical in storage, two or more gases can combine and react, causing harmful vapours to be sent through the house. Many building materials contain chemicals which also ‘outgas' when combined with household chemicals. In an airtight, energy efficient home with insufficient ventilation, these reactions can cause health problems. The focus of energy Indoor air quality efficient buildings has been on how to keep the heated air inside the building. But without ventilation, there is nowhere for stale, polluted air to go. With rising numbers of reports of people being made sick by the buildings they live or work in, the need for increased fresh air supply and filtration has become apparent, but so has the need to reduce or eliminate pollutants at their source within the building envelope. <inline-graphic content-type="colour" xlink:href="<a href="https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781849776646/5daee11c-c0bb-4b22-a880-b3bbe79df239/content/inline6_1_C.tif" target="_blank">https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781849776646/5daee11c-c0bb-4b22-a880-b3bbe79df239/content/inline6_1_C.tif</a>" xmlns:xlink="<a href="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" target="_blank">https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink</a>"/> Did You Know…
The World Health Organization estimates that 30 per cent of homes and buildings contain enough indoor pollutants to cause health problems for a significant portion of the population, ranging from sniffles to fatal allergic reactions. While building codes establish minimal ventilation rates and maximum available concentrations of proven pollutants, it is left to the homeowner to source and solve particular problems.
