Improving the Quality of the Indoor Environment Utilizing Desiccant-Assisted Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning Systems

Abstract

Throughout history, diverse cultures and societies have appreciated the importance of a clean and healthy environment (Bardana, Montanaro et al. 1988). In western societies today, most people spend over 90% of their time indoors (Teichman 1995; EPA 2003). Reports involving buildings with indoor air-related problems have appeared increasingly in the medical and scientific literature, although this problem has been with humans for centuries. Sick building syndrome (SBS), a common term for symptoms that result from individuals’ exposure to poor IAQ (IAQ), was first recognized as an important problem that affects occupants in certain buildings in 1982. The first official study of SBS to examine more than one structure was published in 1984 (Finningan, Pickering et al. 1984). SBS has been difficult to define, and no single cause of the malady has been identified (Hodgson 1992). Early studies showed that many of the reported causes of SBS included undesirably high levels of known respiratory irritants such as nitrogen and sulfur dioxides, hydrocarbons, and particulates (National Academy of Sciences 1981), known or suspected carcinogens such as asbestos, radon, formaldehyde, and tobacco smoke (Sterling 1984), or chemicals released by new building materials. Although fungal spores are ubiquitous in the indoor and outdoor environments, they are now generally accepted as important causes of respiratory allergies (Solomon 1975; Bernstein 1983). Although no single cause for the symptoms induced by poor IAQ likely exists, the presence of fungi, spores, and fungal growth in sick buildings has become consistently associated with this problem (Miller 1992; Mishra 1992; Cooley 1998). Since Biblical times, indoor fungal contamination and IAQ have been a cause for concern in society. Leviticus 14:33-45, in the Old Testament, states that a house needs to be cleaned and ridded of mildew to be clean and free of mold (Heller, Heller et al. 2003). If the house cannot be cleaned, then it is to be torn down. This is similar to the manner in which IAQ issues associated with fungal contamination are addressed today. Air pollution became an