What are indoor air quality priorities for energy-efficient buildings?

Abstract

Buildings should provide shelter and the appropriate conditions for working, learning, leisure and comfortable living. A built environment should be safe, with no health hazards for its users, due to either poor design and construction, or inadequate operation, maintenance and performance. Negligence or failing to take any of the actions required to comply with appropriately set quality criteria for the indoor environment can lead to serious indoor environmental problems that result in substantial financial costs and other undesirable consequences for health and comfort. A comprehensive and integrated approach for creating and maintaining good indoor environmental quality in buildings is required in the relevant disciplines, policies, regulations and standards. Numerous factors should be considered as determinants of indoor environmental quality and its effects on safety, energy efficiency, health, comfort and productivity. They include: outdoor air pollution and climate, the construction materials and consumer products used indoors, ventilation technologies and practices and the behaviour of occupants. The approach should also take into account potential constraints, for example, the availability of appropriate technologies and the required energy resources. The heating, cooling and lighting of buildings account for nearly 40% of total energy consumption in the EU and contribute to about 36% of all greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere. Limitations on energy use in buildings are imposed to reduce these impacts. These limitations are progressively being imposed by strategies and policies at the EU and global targets that aim to reduce the carbon footprint of society in order to slow down the process of climate change. The building stock is progressively changing to meet the new requirements and challenges. Highly energy-efficient buildings, which are also known as nearly zero-energy buildings are being constructed. They use less energy than the traditional or average contemporary buildings. The change in building stock affects not only new buildings but also existing buildings, which when renovated and retrofitted can substantially reduce their energy use, too. This fairly radical and rapid change in the requirements for energy use in buildings is not adequately supported by scientific evidence on the potential implications for the health and comfort of the occupants of highly energy-efficient buildings. Among the important issues to consider and investigate are: the common perception of highly energy-efficient buildings; the health implications of occupants’ behaviour and of the parameters of indoor environmental quality, as well as the trade-offs between different factors affecting energy efficiency and indoor environmental quality. An agenda for appropriately addressing these issues through research, model solutions and policies is thus urgently required. This agenda should identify the most critical aspects of highly energy-efficient buildings and the steps that will have to be taken to avoid any negative consequences of the worldwide effort to impose rigorous limits on energy use in buildings. An attempt to define such an agenda was made during the workshops organised by the Air Infiltration and Ventilation Centre (AIVC). The workshops were commissioned by the Joint European Medical Research Board (JEMRB) through funding provided by the European Insulation Manufacturers’ Association (EURIMA). The issues related to indoor air quality (IAQ) in highly energy-efficient buildings were only addressed by invited experts from disciplines relevant for the topic including ventilation, medicine, epidemiology, building systems and building policies; legislators and other stakeholders involved in building design, construction and operation were invited, too. Consequences of poor IAQ on health including the estimation of burden of disease due to poor air quality and an overview of current guidelines on IAQ and health were discussed as well as current requirements to achieve high IAQ with a focus on ventilation requirements and standards and on labelling methods for the