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Address Indoor Air Quality Early in the Design Process

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Indoor air quality (IAQ) is a tough sell for many architects, designers, building owners, and facility managers. At first glance, maintaining good IAQ has no immediate ROI and appears a pointless expense. Green building certification criteria typically allocate only one credit for new construction or commercial interiors. That is a lot of work and money for something that does not show an immediate impact on the bottom line! Another serious challenge is the lack of preliminary planning for earning an IAQ credit, such as LEED IEQ Credit 3.2, Construction Indoor Air Quality Management Plan—Before Occupancy. This ultimately leads to increased costs and even further frustration when a planning attempt is made late in the project.

Architects, designers, building owners, and facility managers may not realize that a high-performance, green certified building can lose its luster if it has poor IAQ. The same building could harbor bad odors, stuffy and stale air, or leave building occupants feeling lethargic with headaches, sore throats or irritated eyes. Even severe health problems including asthma, allergies and other respiratory conditions can be attributed to poor IAQ. While many energy efficiency measures have the potential to degrade IAQ, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has determined only minor adjustments are required to protect the indoor environment (EPA 2000).

Poor IAQ is entirely preventable if there is a commitment to earning green building credits (for example LEED IEQ Credit 3.2 or other green building program equivalent) during the design process. Among the most powerful strategies for successfully balancing energy conservation and IAQ is a proactive Indoor Air Quality Management Plan—especially if green building certification is a goal. An IAQ Management Plan guides designers, builders, owners, and facility managers in creating and maintaining healthy indoor environments throughout the building’s life cycle. This reduces liability and the risk of litigation, puts mechanisms in place to identify and quickly resolve IAQ problems, and offers advice on how to manage communications should building occupant complaints arise. Key elements of an IAQ Management Plan include:

• Specifying building products, materials, furnishings, finishes and office equipment, and using cleaning products and processes that emit low levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and particulates.
• Assessing the heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC) system to ensure that it effectively removes indoor air contaminants and provides the prescribed amounts of clean, outdoor air as needed for designed building occupancy and usage.
• Authorizing pre-occupancy clearance testing for chemical, particulate and microbial contaminants.
• Removing sources and correcting underlying problems if levels are found to be too high.
• Conducting periodic IAQ audits throughout the building’s life to monitor indoor air contaminant levels. These audits can be designed to meet LEED Innovation credit requirements.
• Training building employees and maintenance staff on early recognition of potential IAQ issues.

With respect to building materials, finishes and furnishings that emit the most prevalent and worrisome indoor air pollutants, testing the air before building occupancy is one sure way to document the acceptability of IAQ. As an example, LEED IEQ Credit 3.2 and several other building certification programs have defined indoor air criteria following construction. Buildings that have indoor air concentrations at or below specific maximum concentrations (Table 1) can achieve this credit.  However, LEED IEQ Credit 3.2 is not a prerequisite.

Table 1. LEED EQ Credit 3.2 Maximum Indoor Air Contaminant Concentrations

Contaminant Maximum Concentration
Formaldehyde 27 parts per billion 
Particulates (PM10)  50 micrograms per cubic meter 
Total VOCs  500 micrograms per cubic meter 
4-Phenylcyclohexane (4-PCH)*  6.5 micrograms per cubic meter 
Carbon monoxide (CO)  9 parts per million and no greater than 2 parts per million above outdoor levels 

* This test is only required if carpets and fabrics with styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) latex backing are installed as a part of base building systems.

Air Quality Sciences has conducted baseline IAQ testing in a series of commercial building projects attempting to achieve a green building certification. We have found that VOCs may exceed recommended values in those buildings which have not made IAQ a priority. Chances are, architects, designers and owners of these buildings did not require the use of low emitting products nor had a program in place to ensure proper selection, verification and use of these products. Compare the Total VOC (TVOC) levels obtained in 10 recent building projects (Table 2) with the green building recommendations in Table 1. The levels are three to six times higher than the allowed level, and as a result, building occupant complaints of irritation and poor indoor air quality are likely. Table 3 lists those chemicals of concern as well as frequently found VOCs in these building projects. Chemicals of concern are those with known carcinogenic or long term health risks. The most frequently found VOCs appeared in at least eight of the 10 buildings with most appearing in all.


Table 2.
Summary of TVOC Values (Green Commercial Construction)

Parameter TVOC, ug/m3 Recommended Value
Median 1560 500
Average 1700 500
Range 1350 – 3240 500


Table 3.
Commonly Found VOCs (Green Commercial Construction)

Chemicals of Concern Most Frequently Found
Ethylene glycol Toluene
Hexane Xylenes
Methyl propanol Undecanes
Benzene Phenol
Ethyl benzene Nonanes
Carbon disulfide Dodecanes
Tetrachloroethylene Decanes
Trichloroethylene Cyclopentasiloxanes
Methylene chloride Cyclohexanes
Naphthalene Ethyl benzene
Phenol Trimethylbenzenes
Styrene Acetophenone
Toluene Ethyl toluene
Xylenes Propyl acetate

Creating an effective IAQ Management Plan, targeted to a building’s specific needs, including achieving IAQ credits, requires expert help as does conducting required building flush out or IAQ baseline testing.

Anthony (Tony) Worthan serves as president and COO of Air Quality Sciences (AQS). Tony oversees all company operations, including business development, financial and strategic planning. Tony is an expert on emissions from interior furnishings, construction materials and other consumer products, as well as the impact of emissions on human health. AQS is a fully integrated indoor air quality (IAQ) company that provides solutions to create healthy indoor environments and avoid potentially dangerous indoor pollution. With the largest ISO 17025 accredited environmental chamber laboratory in the world, AQS assists manufacturers in developing and verifying nontoxic products through risk management and assessment processes.

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