How the Building America IAQ Roadmap Will Help Define IAQ for High Performance Homes

Today the U.S. housing industry is at a critical juncture in its ability to deliver homes that safely and effectively meet increasingly demanding performance requirements of homeowners and modern building codes. But the housing industry must learn to better manage real and perceived risks that can impact occupant health and comfort and building durability. It is clear from decades of applied research through the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Building America program that many building energy efficiency and performance improvements will not be adopted by the market or industry standards if they increase the likelihood of IAQ problems. Furthermore, good IAQ and healthy home features have been shown to be powerful drivers for energy efficiency and improved home performance. In 2015, Building America published a new integrated strategy to address these challenges and opportunities. The Building America Research-to-Market Plan, including three integrated Building America Technology-to-Market Roadmaps, will guide Building America’s RD&D activities over the coming years, to tightly focus program efforts on solving three critical challenges, and on improving the ability of the housing market infrastructure to adopt innovations that address them. The three Building America Roadmaps include: A) high-performance, moisture-managed envelope solutions; B) optimal comfort systems for low-load homes; and C) optimal ventilation and Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) solutions (the “IAQ Roadmap”). This paper describes the Building America IAQ Roadmap in more detail and highlight progress to date. This roadmap seeks to guide RD&D and market engagement to ensure that the development of best practices, specifications, and improved industry standards (e.g., future editions of ASHRAE 62.2) account for the effects that the building and its systems may have on the health of occupants and the durability of the building, while minimizing energy usage. The roadmap provides detailed strategic objectives that focus on improving technologies and industry standards in three areas: 1) Targeted pollutant solutions that better control known indoor contaminants of concern, near their emission source(s), to allow for improved IAQ without increasing dilution ventilation requirements; 2) Smart ventilation technology solutions that optimize the balance between IAQ and energy and account for other variables that affect IAQ, such as occupancy, exhaust fan (e.g., dryer and range hood) operation, indoor and outdoor temperature, RH, and outdoor pollutant levels (e.g., ozone and particles); and 3) IAQ valuation that facilitates standardized, quantified assessments of home IAQ to encourage more informed and objective design decisions regarding IAQ measures.