IAQ 2016 Defining Indoor Air Quality: Policy, Standards and Best Practices Co-Organized by ASHRAE and AIVC

This presentation will examine how good indoor environmental quality and quality housing can support health, potentially reduce health care costs, and why this connection is essential for economic and human development. Key gaps in knowledge as well as disconnects in housing investment and health care policies remain, and are pronounced in respiratory health and ventilation system design. A World Health Organization project to produce new international healthy housing guidelines, as well as recently completed studies will be reviewed. In particular, a recently published study comparing new and older ASHRAE residential ventilation standards during weatherization showed that improved ventilation rates, moisture balance, and indoor air quality yielded significant health improvements for children, who had fewer headaches, eczema and skin allergies and also for adults who had improvements in psychological distress. These findings have profound implications for both ventilation policy and health policy. Creation of new dynamic links between ventilation engineers and housing and health professionals is needed to improve the evidence base.