“An approach to lowering the concentrations of indoor air pollutants in your home is to increase the amount of outdoor air coming…

Ventilation

“An approach to lowering the concentrations of indoor air pollutants in your home is to increase the amount of outdoor air coming…
-EPA, Improving Indoor Air Quality

“Because new houses are built to a high level of energy efficiency and older homes are being updated, the amount outside air exchanged with inside air is dropping dramatically in homes throughout the United States. The upside is that you’re being energy-efficient. The downside is your breathing the same air over and over, and allergens do build up in the house.” -National Jewish Medical and Research Center.

Ventilation requirements were lowered in the ’70’s in order to improve energy efficiency and to save on fuel costs. Unfortunately, after lowering the requirements, there was an increase in environmental illnesses and “sick building syndrome”. Recently, though, ASHRAE (the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Condiitoning Engineers) has recommended increasing the amount of fresh air in commercial buildings and homes. By increasing the amount of fresh air circulating throughout a building, concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and mycotoxins (mVOCs) from molds can be diluted to levels where they do not pose a health threat.

Ventilation, though, is only a part of the solution. For a complete solution to indoor air quality, you will need to have good air filtration, humidity controls and protect the building envelope itself. For more information, search through the menu options to the right.