INTEGRATING INDOOR AIR AND DESIGN FOR SUSTAINABILITY

Integration of IAQ concerns in so-called sustainable designs has suffered from a lack of a comprehensive, science-based assessment methodology for building environmental performance. Guidance and rating systems for “green ” buildings fail to address systematically the trade-offs necessary for assessment of the overall performance of a building or its design. This paper presents a framework constructed on the basis of Building Ecology for such an assessment. Using the environmental capacity concept developed and used in the Netherlands in the early 1990s, environmental performance targets can be established. Specific environmental goals including those for indoor air quality can be articulated and targets established for use with life cycle assessment tools. The overall result is an approach to building design and evaluation of completed buildings that can create better indoor environments as well as reduced impacts on the general environment with appropriate and clearly-articulated emphasis on the local context as well as global environmental concerns