New trends in IAQ and ventilation

Fifty six office buildings in nine European countries were audited during the heating season of 1993-1994 using an agreed upon procedure to investigate the indoor air quality and energy consumption. The results of this IAQ-Audit project show that the largest indoor pollution sources in office buildings are construction materials, furnishings and indoor activities, immediately followed by the HVAC systems themselves. Thus, priority must be given to source control. A better knowledge of the pollution sources, in particular of those associated with materials and improperly designed and managed ventilation Systems, is required. The results confun that more ventilation tends to lead to better indoor air quality. However, it is also demonstrated that there are cases where more ventilation does not necessarily eive the expected IAQ results. That means that more energy use may not necessarily lead to better indoor air quality