Thread by @Poppendieck

What is the next step to improve Indoor Air Quality (IAQ)?

After the White House summit on Indoor Air Quality (#WHIAQ) many people asked what is next?
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This thread explores EIGHT actions that federal, state, and/or local jurisdictions, along with standard and codes bodies can do NOW to improve IAQ.
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NOTE: I am summarizing ideas proposed by others at the #WHIAQ summit (either during presentations or in discussions afterwards). As a federal employee I am not advocating for any of these actions.
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Let’s start by reviewing the four ways to improve indoor air quality:
⦁Source control (don’t bring it inside)
⦁Ventilation (bring in outside air)
⦁Filtration (mainly for particles)
⦁Control moisture (mold control)
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So, what can we do right now on a massive scale to address these points in the wide variety of buildings that make up our communities?

Remember, the suggestions in this thread are for addressing indoor air quality in general, and are not COVID19 focused.
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All these ideas have potential health and economic benefits along with potential economic, energy and global warming costs. Each idea has detail and implementation issues that need to be worked out that would each require a separate thread.
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But this list provides a starting point of actions that can be taken now that we can build on to create better, safer, and healthier indoor spaces for all people.
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1) Pass a federal “Clean Indoor Air Act”.

Proposed by many and most recently @CorsIAQ at the #WHIAQ summit: The act would ensure slow and steady progress towards cleaner indoor air much as the Clean Air Act (1970) has done for outdoor air.
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While the details would need to be worked out the goal would be to provide safe, healthy air for ALL people in ALL indoor spaces.
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2) Require buildings to be independently verified that they are operating as designed.

Most recently advocated for by @WBahnfleth. Once a new building is a commissioned, there are no requirements that a building is operating as designed from a ventilation/HVAC perspective.
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A building can operate for years with poor ventilation in all or part of the space. By requiring commercial spaces’ air quality performance to be independent verified on a regular basis (biannual?) things like broken fans, dampers, incorrect settings can all be addressed.
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3) Increase ventilation rate requirements.

Proposed by @j_g_allen most recently at the @WHIAQ. In pandemic responses there are many recommendations to increase ventilation, but no actual values required.
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@j_g_allen proposes that ventilation requirements be increased to 30 cfm/person (currently school ventilation requirements in standards are ~5-10 cfm/person depending on the size space and age of the students).
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4) Require all new residential construction to have externally ventilated cooking hoods.

Proposed by @ShellyMBoulder at #WHIAQ summit. Cooking is one of the biggest sources of indoor air pollution in homes. @ShellyMBoulder studied this:
sciencedirect.com/science/articl….
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Many residences have recirculating fans that catch grease but do nothing to reduce concentrations of gas and particles emitted by cooking. This is especially true in multifamily residential units (apartments).
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5) Require all new residential construction to have HRV/ERV (heat recovery ventilation/energy recovery ventilation).

Mentioned in discussions at #WHIAQ. Most US residences do not have mechanical ventilation systems. Outside air only enters through cracks and windows.
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In most cases, bring outside air inside will reduce the overall concentrations of chemicals in our homes where on average we spend 54 years of our lives.(

https://twitter.com/CorsIAQ/status/1284606367379030016

). HRV/ERVs recover some of the energy we need to use to heat and cool the air we are replacing.
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6) Require building IAQ ratings to be posted at entrances of public buildings.

Proposed by many and most recently highlighted by @WargockiPawel. (sciencedirect.com/science/articl…)
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Buildings would be evaluated based on a variety of IAQ metrics (including ventilation and targeted chemical concentrations) and a score would be given. The score would be posted outside the building much like health code ratings for restaurants.
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7) Require schools and other high occupancy spaces to monitor IAQ (CO2 and PM) and transparently display results.

This has been proposed by many and implemented by @BostonSchools (bostonschoolsiaq.terrabase.com), @BerkeleyUnified (berkeleyusdpublic.iaqdashboard.ca/public-portal.…), and soon @MCPS.
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An example bill (did not pass) pushing for this (mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Leg… ) in Maryland was advocated for by @Don_Milton. These actions tie into item #2 by quickly identifying underperforming spaces and targeting maintenance and replacement dollars towards those locations.
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8) Education about Indoor Air.

Speaking of schools, @CorsIAQ noted at the #WHIAQ summit that we need to discuss on education. Specifically we need to teach about indoor air in our grade schools, universities and medical schools.
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Just like we teach about the water cycle and water quality in grade schools, we should include indoor air in education efforts. (

https://twitter.com/Poppendieck/status/1514551144072327169

).
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I am sure there are many more ideas out there to improve IAQ that federal, state, and local jurisdictions, along with efforts that standard and codes bodies can do. As @j_g_allen stated, we don’t know everything about IAQ, but we know enough to act now.
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Now is the time to start improving IAQ for ALL people in ALL indoor spaces.
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