Green Indoor Environments for Health
Quality of the air and environment inside buildings is based on pollutant concentrations and conditions that can affect the health, comfort and performance of occupants -- including temperature, relative humidity, light, sound and other factors. Good IEQ is an essential component of any building, especially a green building.
Creating a better indoor environment can help building owners, managers, occupants, architects and builders to minimize or eliminate the negative health effects, liability, bad publicity, and costly renovations and repairs often associated with IEQ problems.
Improving IEQ involves designing, constructing, commissioning, operating, and maintaining buildings in ways that reduce pollution sources and remove indoor pollutants while ensuring that fresh air is continually supplied and properly circulated.
EPA’s Indoor Environments program promotes the use of integrated, whole building approaches to protect occupant health while saving energy and money. The program focuses on major building types including offices and institutional buildings, schools, homes, as well as major cross-cutting indoor air quality issues like mold and moisture. EPA offers resources from informational pamphlets to interactive CD-ROMs on how everyone from builders to homeowners can improve their indoor environment.
Call EPA's Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Information Clearinghouse at 1-800-438-4318. Or visit EPA's list of free publications at epa.gov/iaq/pubs
