Comments on: Kick-Start your Green Practices http://blog.schuttelumber.com/green-products/kick-start-your-green-practices/ A wholesale and contractor supplier with a 13-acre lumber yard, on-site mill, and a contractor showroom in Kansas City, Missouri. Mon, 06 Sep 2010 05:52:38 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: rich http://blog.schuttelumber.com/green-products/kick-start-your-green-practices/comment-page-1/#comment-51 rich Wed, 17 Mar 2010 04:22:15 +0000 http://blog.schuttelumber.com/?p=276#comment-51 Great tips that will improve the indoor air quality of the finished home. I'd like to make two suggestions: 1) Design in variable amount of fresh air into the ventilation system. Indoor air is more polluted than outside air. A HEPA filter can be used to remove pollen and other dust. A heat exchanger can reduce energy lose. Commercial buildings require a complete air exchange every hour. Homes have more pollution sources, yet most have no fresh air component. It can take up to ten hours to exchange residential air. The typical result is unhealthy indoor air quality. 2) After construction is completed and the home has been ventilated to eliminate the initial spike of off gassing, test the indoor air quality of formaldehyde and other VOC's. Don't think residential indoor air quality is a problem? The California Air Resources Board's report published December 15, 2009 states: "Nearly all homes (98%) had formaldehyde concentrations that exceeded guidelines for cancer and chronic irritation..." The executive summary: http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/apr/past/04-310exec_sum.pdf The full report: http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/apr/past/04-310.pdf The principal researcher's power point presentation: http://iee-sf.com/resources/pdf/ResidentialVentilation.pdf Also the February 2010 copy of the Synergist, a peer reviewed magizine, has a cover article on the poor indoor air quality of residential homes. It points out that energy efficient and/or green homes are worse than normal homes, so being green alone is not adequate. Great tips that will improve the indoor air quality of the finished home. I’d like to make two suggestions:

1) Design in variable amount of fresh air into the ventilation system. Indoor air is more polluted than outside air. A HEPA filter can be used to remove pollen and other dust. A heat exchanger can reduce energy lose. Commercial buildings require a complete air exchange every hour. Homes have more pollution sources, yet most have no fresh air component. It can take up to ten hours to exchange residential air. The typical result is unhealthy indoor air quality.

2) After construction is completed and the home has been ventilated to eliminate the initial spike of off gassing, test the indoor air quality of formaldehyde and other VOC’s.

Don’t think residential indoor air quality is a problem? The California Air Resources Board’s report published December 15, 2009 states:

“Nearly all homes (98%) had formaldehyde concentrations that exceeded guidelines for cancer and chronic irritation…”

The executive summary:
http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/apr/past/04-310exec_sum.pdf

The full report:
http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/apr/past/04-310.pdf

The principal researcher’s power point presentation:
http://iee-sf.com/resources/pdf/ResidentialVentilation.pdf

Also the February 2010 copy of the Synergist, a peer reviewed magizine, has a cover article on the poor indoor air quality of residential homes. It points out that energy efficient and/or green homes are worse than normal homes, so being green alone is not adequate.

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