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RESEARCH, POLICIES AND PROGRAM OPTIONS FOR IMPROVING INDOOR ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Citation:
Mudarri, D., T. Dean, AND D. Betancourt. RESEARCH, POLICIES AND PROGRAM OPTIONS FOR IMPROVING INDOOR ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY. EPA/600/R-19/173.
Impact/Purpose:
This synthesis paper will begin to develop a catalogue of key target pollutants found in the indoor environment, and a set of priority pollutants to be called the Target Indoor Pollutants (TIP). It is expected that the first round of the TIP list will contain roughly 8-15 pollutants representing chemicals, microbiologicals, and PM2.5. Source characterization work on the pollutants will take place simultaneously with and in response to completion of TIP list. This source characterization work will focus not only on the point source of the pollutant in the indoor environment, but also the relationship of the pollutant to the ambient conditions outside the building envelope. Additional characterization work will also focus on different reactions of pollutants (e.g., ozone reacting with products containing limonene forming formaldehyde). The results of this research will allow for better modeling of the movement of target indoor pollutants within the building envelope as well as their movement from the ambient environment indoors. These results will also couple with ongoing health studies to link these target indoor pollutants with respiratory and cardiovascular effects. A major impetus for this work is the need to help ensure effective and efficient development of mitigation strategies that are LCA based by generating new and improved data on public impacts of indoor pollutants affecting health, performance, and productivity. This register will be used to focus on specific contaminants generated both within the built environment, and generated in the ambient environment, and transported across the building envelope.
Description:
The purpose of this report is to synthesize what was learned in the Science Literature Review, and, on that basis, provide guidance for the EPA and its partners in formulating research and policies for improving indoor environmental quality going forward. The term “indoor environmental quality” rather than just “indoor pollutants) is used to reflect the very significant interplay revealed in the science review between airborne, surface borne, and waterborne pollutants, and between indoor pollutants and indoor climate, and the influence of both on building occupants.