IEQ Assessment

Buildings with good indoor environmental quality protect the health and comfort of building occupants. High-quality indoor environments also enhance productivity, decrease absenteeism, improve the building’s value, and reduce liability for building designers and owners. 

We spend about 80-90 percent of our time indoors, where concentrations of pollutants are often much higher than those outside. 

Thousands of chemicals and biological pollutants are found indoors, many of which are known to have significant health impacts both indoors and in other environments.

Indoor Environmental Quality (EIQ) can be categorized into 4 sections.

1. Indoor Air Quality 
2. Lighting 
3. Acoustic performance
4. Controls over one's surroundings

Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) refers to the air quality within and around buildings and structures, especially as it relates to the health and comfort of building occupants. Understanding and controlling common pollutants indoors can help reduce your risk of indoor health concerns.

Health effects from indoor air pollutants may be experienced soon after exposure or, possibly, years later.

The air we breathe indoors, and ultimately our health, can be impacted by many factors, including the air quality outdoors, people’s activities indoors, and the design, construction, operation and maintenance of a building.

Indoor pollution sources that release gases or particles into the air are the primary cause of indoor air quality problems. Inadequate ventilation can increase indoor pollutant levels by not bringing in enough outdoor air to dilute emissions from indoor sources and by not carrying indoor air pollutants out of the area. High temperature and humidity levels can also increase concentrations of some pollutants.

If too little outdoor air enters indoors, pollutants can accumulate to levels that can pose health and comfort problems. Unless buildings are built with special mechanical means of ventilation, those designed and constructed to minimize the amount of outdoor air that can "leak" in and out may have higher indoor pollutant levels.

There are many sources of indoor air pollution. These can include:

• Asbestos
• Biological Pollutants
• Carbon Monoxide (CO)
• Formaldehyde/Pressed Wood Products
• Lead (Pb)
• Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2)
• Pesticides
• Radon (Rn)
• Indoor Particulate Matter
• Secondhand Smoke/ Environmental Tobacco Smoke
• Stoves and Heaters
• Fireplaces and Chimneys
• Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)

Lighting 

Increased access to daylight has positive human behavioral and health effects because it reinforces our circadian rhythms. Access to sufficient daylight has been shown to increase healing times in hospitals, improve students’ performance, increase productivity in the workplace, fight depression and lethargy, and even increase sales in retail environments.A well-designed day-lit building also uses less electric lighting energy, conserving natural resources and reducing air pollution. 

Acoustic performance

In all project types, well- designed acoustics can enhance the environmental quality of the space by facilitating communication, increasing productivity, improving the well-being of workers, or aiding in noise control and speech privacy. The benefits of open collaboration spaces should be balanced with acoustic design. In schools, where communication between students and teachers affects the learning process, acoustic performance is essential. 

In Healthcare projects, the acoustic environment affects patients’ privacy and recuperation. Careful sound isolation supports confidential personal health discussions among patients, their families, and caregivers; it also allows health care workers to communicate more effectively with each other. Better acoustics do matter: research links poor acoustic performance to sleep disturbance, increased blood pressure and heart rates, and stress. 

Controls over one's surroundings    

Studies of lighting in buildings have shown that workers are more comfortable and productive in an environment that is carefully illuminated and where lighting controls are provided for individual and group needs. Also, high- quality lighting helps eliminate distractions, creates visual interest and a sense of place, supports interaction and communication, contributes to occupants’ well-being, and reduces health problems. 

A large body of laboratory and field research has demonstrated how thermal conditions inside buildings directly affect people’s satisfaction and performance. Although often associated only with air temperature, thermal comfort is a complex amalgam of six primary factors , all of which are influenced by building design and operation. An effective thermal comfort strategy considers all six concurrently, meaning that close collaboration between the owner, architect, engineer and facility manager is critical to achieving optimal thermal conditions and controls are provided for individual and group needs. 

Occupants who are able to modify their thermal environment through thermal controls will perceive more comfort regardless of conditioning strategy, and they may exhibit additional satisfaction and productivity. Indoor environment quality surveys administered by the Center for the Built Environment have shown significant increases in satisfaction among occupants who have individual control of a thermostat or an operable window. Likewise, research from the International Centre for Indoor Environment and Energy suggests that giving occupants +/–5°F (3°C) of local temperature control can result in productivity gains of 2.7% to 7%.