Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ): Overview and Background
Overview
Environmental quality conditions inside buildings are associated with many concerns of global importance, including human health and performance, energy cost and availability, and ecosystem sustainability.
Since 1998, Syracuse CoE members have collaborated to build internationally recognized capabilities for IEQ research, development, and innovation, including unique facilities and an extensive portfolio of projects at firms and academic institutions.
This overview provides background information on current IEQ challenges; click here to learn about the capabilities, accomplishments, and current activities of the Syracuse CoE.
Photo: The ICUBE "living laboratory," the center of indoor environmental quality research at Syracuse University's Link+ facility.
State of the Art
Current engineered systems for providing IEQ in buildings are failing society worldwide. They consume more energy than is necessary to provide acceptable IEQ, using design approaches and technologies that originated early in the 20th century, when human activities were understood to have negligible impact on global ecosystems.
They often leave more than 40% of occupants dissatisfied with one or more IEQ factors, diminish the learning of students in schools and the performance of workers in offices, and contribute to a variety of health concerns.
IEQ Scope
IEQ includes all environmental factors that directly impact human comfort, health, and well-being, including: temperature, humidity, air movement, airborne contaminants (“indoor air quality”), light, sound, sensory connections to nature, and protection from exposure to contaminants that pose risks to health and safety.
IEQ Concerns
Deficiencies in IEQ are estimated to cost the U.S. economy between $40 billion and $258 billion annually in lost worker productivity. Poor IEQ in buildings causes “sick building syndrome” and a variety of other health problems that have been estimated to effect between 30 and 70 million Americans.
Further, conventional heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems are typically designed to create “well-mixed conditions” throughout occupied spaces; consequently, they unintentionally also facilitate the spread of infectious respiratory illnesses from person to person.
IEQ and Energy
In the US, commercial and residential buildings account for 40% of total energy consumption; in comparison, industrial use and transportation consume 32% and 28%, respectively. Buildings are responsible for 71% of electricity used in the US and for 38% of the country’s emissions of CO2.
Systems that create and maintain IEQ for building occupants account for 55% of energy consumed in U.S. buildings—22% of the nation’s total energy consumption.
IEQ and Global Climate Change: In April 2007 , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projected that increases in frequency of hot days and nights over most land areas are virtually certain, causing increased demand for cooling and declining air quality in cities.
Further, the IPCC predicted increases in warm spells/heat waves are judged very likely, causing reduction in the quality of life for people in warm areas without appropriate housing and increased risk of heat-related mortality.
Click Here to learn about IEQ innovations envisioned by Syracuse CoE members.