Guidelines for Ventilation Requirements in Buildings

1 EUROPEAN CONCERTED ACTION. DOOR AIR QUALITY & ITS IMPACT ON MAN. (formerly COST Project 6 13). Report No. 11. Guidelines for Ventilation Requirements in Buildings prepared by Working Group 6: Dominique BIENFAIT, (F) P. Ole FANGER, (DK). Klaus FITZNER, (D) Malti JANTUNEN, (SF). Thomas LINDVALL, (S) Eimund SKARET,(N). olli SEPPANEN, (SF) Joseph SCHWER, (CHI. Michael WOOLLISCROFT, (UK). reviewed and approved by the Concertation Committee Anton BLOM, (NL) James P. McLAUGHLIN, (IR). Birgiita BERGLUND, (S) Raf MERTENS, (B). David A.)

2 BIZARRO LEANDRO, (P) Claude MOLINA, (F). Bert BRUNEKREEF, (NL) Lars MaLHAVE, (DK). Maurizio DE BORTOLI, (CEC) Antonio REGGIANI, (I). P. Ole FANGER, (DK) Heinz ROTHWEILER, (CH). Jan HONGSLO, (N) Bernd SEIFERT, (D). Matti J. JANTUNEN, (SF) Panayotis SISKOS, (GR). Helmut KNOPPEL, (CEC) Linda SMITH, (UK). Yvon LE MOULLEC, (F) Michael J. SUESS, WHO). Thomas LINDVAL~,(S) Athanasios VALAVANIDIS, (GR). Bjorn LUNDGREN, (S) H. U. WANNER, (CH). Marco MARONI, (I) Patrick A. WRIGHT, (IR). Commission of the European Communities Directorate General for Science, Research and Development Joint Research Centre - Environment Institute EUR 14449 EN.

3 Published by the COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES. Directorate-General Information Market and Innovation Batiment Jean Monnet LUXEMBOURG. LEGAL NOTICE. Neither the Commission of the European Communities nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission is responsiblefor the use which might be made of the following information. Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication. In this series the following reports have already been published. Report No. 1: Radon in indoor air. Report No. 2: Formaldehyde emissions from wood based materials: guideline for the establishment of steady state concentrations in test chambers.

4 Report No. 3: lndoor pollution by NO, in European countries. Report No. 4: Sick building syndrome - a pratical guide. Report No. 5: Project inventory. * Report No. 6: Strategy for sampling chemical substances in indoor air. Report No. 7: lndoor air pollution by formaldehyde in European Countries. Report No. 8: Guideline for the characterization of volatile organic compounds emitted from indoor materials and products using small test chambers. Report No. 9: Project inventory - 2nd updated edition. Report No. 10: Effects of indoor air pollution on human health.

5 ABSTRACT. European Concerted Action "lndoorAir Quality and Its Impact on Man Report No. I I: ". Guidelines for Ventilation Requirements in Buildings . Office for Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg, Guidelines recommend the Ventilation required to obtain a desired indoor air quality in a space. The first step is to decide the air quality aimed for in the ventilated space. A certain air quality is prescribed to avoid adverse health effects while a decision is required on the level of perceived air quality aimed for in the ventilated space.

6 Three different comfort levels are suggested. The next step is to determine the pollution load on the air caused by pollution sources in the space. The total pollution load is found by adding the loads caused by the building and by the occupants. The available outdoor air quality and the Ventilation effectiveness of the ventilated space are also considered. The Ventilation rate required to provide the desired indoor air quality is then calculated based on the total pollution load, the available outdoor air quality and the Ventilation effectiveness.

7 The Ventilation rates requiredfor health and comfort are calculated separately and the highest value is used for design. Luxembourg: Office for Publications of the European Communities, 1992. O ECSC - EEC - EAEC, Brussels - Luxembourg, 1992. Printed in Italy CONTENTS. Preface .. 1. Purpose .. 2. Scope .. 3. Indoor Air 4. Health Aspects of Indoor Air Quality .. Radon .. Gases from Landfill and Waste Sites .. Combustion Products .. EnvironmentalTobacco Smoke .. Formaldehyde .. Volatile Organic Compounds .. Metabolic Gases.

8 Humidity .. , .. Micro-organisms .. 5. Perceived Air Qualify .. Carbon Dioxide .. 6. Air Pollution Sources .. Chemical Pollution Load .. Sensory Pollution Load .. 7. Outdoor Air Quality .. 8. Ventilation Effectiveness .. 9.. Required Ventilation Procedure to Determine the Required Ventilation Rate .. Examples of Determination of Required Ventilation Rates .. 10. Air Flow Between Rooms .. 1 1. Design and Operation .. 12 References .. 13. Literature .. Appendix A VentilationSystems .. Appendix B Appendix C World Health Organization:Air Quality Guidelines for Europe.

9 Chapter 3: Summary of the Members of the Concertation Committee .. Members of Working Group 6 .. 0 PREFACE. Ventilation is supply to and removal of air from a space to improve the indoor air quality. The idea is to capture, remove and dilute pollutants emitted in the space to reach a desired, accept- able air quality level. Existing Ventilation Guidelines or standards in European countries and elsewhere assume that the occupants of a space are the dominating or exclusive polluters. Unfortunately, compliance with existing Guidelines or standards has not prevented exposure to pollutantswith potentially adverse effects and widespread complaints about indoor air quality in many Buildings .

10 Recent studies have documented that the materials in a building are often more important polluters than the occupants and contribute significantly to the complaints. The present Guidelines consider the total pollution load caused by materials in the building, occupants and their activities. The goal is to protect the occupants from adverse health effects and to provide an indoor air quality which is perceived as acceptable by the large majority of the occupants. In contrast to existing documents these Guidelines do not just prescribe a given quantity of outdoor air to be supplied to a space.