English

There is growing evidence that indoor surface pollution is one of the causes of sick building syndrome and that ventilation and air conditioning can exacerbate the problem. Gary Raw of the BRE explains

Are air conditioned buildings better at filtering out external pollutants than their naturally ventilated cousins? A recent field study carried out by researchers at the BRE has yielded some surprising results.

A great number of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are found in the indoor air of office buildings, emitted mainly by the building materials, the consumer products used, the furnishing, office equipment, smoking, mechanical ventilation systems and outdoor air pollution. An attempt has been made to identify the strongest sources of VOCs in the indoor and outdoor air of six office buildings in Greece. Analysis of the results showed that the VOCs in the outdoor air were strongly related to the traffic in the area.