Air quality issues in ventilation standards.

Ventilation standards in buildings are receiving increased attention because of energy conservation and indoor air quality. An important example of this is the current ASHRAE Standard 62-1981, "Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality." This standard contains two distinct procedures that can be used to set ventilation rates. The first is a prescriptive specification that mandates ventilation rates for particular building types. The second is a performance specification that uses target concentrations of indoor contaminants as the basis for deciding the adequacy of ventilation rates. This paper comments on the latter procedure. Several issues are discussed: (1) the lack of a consistent basis for choosing concentration limits for indoor pollutants (2) the potential for adverse air quality if the performance specification is adopted in a building, and (3) the practical difficulties in implementing the second option. Several suggestions for improving the Standard are made.