Indoor Environmental Quality Guidelines
No. Guideline NEW BUILDINGS MAJOR RENOVATIONS
I.1 Restrict Environmental Tobacco Smoke Required Required
I.2 Specify Low-emitting Materials Required Required for Newly Installed Materials
I.3 Moisture Control Required Required if Exterior Envelope is in Scope
I.4 Ventilation Design Required Required
I.5 Thermal Comfort Required Required
I.6 Quality Lighting Required Required if Lighting Replacement is in Scope
I.7 Effective Acoustics Required Required
I.8 Reduce Vibration in Buildings Required Recommended if Structural is in Scope
I.9 Daylight Required Required (Partial - See Guideline)
I.10 View Space and Window Access Recommended Recommended
I.11 Personal Control of IEQ Conditions & Impacts Recommended Recommended
I.12 Encourage Healthful Physical Activity Recommended Recommended
I.99 General Project Data Recommended Recommended

 

Related Documentation

B3 Guidelines Tracking Tool

Appendices

Appendix I-0 Suggested Implementation for all Indoor Environmental Quality Guidelines
Appendix I-4 Calculating CO2 Concentrations in a Zone
Appendix I-9 Daylighting Factor Calculator
Appendix I-10 View Space Diagrams and Tables for I.10

 

Overview

The provision of indoor environmental quality at levels that support productive human habitation both complements and supports the environmental and economic goals for sustainable building. Appropriate indoor environmental qualities of air, temperature, sound, light, visible and physical space and occupants' ability to personally control these are the building's contributions to the biological bases of occupant comfort, health and well-being. Harmful effects on occupants of poor indoor environmental quality are well documented in laboratory and field studies. Similarly, enhanced indoor environmental quality helps occupants feel and perform at their best, with subsequent health, well-being and productivity benefits for themselves and their work organizations. These indoor environmental quality guidelines are constructed to first and foremost help prevent harm coming to occupants, then to optimize environmental quality conditions to correspond with human physiological processes, and finally to fine tune environmental conditions to work activities in a way that further enhances personal and organizational productivity.

Goal

The goal of the guidelines in this section is to provide exemplary indoor air quality and other interior environmental conditions to promote occupant health, well-being and productivity. Here, "health" is more than the absence of disease and "well-being" includes provision of physical comfort and psychological satisfaction with the physical work environment.

Objectives

  • Provide a clean building that will minimize pollutant sources in the structure and its occupants.
  • Provide a dry building to minimize structural and health problems associated with water intrusion and accumulation.
  • Provide a well-ventilated building to dilute pollutants and bioeffluents emitted by the building materials, the occupants and their activities.
  • Provide for occupant thermal comfort.
  • Provide daylight for general ambient illumination.
  • Provide interior view space or views to the exterior.
  • Provide lighting solutions of high quality for visual tasks and preferred interior rendering.
  • Provide interior conditions that avoid harmful vibration and noise effects and produce a positive acoustic environment acceptable to occupants and appropriate to their tasks.
  • Provide for local occupant control of localized indoor environmental conditions in order to quickly correct harmful conditions and to better support work performance.
  • Provide an interior spatial arrangement that encourages healthy human interaction and movement