Abstract The issue of air quality in the outdoor and indoor environments of buildings has been addressed for a few decades, but has once again come to the force, this time for health and sanitation reasons. In recent years, the world has faced the COVID-19 pandemic. Air quality improvements can be achieved not only with good architectural design, but also with a good selection of materials and construction methods. The aim of this article is to investigate how environmental certifications for buildings address indoor air quality (IAQ) criteria, taking into account which classes of pollutants are commonly assessed. To achieve the proposed aim, the categories of ‘building materials’ and ‘air quality’ were analyzed in the environmental certifications with the largest number of certified buildings in Brazil (LEED, AQUA-HQE and BREEAM). In addition to these, the certification focused on health and well-being for building occupants, i.e. the North American WELL certification, was also analyzed. As a result, the four certifications presented similar emission limits for two types of pollutants common in building materials: total volatile organic compounds (TVOC) and particulate matter (PM 2.5μ and PM 10μ); and differed considerably in terms of formaldehyde emission limits in all certifications. It was possible to conclude that there is a lack of harmonization of information on pollutant emission limits for IAQ in buildings through the certifications researched; as well as the lack of national legislation that serves as a parameter for establishing acceptable limits.
M E Gobbi (Mon,) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: