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Building Green in a Black and White World--Chapter 2

The following is an exerpt from the book Building Green in a Black and White World.
Section 1; Chapter 2; Part 2; Environmental Issues That Create the Market for Green Buildings--Indoor Air Quality

David Ritchey Johnston
January 1, 1900
HousingZone

--------Indoor Air Quality-------

Indoor air quality is a quiet crisis that is only now reaching the public’s attention. Dust, pollen, smoke and airborne chemicals all contribute to the degradation of air quality. As the energy efficiency of homes has increased, the issue has become more acute because the air in homes is exchanged less often with outside air.

Plants The Environmental Protection Agency has been researching the problem for over a decade and has found that indoor pollutants may be a significant factor in the health of home occupants. As sited in "The Environmental Life-cycle Analysis of Floor Coverings" indoor air in homes with low infiltration rates can lead to environmental sensitivity or health problems in as many as 15 percent of the public.² The New England Journal of Medicine in a report to the Massachusetts legislature has stated that up to 40 percent of children born today may develop respiratory problems.³

As the evidence mounts, your customers will hear more about the negative effects of products and chemicals used inside the home. Many will become concerned about their health and the health of their children. As a builder, you should be prepared for the customers who will require more careful attention.

Indoor Pollutants

Modern buildings can contain airborne particulates, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), formaldehyde, mold, and fungi. In fact, the same air pollutants covered by environmental laws outdoors can often be found at much higher levels in the average American residence. Of the hundreds of air pollutants covered under existing U.S. laws, only ozone and sulfur dioxide remain more prevalent outdoors.⁴ These laws have generally focused more on the sources of the pollution than on the greatest amount of exposure to pollutants. Our homes emit relatively small amounts of pollution, and yet they are often the places where we face the greatest exposure to health-threatening pollutants.

40% of children born today will develop respiratory disease in part due to the chemicals in their homes.

For instance, in the February 1998 issue of Scientific American, authors Wayne Ott and John Roberts state that indoor air contains at least five (but typically 10 or more) times higher concentrations of pesticides than outside air. The authors cite another study that reports, "in more than half the households surveyed, the concentrations of seven toxic organic chemicals . . . were above the levels that would trigger a formal risk assessment for residential soil at a Superfund site."⁵

Many products are manufactured with formaldehyde, which has been identified by the EPA and the New York University Medical Center as a possible human carcinogen.⁶ Cabinets, counter tops, shelving, and furniture are made from particleboard that is glued together with formaldehyde. This chemical can be released (or out-gassed) into the home for years. Paints and floor finishes also contain chemicals such as benzene compounds and crosslinkers that are unhealthy to breathe. That "new house smell" is actually the odor of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and is a telltale sign that harmful chemicals exist in the indoor environment.

One Family’s Nightmare

One day I got a call from a homeowner who was at his wit’s end. He recounted that for several months his kids had been constantly sick with headaches, fever, coughs, and other flu-like symptoms. The doctors didn’t seem to be able to help the kids, who were missing a lot of school. During the same period, his wife had two or three migraine headaches a week. She was losing a lot of sleep. All of them were exasperated.

He asked me if these conditions could possibly be from something in his home. I asked him many questions about their home and lifestyle. I asked if they had done any remodeling. Nothing seemed relevant to their situation.

Finally, he told me he had gotten a bonus at work and had bought built-in shelves and desks for his kids and their master bedroom. He hadn’t mentioned it because he couldn’t see how that made any difference. I asked him to go to the rooms and pull out a shelf and describe to me what he saw. It turned out to be particleboard with a melamine veneer.

I suggested that he try an experiment. Take everything off the shelves and remove them for the weekend since all the shelf edges were unfinished and the particleboard was exposed. I asked him to call me a week later to report if there was any difference. He called and said that the kids’ symptoms had decreased and he was encouraged. The next weekend he removed all of the built-in cabinetry. He called me two weeks later and said all of their symptoms were gone. The kids felt great and his wife hadn’t had a headache since he took the shelves out.

Reducing Pollution

Product manufacturers in the construction industry have monitored the increase of these indoor air pollutants and have developed alternate products to remedy indoor toxicity. For example, solvent-free adhesives eliminate many suspected and known human carcinogens, and they often adhere better than conventional adhesives. Paints free of VOCs are now available. Some new engineered wood products use adhesives that contain no formaldehyde.

For customers who are concerned about this issue, green buildings can reduce potential IAQ problems through a number of alternatives: providing good ventilation to allow fresh air to flow through the house; installing an exhaust system for radon gas; avoiding wood products that contain formaldehyde and sealing those which do; and using low- or no-VOC interior paint, solvent-free finishes, and solvent-free construction adhesives.

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