Building Energy Codes and Indoor Air Quality

Abstract

There is significant political and institutional momentum toward energy conservation in buildings which
has led to building codes devoted solely to energy conservation, and resulted in the tightening of building
envelopes and reduced air infiltration and leakage. With air exchange significantly reduced, there is little
room for error in protecting indoor air quality, other than providing more sophisticated and more tightly
calibrated and coordinated systems. With evidence that windows are seldom or almost never used in some
homes (Offerman 2009), and reduced infiltration air, the building community is gradually turning to
whole house mechanical ventilation to provide sufficient outdoor air to dilute and remove indoor-
generated pollutants. The speed with which that is happening may be slower and more uneven than
needed to prevent many homes from becoming under-ventilated from tighter building envelopes, and
there are issues with whole house ventilation (type of system, continuous or intermittent operation,
occupant controls) that have not been fully resolved. With respect to backdrafting of combustion
appliances, attention needs to be focused on power venting and sealed combustion design of these
appliances, where EPA’s Indoor airPLUS program, and the U.S. Green Buildings Council’s Leadership
for Energy and Environmental Design (USGBC LEED) program currently have more robust provisions
than the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE)
residential ventilation standard or the current building codes.

While ASHRAE and others are gradually including provisions in standards to resolve these indoor air
quality concerns, the institutional issues and pressures that are associated with code development,
adoption, enforcement and implementation, and ultimately lead to inclusion of solutions in actual
practice, are likely to keep indoor air protection in a process of perpetual “catch up” because the
institutional processes for energy conservation have a lot of momentum and political support, something
that is not present for indoor air quality.

Background on Model Building Codes

Historically in the U.S. three model code groups were used in most parts of the country. The Southeastern
states used the codes of the Southern Building Code Congress International (SBCCI), the West Coast
used the codes of the International Conference of Building Officials (ICBO), the states in the East Coast
used the codes of the Building Officials Code Administrators International (BOCA), and the Midwestern
states used both the BOCA and the ICBO codes. However, in 1994, the three major code groups joined
forces to form the International Code Council (ICC) to develop codes that would have no regional
limitations. In 2000, ICC had completed the International Codes series that now replaces the three
predecessor codes.

Energy Legislation and Building Energy Codes

Climate change, dependence on foreign oil, and a dwindling supply of fossil fuels has fostered significant
pressure toward greater energy conservation and the development of alternative energy sources. Since

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