United States. The Illinois Institute of Technology and Elevate Energy, a nonprofit that designs and implements energy efficiency programs, have announced that they have teamed up to study the impact of outdoor pollution and weatherization on indoor air quality and chronic health problems in American homes.
"We want to determine how outdoor pollution can reach the interior and affect the air you're breathing every day," said Brent Stephens, assistant professor of architectural engineering at Illinois Tech. "We hope the results of this study will not only improve the public's ability to protect the environment and human health. but also improve the energy efficiency and indoor air quality of buildings."
Illinois Tech and Elevate Energy are recruiting 30 homes in Chicago and surrounding suburbs to participate in the study and assess a home's air quality before and after HVAC modernizations are implemented. They will use a set of nationally representative indoor air quality models to predict long-term concentrations and health risks.
Field measurements will be conducted by the Environmental Research Group at Illinois Tech and include ventilation rates, infiltration factors, indoor deposition ranges, and enveloping penetration factors for a number of priority contaminants.
