Indoor Air Quality:
Table of Contents

The materials found in our homes, factories, and offices, while seeming ordinary and commonplace, can contribute to the degradation of an often overlooked environmental measure: Indoor Air Quality. Compounded by ever more stringent energy conservation measures which can limit the ventilation in these spaces, the air we breathe indoors can pose threats to us now undreamt of in the days of draftier buildings.

Sources can be external or internal, biological or chemical in nature. External chemical ones include industrial and construction sources; exhausts from heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment and autos; radon, and other soil gases; pesticides and fertilizers. External biological contaminants can come from standing water which promotes mold growth.

Topics available:

Outdoor sources

• General
• Radon
• Other soil gases

Indoor sources

• Building materials
• Finishings
• Furnishings
• Combustion sources
• Automotive sources
• Personal care products
• Tobacco
• Pesticides
• Biological sources
• HVAC systems

Notes

• Graphics in this section courtesy U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Carrier Corporation:

  U.S. EPA Indoor Air Division
  Mail Code ANR-445
  401 M Street, SW
  Washington, DC 20460

  Carrier Corporation
  One Carrier Way
  Farmington, CT 06034

• Sources of information used in this section are referenced in parantheses with a brief code denoting the source and the page number, for example, "(RPG 2)". To view the list of sources, please see the List of References.

• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency maintains a toll free Indoor Air Quality Hotline:

  U.S. EPA Indoor Air Quality Information Clearinghouse
  P.O. Box 37133
  Washington, DC 20013-7133
  Telephone: 800-438-4318
  Fax: 301-588-3408

URL: http:// solstice.crest.org/ environment/ gotwh/ general/iaq/index.html