Shelter and indoor air.
Improvements in outdoor air quality that were achieved through the implementation of the Clean Air Act accentuate the quality of the indoor air as an important, if not dominant, factor in the determination of the total population exposure to air contaminants. A number of developments are adding important new determinants of indoor air quality. Energy conservation strategies require reductions in infiltration of outdoor air into buildings. New materials introduced in the construction and in the maintenance of buildings are contributing new air contaminants into the building atmosphere. Larger buildings require more and more complex ventilation systems that are less and less under the individual control of the occupants. All of these factors contribute to the current reality that indoor air contains more pollutants, and often at higher concentrations, than outdoor air. Especially in the larger buildings, it will be necessary to assure that an adequate quantity of fresh air of acceptable quality is provided to each individual space, and that no new sources of pollutants are added to a space or a whole building without appropriate adjustments in the supply of fresh air.
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510.
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Stolwijk
D000397:Air Pollution / Q000517:prevention & control; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D004782:Environmental Health / Q000639:trends; D005160:Facility Design and Construction; D006798:Housing; D014691:Ventilation