INDUSTRY NEWS
IAQ MONITORING SHOULD BE ‘STANDARD PRACTICE’ SAYS WHITTY
P
rofessor Chris Whitty has called for offices and public buildings, including schools, supermarkets, and hospitals, to be regularly
monitored for indoor air pollutants. He believes that analysing the indoor air quality
(IAQ) of many buildings should be made “standard practice” and that more investment is needed to tackle the problem in homes. He also called for investment in creating “indoor emission inventories” as part of a “roadmap to cleaner indoor air.” This follows his 2022 annual report where he wrote
that IAQ should be made a priority as it was becoming “an increasing proportion of the overall problem” with progress being made on tackling outdoor pollution. He also pointed out that most people in developed countries spent more than 80% of their time indoors. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has established that 3.8 million premature deaths worldwide are linked to poor indoor air every year out of a total of 8.7 million from general air pollution. “Indoor air pollution hasn’t received the same attention [as outdoor air], even though it might cause almost as many deaths globally,” Professor Whitty wrote in a co-authored article in the journal Nature. “The lack of research makes it hard for governments to target policies and controls, while building owners may be oblivious to the health risks and how to reduce them.”
Complex
He added that IAQ was a complex problem because it varies dramatically from one building to another. He
“The pandemic drew attention to the link between
poor ventilation and the transmission of diseases around buildings – this accelerated the adoption of IAQ monitoring. “We are now well placed to assess the scale and
Nathan Wood and Rosamund Kissi-Debrah
said the level of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can differ by a factor of 1,000 in identical houses on the same street, because of different occupant behaviour or ventilation systems Chair of the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) Health & Wellbeing Group Nathan Wood said detailed monitoring was a vital first step on the road to producing a more targeted IAQ strategy, adding that the technology was already widely available, affordable, and becoming increasingly accurate.
LORDS BUS REPORT DRAWS STRONG INDUSTRY RESPONSE
I
ndustry role players have been responding following The Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee inquiry conclusion that the
Government’s Boiler Upgrade Scheme is failing to deliver on its objectives, following a disappointingly low take-up of grants. The committee warned that if the current take-up
rate continues, only half of the allocated budget will be used to help households switch to low-carbon heating systems and a healthy market of installers
and manufacturers will not be in place in time to implement low-carbon heating policy measures smoothly. Therefore, the Government’s 2028 target of 600,000 installations per year is very unlikely to be met. Baroness Parminter, Chair of the Environment and Climate Change Committee, said: “The transition to low-carbon heat is fundamental in the path to Net Zero, given that 17% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions come from our homes.
nature of the challenge, including analysing the cocktail of contaminants that can lead to indoor air being many times more polluted than the outdoors. However, showing someone that they have a problem is only the start. They must then be shown how to address the problem through competent professional advice and the use of proven solutions.” BESA is also supporting the proposed Clean Air (Human Rights) Bill which is currently progressing through Parliament and would introduce specific responsibilities for building operators to meet IAQ targets in line with WHO guidance. The Bill, which is also known as Ella’s Law in memory of Ella Kissi-Debrah, who died 10 years ago this month from a severe asthma attack triggered by air pollution, is being spearheaded by Ella’s mother Rosamund who has become a prominent air quality campaigner. She said tackling IAQ was “a great way to give people back power over their own environment and save lives”. “We have to be clear about this…bad IAQ leads
directly to deaths,” said Rosamund, who is Honorary President of the BESA group. BESA has produced a series of guides on
addressing indoor air quality and building ventilation, which are freely available on its website here. It is also an organiser of the annual World Ventilation Day, which takes place on November 8th.
Far left:
Dr Matthew Trewhella, Kensa Group
Left: Mike Foster, chief executive, Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA),
The Government must quickly address the
barriers we have identified to a successful take-up of the Boiler Upgrade Scheme in order to help grow the take up of low-carbon heating systems. It is vital they do so if we are going to meet our Net Zero ambitions.” Henk van den Berg from heat pump manufacturer Daikin UK said: “It’s disappointing there hasn’t been more uptake in the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, but the government must do better at properly
6 March 2023
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