Healthy Efficient Homes

LBNL is conducting a broad collection of research activities to inform the setting of ventilation standards that protect health and advance energy efficiency goals. To this end, we set out to answer the following questions.

  • Which pollutants represent chronic and acute health hazards from inhalation in residences?
  • Can the health risks and harm from these pollutants be quantified to facilitate prioritization of these hazards?
  • How can ventilation contribute to mitigating exposures and ultimately the harm caused by air pollutants in homes?
  • How can we control indoor air pollutant sources to cost effectively complement or reduce the need for ventilation?
  • How can air cleaning and filtration be used to reduce in-home exposures to both outdoor air pollutants and those generated in the home?
  • How can the required amounts of ventilation and filtration be provided cost effectively while minimizing energy use?

The following is a partial list of completed and ongoing Healthy Efficient Homes research projects. Links are provided to available reports and scientific papers.

  • Hazard assessment to identify chemical air pollutants present at levels that may present a hazard.
  • Assessment of health impacts and costs of indoor air pollutant inhalation.
  • Controlled experiments to assess the impact of ventilation on indoor pollutant levels.
  • Characterization of volatile organic compounds in high performance new homes.
  • Development of methods and tools for indoor air quality field studies.

Principal Investigator(s):

Team Members:

Tosh Hotchi
Marion Russell
Randy Maddalena