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The spring 2008 Membership Ballot included a series of questions from the Board of Directors that sought to clarify the Society’s policy regarding indoor air quality standards. The questions were distributed to members at the January 19, 2008 Plenary Session in New York City and are provided below. Voting ended June 22, 2008 and a summary of the results is available below. An online discussion board exists to encourage members to exchange opinions and learn more about the policy questions. The discussion board is open to members, who must log in using their member email address and password to make or review comments. Members are required to include their names with their discussion board comments.
Question 1
Should ASHRAE Standards and Guidelines contain health-based limits for pollutant concentrations only when those limits have previously been issued by nationally or internationally recognized health authorities, e.g. U.S. EPA, OSHA or the World Health Organization, and for which standardized measurement methods exist?
Board recommends a vote of yes. (Votes: Yes: 4,127 No: 483)
Background for Board recommendation: ASHRAE’s expertise is in the area of HVAC&R engineering and not in the area of health impacts of pollutants, and therefore should not be setting health-based limits on its own. Other organizations do have that expertise and authority, and only when they have issued such a finding regarding a concentration limit should ASHRAE be including such a limit in its Standards and Guidelines. Furthermore, if no standardized method exists for measuring the pollutant concentration, such a limit cannot be enforced. Question 2
Should ASHRAE Standards and Guidelines be allowed to specify means and methods for limiting the concentrations of pollutants normally considered in the design of HVAC systems, even for pollutants that may not have maximum permissible concentration levels set by a recognized health authority or for which standard measurement methods don’t exist?
Board recommends a vote of yes. (Votes: Yes: 3,919 No: 676)
Background for Board recommendation: There are many pollutants that merit consideration in our standards even though concentration limits have not been established for non-industrial environments and measurement methods have not been standardized. Examples include carbon monoxide from attached parking garages, particles from outdoor air, kitchen odors, and relative humidity produced from a wide range of occupant activities. Voting yes on this question would permit the requirements for particulate filtration, isolation in healthcare facilities, and exhaust ventilation in garages, kitchens and toilets. Question 3
Should ASHRAE Standards and Guidelines be precluded from requiring measurement of contaminant or other airborne concentrations or specifying concentration limits that cannot be measured using equipment and procedures in ASHRAE Standard 111, “Practices for Measurement, Testing, Adjusting and Balancing of Building Heating, Ventilation, Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Systems,” or are not covered by other consensus Methods of Test or are not measurable using equipment that is common in building ventilation assessment?
Board recommends a vote of yes. (Votes: Yes: 4,052 No: 527)
Background for Board recommendation: Compliance with contaminant limits must be based on measurements using reliable and readily accessible measurement equipment and procedures. If the measurements have not been standardized or are not part of regular practice, then these measurements would constitute an unreasonable burden. Approval of the question as posed would allow requirements to measure or specify indoor carbon dioxide concentrations, which is becoming common practice for ventilation assessment and dynamic minimum outdoor air control. Question 4
Should ASHRAE Standards and Guidelines strive to provide health, comfort and/or occupant acceptability consistent with ASHRAE policy?
Board recommends a vote of yes. (Votes: Yes: 4,247 No: 349)
Background for Board recommendation: Several ASHRAE Standards and Guidelines, particularly those intended for reference or adoption in building codes, are appropriately concerned with protecting public health and safety. Others attempt to provide for occupant comfort and environmental acceptability. Existing ASHRAE policy identifies these as appropriate motivations for standards development activities based on the Society’s Certificate of Consolidation and Bylaws (see Attachment B for a discussion of these policies). Striving for better health, comfort and acceptability is neither a claim nor a guarantee. Question 5Should ASHRAE Standards and Guidelines be permitted to contain factors for use in design calculation, such as mixing efficiencies and air change effectiveness, as long as it is the consensus of the standards writing body that these factors are important to providing acceptable indoor air quality? Board recommends a vote of yes. (Votes: Yes: 4,250 No: 355 )
Background for Board recommendation: One means of keeping the design calculations in ASHRAE standards as simple as possible is the use of adjustment factors, such as air change effectiveness. The use of these factors serves as an alternative to potentially complex calculations while accounting for effects that have been shown to be important to a system’s ability to provide acceptable indoor air quality. ASHRAE standards tend to use default values for these factors in order to make them easier to use. In the case of our more complex standards Users Manuals and Design Tools are provided to support implementation.
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