“In the built environment, indoor environmental quality must be our first concern,” Bahnfleth said. “Before we address impacts of buildings and transportation systems on energy consumption and the environment — which, make no mistake, are also critically important — we must ensure that we are providing indoor environments that are safe, healthy, productive, and comfortable for occupants. Today, and for some time, we have strongly emphasized energy conservation and protection of the environment to such an extent that the need for progress in indoor environmental quality has been obscured. A broad, coordinated effort is needed to fill gaps in research, transfer the results of science to practice, advocate for higher standards, and better educate both the built environment professions and the public. I believe that formation of this alliance is a key to meeting those objectives. ASHRAE is eager to contribute its expertise to this group and to once again be a leader in the field of indoor environmental quality, beginning with a focus on indoor air quality.”

“Contemporary European architecture is undergoing fundamental changes caused by increased pressure to reduce energy consumption of buildings,” said Karel Kabele, REHVA president. “Modern approaches, methods, and technologies are capable of saving energy, but also affect other functions of the building, i.e., indoor environmental quality. In energy efficient buildings we can resolve problems with thermal comfort, air quality, and other components of IEQ. I firmly believe that joint efforts of IEQ-GA will contribute not only to saving energy but also to improve IEQ in buildings we build for next generations.”

“The Air & Waste Management Association (A&WMA) is pleased to be a part of this partnership,” Jim Powell, executive director, A&WMA, said. “We see the IEQ-GA as a forum to better focus efforts on improving the indoor environment. Efforts to support this partnership will be coordinated with our Health Effects & Exposure Technical Coordinating Committee. This committee is responsible for all of the indoor environment programming within A&WMA.”

“The Indoor Air Quality Association, IAQA, is proud to join key organizations in signing the IEQ-GA agreement,” said Kent Rawhouser, president of IAQA. “This alliance of organizations will lead to collaboration between the best minds in our industry to ensure an improvement in indoor environmental conditions for people around the world. IAQA’s members are experts in the implementation, investigation, and remediation of indoor environmental issues.”

“While substantial progress in the energy efficiency of our building stock is crucial, we must guarantee at the same time a good indoor climate in these buildings, including air quality, thermal comfort, visual comfort, and acoustics. Given the complexity of the issue and the various challenges, we are very pleased to see the creation of this alliance,” said Peter Wouters, AIVC operating agent.

“AIHA is very excited to join ASHRAE and other international stakeholders in the IEQ Global Alliance,” said Christine A.D. Lorenzo, CIH, president, AIHA. “The alliance brings together key groups, each of which has members with unique sets of skills and knowledge. We look forward to working within the alliance to identify new ways to collaborate, and expand international alignment in this important area of occupational hygiene and engineering practice.”

The mission of the IEQ-GA is to provide acceptable indoor environmental quality (including thermal environment, indoor air quality, lighting, and acoustics) to occupants in buildings and places of work around the world and to make sure the knowledge from research on IEQ gets implemented in practice.

The establishment of the alliance is supported by the World Health Organization and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), who will cooperate with the alliance in the future.

For more information, visit www.ieq-ga.net.

Publication date: 7/21/2014

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