The effect of climate change on indoor environmental quality

Many of the recommended societal responses to climate change assume that buildings will shelter the population from climate change impacts. But what kind of environments will buildings offer under climate change conditions? Buildings exist to protect people from the elements and to otherwise support human activity. However, unless buildings are managed well, indoor environmental conditions have the potential to make people sick, cause them discomfort, or otherwise inhibit their ability to perform.

Nowadays people spend the majority of their time indoors at home, work, school, or other venues. Degradations in indoor environmental quality (IEQ) resulting from climate change involve impacts to indoor air quality, public health and building energy consumption etc., which are not heretofore considered in the climate change literature. A closer look at the impacts of climate change on indoor environments strongly suggests the need to plan for indoor environmental protections to mitigate potentially large increases in IEQ risks.

Our previous analysis suggests that climate change can seriously affect indoor environmental quality through several mechanisms. For examples: higher indoor temperatures including extreme heat events; higher ozone levels and increased chemical byproducts caused by chemical reactions with ozone indoors; increased outdoor pollution that raises pollution levels indoors; reduced ventilation that saves energy
but also increases indoor pollution concentrations; increased moisture and humidity leading to indoor mold and other biocontamination; and ecological shifts leading to the increased spread of infectious diseases indoors.

This project aims to carry out an analysis of the effect of climate change on indoor environmental quality in different climates (China, USA and UK). It is intended not only to develop adaptation strategies for architects, building service engineers and stakeholders, but also to help policy makers decide how important indoor environmental concerns might be when setting priorities for further research or further policy exploration.