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IAQ Building Education and Assessment Model (I-BEAM)

I-BEAM Text Modules

Note:  This guidance was designed to be a web-only resource.  However, PDF versions of each of the text modules are being made available.  Please note that these PDF files represent the version of I-BEAM on the date the files were created.

All Text Modules (PDF, 74 pp, 417KB)

You will need Adobe Reader to view some of the files on this page. See EPA's PDF page to learn more.

I-BEAM Text Modules: Overview

Fundamentals of IAQ in Buildings

This module provides the fundamentals to understanding indoor air quality. It provides a rudimentary framework for understanding how indoor and outdoor sources of pollution, heat and humidity, together with the ventilation and air conditioning systems affect the indoor air quality in buildings. It also begins to address methods of controlling those factors in order that the quality of the air which occupants experience provides for their health, comfort and performance.

Heating, Ventilation, and Air-conditioning (HVAC)

What are the elements of the heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) system that are important to IAQ? What information is important to developing protocols for the operating set points and schedules consistent with good IAQ performance?

IAQ Maintenance and Housekeeping Programs

Good preventive maintenance and housekeeping practices are at the core of establishing and maintaining good indoor air quality in buildings. In this module, we describe the essential elements of preventive maintenance and housekeeping programs and describe their relationship to IAQ.

The interactive modules relating to PM or Housekeeping contain detailed maintenance and housekeeping schedules which the user can modify to satisfy individual building requirements, or to establish an IAQ maintenance and housekeeping budget.

Indoor Air Quality and Energy Efficiency

This section examines the relationship between IAQ and energy efficiency. Because many attempts to save energy in the 1970s and 1980s resulted in sick building syndrome and gave rise to minimum ventilation standards to protect IAQ, there has been a growing but erroneous conception that IAQ and energy efficiency are incompatible goals. Recent studies demonstrate that the two goals are compatible and that the true trade-off is either minimal or manageable.

Diagnosing and Solving Problems

How does the knowledge obtained by working with I-BEAM help dedicated building personnel to develop sufficient expertise to solve most IAQ complaints? In this section, we describe two approaches to the indoor air quality diagnostic process for buildings - one for industrial facilities and one for commercial facilities.

Renovation and New Construction

What actions are important to protect and improve IAQ during each phase of the design and construction process?

Managing for Indoor Air Quality

How can I establish a management program that contains all the appropriate elements needed to manage a building for good IAQ?

IAQ Budgets and Accounts

Catalogue all of your IAQ activities and IAQ expenses, and assess the impact of those activities on your bottom line. Further, you can use this module to document your IAQ actions and expenses, and to develop a marketing plan. By marketing IAQ, you take advantage of the evidence that IAQ affects employee moral and performance, and the evidence that an IAQ program can be an attractive feature for existing and prospective tenants.

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