Organization

Indoor Environment

The Indoor Environment Department, headed by Bill Fisk, conducts a broad program of research, technology development and dissemination activities directed toward improving the health, comfort, and energy efficiency of the indoor environment. Its work focuses on:

• reducing the energy used for thermally conditioning and distributing ventilation air in buildings,
• improving indoor air quality (IAQ), thermal comfort and the health and productivity of building occupants,
• understanding and monitoring human exposures to environmental pollutants found in indoor and outdoor air, and
• making buildings more resistant to releases of highly toxic chemical and biological agents.

 

Airflow and Pollutant Group

The Airflow and Pollutant Transport Group conducts research to develop models of airflow and pollutant transport and dispersion in buildings. Computer modeling research is undertaken to understand and analyze airflow and pollutant dispersion in large indoor spaces, and between building zones and through ducts of HVAC systems in large commercial buildings.

Small-scale and full-scale experimental research is coordinated with computer modeling research to gain insights into airflow and pollutant transport and dispersion phenomena within buildings.

Related guidance is developed to diminish peoples exposures to releases of highly toxic chemical and biological agents.

Commercial Building Ventilation and Indoor Environmental Quality Group

The Commercial Building Ventilation and Indoor Environmental Quality (CBVIEQ) Group conducts research on energy-efficient ventilation, air cleaning, and health and productivity in commercial buildings and schools.

The research methods employed by this group include controlled laboratory studies, extensive multi-disciplinary field studies, modeling, and reviews and syntheses of data. Associated research topics include the following:

• Ventilation rates, indoor pollutant transport, and effectiveness of ventilation in controlling exposures to indoor pollutants.
• Tracer gas measurement methods.
• Performance of conventional and novel ventilation technologies.
• Use of indoor pollutant sensors to control rates of ventilation and air recirculation.
• Air cleaning technologies for particles and gases.
• Relationship of building and indoor environmental characteristics with sick building syndrome symptoms and worker productivity.

Much of this group's research is performed in collaboration with other research institutions, particularly the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and the Center for Environmental Design Research at the University of California, Berkeley.

Energy Performance of Buildings Group

The Energy Performance of Buildings Group (EPB) works on problems associated with whole- building integration involving modeling, measurement, design and operation. Most of the Group's tasks have focused on the movement of air and the associated energy penalties. The major research areas of the group include the following:

• Commercial building thermal distribution
• Residential ventilation and energy
• Residential thermal distribution
• Ventilation standards

Environmental Chemistry, Exposure and Risk Group

The Environmental Chemistry, Exposure and Risk Group conducts research on exposures of humans to harmful agents and characterizing sources of the exposures. Its work includes development and use of multimedia exposure measurements and models in health-risk assessments, chemical transport and transformation in the environment, exposure measurement methods, evaluating sources of indoor pollutants and the health and environmental impacts of energy, industrial, and agricultural systems.

Major areas of research in this group include the following:

• Methods for assessing cumulative exposures to persistent, multimedia pollutants.
• Indoor/outdoor models for total human exposure to particulate matter and volatile organic chemicals.
• Methods for characterizing and evaluating uncertainty and variability in source-to-dose models.
• Finding ways to calibrate and validate human exposure and source-to-dose models.
• Mechanisms of biological damage at the cellular, molecular, organ and whole organism level.
• Sources and emissions of airborne organic compounds from indoor materials and products.
• Sampling and analysis methods for indoor air pollutants.
• Dynamic behavior of indoor air pollutants and effects on indoor air quality and exposure.
• Chemical reactions in indoor environments.