As builders and developers rush to attain LEED accreditation for their new homes, some wonder if the LEED certifications need to be amended to allow for testing of indoor air quality.
Tom Silva of This Old house always stressed the air exchange within a home. Keeping a home energy efficient is important but a home shouldn’t be airtight. This can cause off-gasses and chemicals to build up. If you’ve got two homes and one of them is LEED certified platinum and the other isn’t but both are airtight, its easy to conclude the LEED home will still be safer due to the non-VOC paints used and other more environmentally friendly building materials but a non-LEED certified home that has proper air exchange and circulation most likely has a better air-index quality score.
There is a movement to push LEED to add this to their certification program but before they do that you should always consider the indoor air quality of your home whether you are building green or not.
[via the Infrastructurist]
photo: gonaturalbaby
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