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Caution, indoor air polluted !
Unlike outdoor air pollution, more publicized and subject to many regulations, that of indoor air is less obvious in people’s minds and is still largely uncodified. Yet we spend 70 to 90% of our time in enclosed spaces, inside residential or work premises, in public spaces, in means of transportation… where we are exposed to various pollutants, mainly through inhalation. The indoor environment is the source of a wide variety of pollution, ranging from chemical or microbiological pollutants and contaminants linked to the buildings, household and professional equipment, to the immediate outdoor environment and the consequences of the occupants’ behaviour.
In recent years, more attention has been paid to this worrying issue in terms of public health. While the improvement of insulation in homes and offices, which falls fully within the scope of the Grenelle de l’Environnement (French conference on the environment), allows significant energy savings to be achieved, it unfortunately tends to confine indoor air pollution by restricting air exchanges with the outside environment. The choice of “eco-designed” building materials and interior materials with low emissivity of polluting fumes only allows the level of indoor pollution to be partially reduced.
In view of the several impacts of this type of indoor pollution on health, we are witnessing the establishment of standards for indoor air purification and an increase in the use of air handling units.
Laboratoire des matériaux, surfaces et procédés pour la catalyse, CNRS-Université Strasbourg 1
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