Methods, standards, and regulations that are aimed to reduce
indoor air pollution from building materials are critically reviewed. These are classified as content control and emission control. Methods and standards can be found in both of these two classes. In the regulation domain, only content control is enforced in some countries and some regions, and
asbestos is the only building material that is banned for building use. The controlled pollutants include
heavy metals,
radon,
formaldehyde, and
volatile organic compounds (
VOCs). Emission rate control based upon environment chamber testing is very much in the nature of voluntary product labeling and
ranking, and this mainly targets
formaldehyde and
VOC emissions. It is suggested that
radon emission from building materials should be subject to similar emission rate control. A comprehensive set criteria and credit-awarding scheme that encourages the use of low-emission building material is synthesized, and how this scheme can be practiced in building design is proposed and discussed.
