"One of LEED’s major accomplishments — saving energy by making buildings more airtight — has had the paradoxical effect of more effectively trapping the gases emitted by the unprecedented number of chemicals used in today’s building materials and furnishings. "
"It places scant emphasis on factors relating to human health, even as the largely unregulated use of potentially toxic building materials continues to expand. One of LEED’s major accomplishments — saving energy by making buildings more airtight — has had the paradoxical effect of more effectively trapping the gases emitted by the unprecedented number of chemicals used in today’s building materials and furnishings. Yet, as the threat from indoor air pollution grows, LEED puts almost no weight on human health factors in deciding whether a building meets its environmental and social goals." Yale E360
6 Comments
as a sufferer of environmental migraines - especially when it comes to new buildings - this does not surprise me in the least.
false, it's not paradoxical - lots of LEED buildings are using HRVs which bring ample amounts of fresh, filtered air.
this is not the fault of leed. there are leed targets for interior air quality and air quality; whether a design team decides to include these targets has everything to do with their reporting but nothing to do with their responsibility to still *address* indoor air quality issues.
this is something of which an architect and the engineers should be cognizant. a tighter building puts a greater burden on the design team to allow for sufficient fresh air and air changes. designers' failure to address these issues should not reflect negatively on a program that is meant to improve the environment - exterior and interior.
there is a response from USGBC posted on the e360 website.
there are some good substantial comments there, javier! thanks.
I'm getting terribly tired of the "if it happens in a LEED building it must be LEED's fault" fallacy... LEED certainly has faults, but amazingly the real faults never seem to be reported but false claims always bubble up to the top...
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