Phius Quality Assurance Manager Tony Lisanti discusses the 2022 Indoor airPLUS Leader Awards.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently celebrated 11 home builders and six home raters with 2022 Indoor airPLUS Leader Awards, as well as two recipients of the Leader of the Year Award – including Phius Quality Assurance Manager Tony Lisanti’s Integral Building & Design!
These annual awards recognize market-leading organizations who champion safer, healthier, and more comfortable indoor environments through participation in and promotion of the Indoor airPLUS program, which offers enhanced indoor air quality protections to new home buyers. In addition to the Leader Awards, EPA has selected two Indoor airPLUS partners to receive the Leader of the Year Award for their outstanding commitment and program performance. The 2022 Leaders of the Year are Fulton Homes in the builder category and Integral Building + Design in the rater category.
"EPA congratulates the 2022 Indoor airPLUS Leaders and Leaders of the Year for their efforts to build and promote American homes designed to provide occupants with healthier indoor air. Now more than ever, people understand the importance of healthier indoor air quality. These market-leading home builders and raters help American home buyers protect their families with healthier homes across the spectrum of new housing stock." -- Joseph Goffman, Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator of EPA's Office of Air and Radiation
Integral Building + Design (New Paltz, N.Y.) Integral Building + Design has earned their fifth Leader Award and their first Rater Leader of the Year Award. They have demonstrated consistent engagement and leadership in outreach to their clients who build affordable housing, including presenting information and promoting the benefits of the Indoor airPLUS program to the construction industry. As a result of those efforts, three new affordable housing developers committed to building 100% Indoor airPLUS labeled homes in 2021, and they reported verifying over 300 Indoor airPLUS homes that qualify as affordable housing.
My colleagues at Integral Building & Design and I were surprised, but very appreciative of this recognition when the Leader of the Year Awards were announced at the EEBA Conference in Scottsdale on Sept. 22.
As Quality Assurance Manager for Phius as well as Managing Director for Integral Building & Design, I have a deep understanding of the benefits of the EPA Indoor airPLUS program. Not only is it one of the foundational co-requisite programs required for Phius certification, it is an often overlooked aspect of high-performance building. With much of the focus on building envelope and mechanical performance, indoor air quality and the nuances of contributing factors for indoor health can be easily overlooked. This is one of the main reasons why Phius leans on this program as well as Energy Star and DOE Zero Energy Ready Homes.
Indoor airPLUS is not necessarily a performance-based program. It’s more prescriptive than anything else. It deals mainly with source control rather than a simple air dilution strategy. In fact, the ASHRAE Standard 62.2 Ventilation and Acceptable Indoor Air Quality in Low-Rise Residential Buildings, is not a simple ventilation standard. It relies on a multi-stepped approach to control sources of pollutants, filtration of the air and dilution (aka ventilation).
Indoor airPLUS addresses all three as well, starting with source control. First, is leaning on the performance of the building and requiring Energy Star Certification as a prerequisite. The program then requires careful consideration of Radon mitigation measures in areas that are known hot spots (currently EPA Radon Zones 1 and 2). It also addresses other sources of contamination such as soil gasses and water vapor from foundations and slabs by requiring drainage and vapor barriers in and around the lower building assemblies. Other aspects deal with materials that can attract and retain moisture leading to odors, mildew and/or mold. These include requiring hard surface flooring in "wet" areas of the home, ensuring materials are dry when installed behind drywall and ensuring durable and mold-resistant materials are used behind shower and tub enclosures.
Other aspects of the IAP Program focus on HVAC filtration and keeping the interior of the systems clean and free from debris during construction, ensuring exhaust ducts for high moisture by products like hoods, fans and dryers are ducted directly outdoors. A full vetting of composite materials, cabinetry and paints and finishes ensures minimizing any off gassing by requiring these products meet low emissions standards. Lastly, proper ventilation and air filtration is required before occupancy. Typically, having the air “flushed” for a period of time ensures any harmful off gassing of materials is minimized.
For Phius projects, this is doubly important as the air tightness standards do not allow much margin for error in terms of indoor air quality. Properly balanced and commissioned ventilation systems ensure proper air dilution rates are met, and careful material selection further reduces the potential for damage in assemblies that typically are at higher risk from moisture.
The IAP team at EPA has been extremely cooperative and in regular communication with the Phius staff and many other industry stakeholders as they continue to develop the next version of their program. With much focus on the building and mechanical systems on the part of Phius practitioners, the Indoor airPLUS program serves to reduce and mitigate the source of contaminants in the built environment. The program should be looked upon as an essential part of the Phius building process.
