Long term air quality monitoring in a net-zero energy residence designed with low emitting interior products

Net-zero and beyond! Design and performance of NIST's net-zero energy residential test facility

“…These samples are collected monthly and will be used to determine if the VOC emission rates for the house change over time. Measurements to date [28] show that the use of medium density fiberboard and particleboard with no-added formaldehyde resins for cabinetry and other finished products effectively controlled the formaldehyde emissions and kept concentrations below levels in typical new homes. Monitoring of seasonal indoor VOC concentrations [28] suggests that building envelope components may be an overlooked source for some VOCs, especially aldehydes and alkanes.…”

VOC emission rates in newly built and renovated buildings, and the influence of ventilation – a review and meta-analysis

“…The study found that buildings with balanced mechanical ventilation (supply and exhaust) had lower VOC concentrations than buildings with mechanical exhaust only, ostensibly because infiltration picks up VOCs through the facade. Poppendieck, Ng, Persily, and Hodgson (2015) observed that when the ventilation was turned off in a house with very low infiltration rates, the indoor VOC concentration increased substantially, thus highlighting the importance of continuously maintaining minimum ventilation rates. Noguchi et al (2016) measured VOCs in two rooms with different ventilation rates just after completion and after 3 months.…”

“…Derbez et al (2014) observed no seasonal variation for formaldehyde concentrations, but a higher level of acetaldehyde was observed in winter than in summer which was attributed to use of a wood-burning stove. Poppendieck et al (2015) took monthly measurements of VOCs in a net-zero energy house during the first year of operation, and reported two temporal trends for VOC concentrations. The seasonal variation of indoor VOC (subtracted for the corresponding outdoor concentration) showed a dependency on outdoor temperature, with higher concentrations during the first summer than during the second summer.…”

Energy use consequences of ventilating a net-zero energy house

“…The energy required to operate the HRV fan was 4% of the total energy consumed by the house. It could be concluded that the cost of ventilating the NZERTF was low considering the two to tenfold increase in indoor contaminants measured in the house when the HRV was off, which included formaldehyde, d-limonene and hexanal [33]. …”