How to maintain safe and healthy air quality in your home

Air quality can be compromised in even brand-new or fully renovated residences. We talk to the ventilation specialists

Even following a deep energy retrofit, do you know the quality of your air? File picture

Thermal comfort and Indoor air quality (IAQ) are cheerfully referenced when discussing the experience of a new home with an A2 BER, or a retrofitting home with a sustainable heating system and heat recovery ventilation (HRV). But even where we’ve tightened every split centimetre of the envelope, energy efficiency can never be at the expense of fresh, safe air everywhere in the home.

Several studies led by Dr Marie Coggins, senior lecturer in Exposure Science at the School of Physics and a member of the Centre for One Health at the Ryan Institute of NUIG, have found an increase in indoor air pollutants in Irish homes following some deep energy retrofits. Particulate matter (PM2.5) and carbon dioxide (CO2) had measurably increased in some homes without whole-house mechanical ventilation.