Get Sust! Issue 28

Phew! What's that pong? Cutting complaints about indoor air quality

Researchers in Denmark say that giving people information about the materials in their building can reduce complaints about indoor air quality.

Building materials can be a major source of indoor air pollution, and the team from Denmark’s Building Research Institute suspected that people complain more about emissions from building materials because they are unfamiliar odours. They tested the theory by asking people to sniff emissions from indoor building materials containing linseed oil (organic) and comparable (synthetic) materials, and asking them to rate the smells in terms of odour intensity (OI) and odour acceptability (OA). They found that when the test smells were labelled either ‘organic’ or ‘synthetic’, people’s perception of the smells changed - with those labelled ‘organic’ scoring a higher OA rate.

The team conclude that giving occupants information about the materials or activities in their buildings will have an impact on people’s perception of the building.

Learn more:

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Read ‘The impact of information on perceived air quality –‘organic’ vs. ‘synthetic’ building materials’ by K Wilkins et al in Indoor Air, Volume 17 Issue 2 Page 130 - April 2007. See www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1600-0668.2006.00462.x.