on Indoor Air Quality
Combined Meeting Notes:
March 15 and June 13, 2007
American Lung Association of California
Bay
Area Air Quality Management District
California Air Resources Board / IAQ & Personal Exposure Assessment Program
California Department of Education / School Facility and Planning Division
California Department of Health Service / Environmental Health Investigations Branch
California Department of Health Service / Indoor Air Quality Section
California Department of Health Service / Occupational Health Branch
California Department of Health Service / Radon Program
California Department of Health Service /
Tobacco Control Program
California Department of Industrial Relations (Cal/OSHA)
California Integrated Waste Management Board / Sustainable Building Program
California Office of Environmental Health
Hazard Assessment (Indoor Air Risk Assessment)
California Department of Toxics Substances
Control (Hazardous Materials Laboratory)
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory / Indoor Environments Program
San Francisco Department of the Environment
Southern California Environmental Health Sciences/Children's Environmental Health Center
UC
Environmental Health & Safety Program
U.S. EPA Region IX / Indoor Environment Team
U.S. Federal Interagency Committee on IAQ
http://www.dtsc.ca.gov/PollutionPrevention/GreenChemistryInitiative/index.cfm
http://www.dtsc.ca.gov/PollutionPrevention/GreenChemistry.cfm
http://californiagreenchemistry.squarespace.com/welcome
o AB 35 (Ruskin), AB 888 (Lieu) and AB 1058 (Laird) would promote Sustainable (or
Green) Building practices within
o SB 4 (Oropeza) and SB 7 (Oropeza) would, respectively, establish a fine of $250 for smoking at a state beach or within a state park, and make it an infraction for a person to smoke in any car with a child younger than the age of 18 in it, even if the car was parked or on private property.
Search for current bill status at http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/bilinfo.html
ARB Chairman’s Seminar Series: This seminar series offers a forum on various air quality topics. See announcement at http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/seminars/seminars.htm. Presentation materials are archived on-line; here are some of the recent topics of interest:
http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/seminars/seminars.htm
Upcoming:
o Bart Ostro, Ph.D., OEHHA, The Effects of Fine Particle Species on Daily Mortality and Morbidity in Six California Counties: Results from CALFINE. July 25, 2007
Past
seminars:
June 13, 2007
Pending ARB Regulations to Reduce Formaldehyde
Emissions from Composite Wood Products by Jim Aguila, Stationary Source Division, Air Resources Board.
http://www.cal-iaq.org/CIWG/ Aguila_Compwood_PPT_2007-06-13.pdf
March 15, 2007
Pesticide Exposures, Housing Quality, and Health Effects in Children from Farmworker Families, by Dr. Kim Harley, CHAMACOS Project Director, UC Berkeley.
http://www.cal-iaq.org/CIWG/Harley_CHAMACOS_PPT_2007-03-15.pdf
September 27, 2006
Indoor
Environmental Quality and HVAC Survey in Small and
http://www.cal-iaq.org/CIWG/Bennett_SMCB_PPT_2006-09-27.pdf
October 12, 2006
(off-site)
Tutorial on Ventilation & the
HVAC-package Unit by Ben
Venktash, a Mechanical Engineer at CM Service (http://www.cmservice.com) and longtime
friend of the CIWG-IAQ hosted a hands-on tutorial on Ventilation & the
HVAC-package Unit, held at his office in
AGENCY REPORTS ON CURRENT
IAQ ACTIVITIES
-- Bonnie Holmes-Gen (bhgen@alac.org)
Check their web site (above).
-- Elinor Blake, eblake@igc.org
-- Saffet Tanrikulu, STanrikulu@baaqmd.gov
Check their web site (above).
California Air Resources Board / Indoor Air Quality & Personal
Exposure Assessment Program
http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/indoor/indoor.htm
– Peggy Jenkins (mjenkins@arb.ca.gov)
Ozone-generating Air Cleaners
o Draft Air Cleaner Regulation Released for
Comment.
The revised draft regulation to limit ozone
emissions from indoor air cleaning devices has been posted at http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/indoor/aircleaners/aircleaners.htm. It would require all indoor air cleaning
devices used in occupied spaces to be certified by ARB, based on passing a 50
ppb ozone emission concentration test protocol, with a few exceptions. Two public workshops were conducted, in March
and June, 2007, to discuss the draft regulation and obtain comments. Written comments on the most current draft
regulation are now due July 2, 2007. In
developing the draft regulation, we met with a number of groups such as
Underwriters Laboratories, Inc., the Association of Home Appliance
Manufacturers, and Intertek Testing Services NA, Inc., all of whom have
provided much useful information. Additionally, UL has been very helpful in
moving to complete the updated “Clarification” of their Section 37 ozone
emissions test protocol and move it through the ANSI standards review process,
so that it can be used for the ARB regulation. We anticipate taking the
regulation to the September 2007 Board meeting for approval. Effective dates would be a September 30, 2008
manufacturing date, and a March 30, 2009 sales date.
Contact:
Peggy Jenkins, mjenkins@arb.ca.gov.
o Final Report on Ozone-generating Air Cleaner Survey.
On December 14th, ARB’s Research Screening Committee
unanimously approved the draft final report describing a telephone survey of
more than 2,000
ARB-funded Field Studies
o New Home Field Study.
In a study of the
relationship between ventilation and indoor air quality, Indoor Environmental
Engineering recently completed field sampling of over 120 new, single-family
homes in northern and southern
o Indoor NO2 Monitor Field Measurements.
ARB staff recently
completed field testing of a continuous indoor NO2 monitor in about
30 of the New Home Field Study homes in northern and southern
o
In early March,
ARB and CEC staff met with the investigators from UC Berkeley, LBNL, and UC Davis
and an external advisory group to kick-off the Phase I contract to study IAQ
and ventilation in small and medium commercial buildings (under 4 stories and
less than 50,000 square feet). These
types of buildings are the most common type of commercial building in
Contact: Peggy Jenkins, mjenkins@arb.ca.gov.
o Fact Sheet on Cleaning Products.
The indoor use of certain common cleaning products and air fresheners can cause an increase in indoor concentrations of gaseous and particulate pollutants. A fact sheet based on results discussed in the final study report, Indoor Air Chemistry: Cleaning Agents, Ozone and Toxic Air Contaminants, by Dr. Bill Nazaroff of UC Berkeley, is available at http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/indoor/guidelines.htm. Findings indicated that when cleaning products were used in the presence of ozone, a high degree of reactive chemistry resulted. Measured reaction products from the terpene-ozone reaction included formaldehyde, ultrafine particulate matter, and hydroxyl radicals. Levels of formaldehyde and secondary organic aerosols produced from the reactions were significant when compared to health-based guidelines. However, there are many actions that can be taken to reduce exposures. See http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/apr/past/indoor.htm for the full study report. Contact: Peggy Jenkins, mjenkins@arb.ca.gov.
We participated in a two-day symposium on research
needs and priorities for indoor environmental quality (IEQ), which was
sponsored and convened by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). The
workshop focused on indoor exposures and health. ARB staff participated in panels on research priorities for IEQ in
classrooms, and on opportunities and strategies for
advancing IEQ research. Presentations from the workshop are available on
the web at http://eetd.lbl.gov/ie/symposium-07/ied-symposium-07.html. Contact: Peggy Jenkins, mjenkins@arb.ca.gov or Tom Phillips, tphillip@arb.ca.gov.
We participated in a workshop sponsored by Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory (LBNL) scientists to discuss and develop options to encourage
Peggy Jenkins, with Jed Waldman from DHS, presented information on
“Indoor Air Quality and Job Performance” at the Green California Summit held in
– Michael O’Neil (MOneill@cde.ca.gov) http://goldmine.cde.ca.gov/facilities/
Check their web site (above).
– Sandra McNeel (Sandy.McNeel@cdph.ca.gov)
Strategic Plan to Address Asthma in
Asthma Surveillance. California Breathing is in the process of
updating the County Asthma Profiles which are 1-page documents of
county-specific asthma data for each of the 58 counties in
Housing Symposium. California
Asthma Partners, a program of California Breathing, convened a symposium
entitled Healthy Housing for California:
Using Code Enforcement to Reduce the Impact of Asthma on December 8,
2006. The first gathering of its kind,
it brought together
Mini-Grants for Asthma. CB staff members are in the process of putting together a mini-grants program on asthma and housing. They will be awarding 5-6 grants of up to $15,000 in the fall of 2007 and 2008. The grants will focus on multi-unit rental properties, especially those with a predominance of low income tenants. CB is also organizing a new advisory committee to help guide their work on housing. For more information on California Breathing’s Disparities Mini-Grants Program, please contact Janet Tobacman (jtobacma@dhs.ca.gov).
Burden of Asthma in
Starlight Tool Kit Trainings. Early in 2007, California Breathing sponsored nine trainings across the state focused on increasing utilization of the Starlight Asthma Tool Kit for Schools (Tool Kit), a unique resource for schools designed to educate school staff about asthma and about asthma management in the school site. A key idea presented in the Tool Kit is that all staff have a role to play in reducing environmental triggers. As a result, the Tool Kit focuses special attention on describing strategies that improve indoor air and supports implementation of the U.S. EPA's Tools for Schools. By attending the training, school nurses were able to spend time discussing these strategies and ways to communicate their importance to other school personnel. Almost 300 people participated in these trainings.
Mini Grants to address Asthma Disparities Among African Americans. Two projects funded by California Breathing's 2006 Mini Grant program focus on indoor air quality issues. INMED/Mothernet LA is providing home assessments as part of their case management to their enrolled families for this round of mini grants. Healthy African American Families II is being funded to work with property owners to develop and distribute a toolkit aimed at educating property owners on asthma triggers in home environments, specifically multi-unit housing. For more information on California Breathing’s Disparities Mini-Grants Program, please contact Janet Tobacman (jtobacma@dhs.ca.gov).
– Jed Waldman (Jed.Waldman@cdph.ca.gov) http://www.cal-iaq.org/
The “New” State Department of Public Health. On July 1, 2007, the State Department of Health Services is being reorganized “to elevate the visibility and importance of public health issues in the policy arena.” The result will be creation of a Department of Public Health. The remaining programs will be consolidated in a Department of Health Care Services “to increase accountability and improve program effectiveness for the public health and health care purchasing functions of state government.” The mission of the Department of Public Health (CDPH) will be to protect and promote the health status of Californians through programs and policies that use population-wide interventions. Core functions in the new CDPH will include: Emergency Preparedness; Communicable Disease Control; Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention; Laboratory Sciences; Environmental and Occupational Health including Drinking Water, Environmental Management, Food, Drug and Radiation Safety; Health Statistics; and Health Facility Licensure and Certification. Look for our web site under www.cdph.ca.gov/IAQ as well as new email addresses starting soon.
Collaborative
for High Performance Schools (CHPS). A face-to-face CHPS
meeting was held in
· Credit option for other HVAC systems that have additional environmental features in addition to providing ventilation minimum (EQ 2.1);
· Deck-to-deck partitions and separate exhaust for wood shops in schools (EQ 2.3);
· Provision for CO2 monitors and for window open indicators (perhaps in EQ 4.0);
· Increasing the stringency of the filtration requirements (EQ 2.0 P3 and EQ2.5).
There was also interest in considering improving criteria for paint to address carcinogens/ repro-toxicants as addressed in the Green Seal certification program and to consider acute exposure considerations. Additionally, the Full Tech committee asked the sub-group to consider adding “green cleaners”. Contact: Toni Stein (Toni.Stein@cdph.ca.gov).
BIFMA Sustainability Standard. A two day BIFMA Sustainability Assessment Standard Stakeholder meeting was held on Tuesday, January 9 2007. The Human and Ecosystem Health Technical Workgroup presented among other credit language for two Furniture Emission Credits, 7.6.1 and 7.6.2. Credit 7.6.1 is aligned with the USGBC criteria (TVOC, Total aldehydes, formaldehyde and 4PC); and BIFMA SAS Credit 7.6.2 is aligned with the criteria found in the State of California 2007 bid specification referencing the Bid Specification’s Appendix list of maximum acceptable individual VOC limits that are the ˝ CREL limits. Both 7.6.1 and 7.6.2 were structured and agreed upon by the workgroup to require testing using the BIFMA M7.1 as the core test protocol. The committee includes members from Steelcase Inc., Herman Miller, Interface Fabrics, Victor Innovatex, NAIMA, US EPA, MI DEQ, Northern Virginia Community College, Cal/EPA OEHHA, and CARB. Contact: Toni Stein (Toni.Stein@cdph.ca.gov).
Emission Testing for
Formaldehyde from Composite Wood. A CARB Stationary Source
Division contract to collaborate through an interagency agreement is in its
final signature step at DGS. The contract includes CDHS-IAQ assisting in testing composite wood products
for formaldehyde emissions in support of their proposed airborne toxic control
measure (ATCM) to reduce formaldehyde emissions from composite wood products.
And in assisting in certifying CARB’s small test chambers to be
used for their routine testing of wood products as part of enforcement of the
ATCM. In particular testing will include:
1. Assisting CARB in defining a small chamber test method to identify non-compliant products for enforcement of the ATCM CDHS will compare large chamber test results to small chamber test results to establish a correlation factor.
2. Assisting CARB in developing a test to identify non-compliant finished goods CDHS will compare small chamber test results of a raw board versus boards laminated on one-side to establish a correlation.
3. Assisting CARB in determining test preparation steps for finished goods, CDHS will investigate how varying amounts of surface layer removal affects the rate of formaldehyde emissions for particleboards.
4. Assisting CARB in developing a field screen test CDHS will compare and correlate testing results from the FLEC test compared to the small chamber test.
5. Assisting CARB in quality control assessments of chamber testing, CDHS will participate in a round robin for comparative testing of raw boards with other certified labs, organizations and manufacturers performing large and small chamber tests.
The Complete Htory (so far).
Note: This is the re-issued bid that was first released March 10, 2006 (see http://www.cal-iaq.org/CIWG/MIN_0607.htm#IAQ).
§ A detailed road map of required submittals.
§ Clarification that small chamber testing could be conducted for Section 2.1 and 2.2 requirements.
§ Clarified use of the most current BIFMA M 7.1 standard.
§ Deleted requirement for 3rd party certification documents for Section 2.1.
§ Clarified that Lab reports were required for 2.1 and 2.2.
§ Clarified that a ventilation rate to ASHRAE 62.1- 2004 was required in Greenguard testing.
§ Clarified use of units of time in hours not days.
· On April 3rd, Response-to-Bidder questions were issued, affirming that IAQ Laboratory Test Reports were required to be submitted to show compliance with the USGBC requirements for the IAQ Section 2.1 specification requirements. Also it was affirmed that test data needed to be dated within one year from the bid due date. Also the letter noted that the IAQ emissions were not expected to be affected by the required glass recycled content since glass does not contain any VOCs.
· On April 11th, Addendum #6 was issued, extending the due date to April 18th 2007. The CAD drawings of the workstation configurations were modified and reissued within the IAQ specification. (These are used for pricing only).
· The IFB closed on April 18, 2007.
·
From May 9-11, bid evaluation by subject matter
experts was held in
· Plans for a New bid. DGS plans to re-bid with revised requirements by July 2nd with a Bidders conference on July 24th. Draft bids will then be collected without pricing by August 14th and DGS will provide bidders with evaluation on bid defects by August 22nd. The Final bid due date with pricing will be collected on August 28th and DGS (and SME’s) evaluation and recommendation will be prepared by September 7th for contract Award by September 14th.
Commissioning the CDHS-IAQ
Environmental Chamber. We are in the process of the commissioning
the DHS-IAQ large room sized chamber to meet the research requirements for
multiple projects. Currently, we are modifying the operation of the facility
according to ASTM Standard E1333 (American Society for Testing and Materials).
The large room chamber is constructed of inert, smooth surfaces with stainless steel. All joints and openings are sealed. All seals are made of non-VOC emitting and non-VOC adsorbing/absorbing materials. The air within the chamber is free of any obstructions or contamination such as humidifiers or refrigeration coils. Internally mounted fan is used to keep the chamber air well mixed. The internal chamber air only comes in contact with inert materials. We did a series of background VOCs sampling to confirm that the surfaces and seals of the chamber are sufficiently “clean”. Air concentrations were measured for individual VOCs <10 µg/m3 and for formaldehyde at the levels below 3 µg/m3 (2 ppb). We plan to do additional measurements to verify that the surfaces are chemically inert, i.e., chemicals are not lost to the walls or are re-emitted over time.
Air is supplied to the chamber using a single pass system. The target air exchange rate for the chamber is 0.5 ±0.05 air changes per hour (ACH). To control the air flow rate, we can vary the speed of supply and return air fans and the opening status of dampers. Chamber air exchange rates are calculated from tracer gas decay measurements. An inert tracer gas (SF6) is introduced into the chamber with the inlet air over a short period of time (1 to 10 min). The chamber air concentration of the tracer gas is then measured over time at two or three locations within the chamber. The current configuration of the ventilation control system has made it a challenge to make direct flow measurement, given the low target rate (10 cfm). The inlet air supply to the chamber will be monitored continuously and maintained at a constant temperature and humidity of 23 ± 2° C and 50 ± 5% RH. We are also working on the automatic control of the system and data logging. Contact: Kunning Zhu, kunning.zhu@cdph.ca.gov. Below are the Specifications for the Environmental Chamber:
|
Physical Structure of the Chamber |
|
|
Interior Size |
12 ´ 12 ´ 8
ft3 ~ 1300 ft3 ~ 36 m3 |
|
Chamber Door |
Openable from both sides with a glazed window |
|
Interior Insulation |
With a high density polyurethane foam |
|
Interior Surface |
Constructed from stainless steel |
|
Interior Outlet |
3 for 115 Volts, 1 for 230 Volts |
|
|
2 on each sidewall |
|
“Air-Tight” |
With pressure difference across chamber envelope ~ 2” water, the expected leakage less than 0.5 ft3 /min |
Ventilation
System
|
|
|
Clean Air Flow Rate |
(12.5 CFM ~ 375 CFM) |
|
Air Exchange Rate |
(0.5 hr-1, 17 hr-1) |
|
Clean Air Condition |
Temp: (60°F ~ 100°F) ± 1 °F Relative Humidity: (30%~ 100%) ± 5% Circulation: (0% ~100%) |
|
Sensor Location |
Outdoor airstream, Supply airstream, exhaust airstream |
|
Duct |
Stainless steel or PVC |
|
Filter for Supply Air |
HEPA, Charcoal |
|
Supply Fan/ Return Fan |
1~ 1.5 HP |
|
Inlet Location inside Chamber |
Supply: Sidewall, Return: Ceiling |
|
Operation |
A: vary supply air flow rate by changing speed of the supply fan, B: vary the ratio of outdoor/ recirculation air using dampers |
|
Note: the chamber system is separated from the building VAC system |
|
Tire Derived Flooring Study. The
release of the Study Final Report was delayed to address comments raised by the
project’s Advisory Group. The new release
date is expected in early July 2007.
Definition of VOC for Paint Certification. The Canadian eco-label Terra Choice accepted CDHS recommended comment to modify the definition of VOC in their Paint certification (CCD 166). The former definition was:
“VOC” means volatile organic compound and is any organic compound which
participates in atmospheric photochemical reactions to create smog. It excludes those organic compounds which the
ECP designates as having negligible photochemical reactivity.
The revised list of indoor VOCs is broader, as follows:
“VOC” means volatile organic compound and is any
organic compound which participates in atmospheric photochemical reactions to
create smog and / or contribute to poor indoor air quality. VOCs include carbon
containing compounds (excluding carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, carbonic acid,
metallic carbides and carbonates and ammonium carbonate) with vapor pressure
>0.01 KPa at 20°C.
Ventilation Standards in CA Title 24. In May 2007, Leon Alevantis submitted comments
to the California Energy Commission on their proposed Multiple Zone System
Demand Controlled Ventilation (DCV) for the 2008 Energy Code revision. He raised concerns about height, commissioning, and maintenance
requirements for CO2 sensors.
He also requested that CEC prohibit DCV
in high occupancy applications, such as “call centers”. Cal/OSHA staff submitted written comments
regarding DCV proposals.
California Department of Health Service / Occupational Health Branch
-- Liz Katz (Ekatz@dhs.ca.gov) http://www.cdph.ca.gov/ohb/
Cosmetics
and Hazardous Chemicals. The California Safe Cosmetics Act of 2005 is
a law designed to assist consumers and workers who use cosmetic products in
getting information about potentially hazardous chemicals contained in these products. The Act requires cosmetics manufacturers to
disclose to the California Department of Health Services all products that
contain ingredients known to cause cancer or birth defects and other
reproductive harm. The California Safe
Cosmetics Program (CSCP) was established to collect this information and make
it available to the public and is managed OHB.
The DHS (CDPH) Division of Food, Drug and Radiation Safety is
responsible for enforcing the provisions of the Act.
This information will allow workers, employers,
and consumers to make informed decisions about products they purchase and
use. All users could potentially benefit
if manufacturers voluntarily remove hazardous ingredients from their products. The
program will also convene meetings of health advocates, manufacturers,
regulators, and other interested parties to promote collaborative efforts to
improve product safety.
Developing a Regulation to Protect Workers from Exposure to Heat Indoors. The OHB has been working with others in DHS and Cal/OSHA to track heat fatalities, both occupational and residential, and to determine associated factors. This effort is in support of Cal/OSHA’s development of regulatory proposal designed to protect workers from heat illness in ind