DALYs

Common metrics used for assessing air quality are based on guidelines and/or standards for regulating concentrations that should not be exceeded over a period. Exceeding those values would represent problematic situations. A lack of agreement on appropriate norms or standards deem this approach sub-optimal. Moreover, this approach does not relate a proportion of exceedance to specific health outcomes.

It is widely accepted that ventilation is critical for providing good indoor air quality (IAQ) in homes. However, the definition of "good" IAQ, and the most effective, energy efficient methods for delivering it are still matters of research and debate. This paper presents the results of work done at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab to identify the air pollutants that drive the need for ventilation as part of a larger effort to develop a health-based ventilation standard.