About:

GIAQC Green Indoor Air Quality Calculator (Proposal)

Context:

After 50 years in construction as a technician, architect, consultant specification writer on £2420m worth of projects, as an environmental specification consultant and in Architectural Education; BrianSpecMan Murphy has become very conscious of the knowledge gaps that exist within students, graduates, professionals and construction industry wide.

GBE Green Building Encyclopaedia, GBL Green Building Learning & GBC Green Building Calculator websites have been, are creating or planning several Design & Decision Tools (D&DT), Jargon Busters, CPD seminars and Lectures, Brain Dumps, Checklists, Issue papers, Guest Articles, etc. to try to address some of those knowledge gaps:

GBC Design & Decision tools and Carbon Calculators being developed include:

• WCL Waste Cost lite (after UK PII Funded project, complete, being replaced by GWCC)
• WBECC Whole Building Embodied Carbon Calculator (University student assignments, superseded by GBC)
• WBIUCC Whole Building In Use Carbon Calculator (University student assignments, superseded by GBC)
• GBC Green Building Calculator (During COVID, Version 2 launched, Version 3 developing)
• GRC Green Retrofit Calculator (with STBA, 99% complete)
• GIRC Green Insurance Repair Calculator (with Core Logic, Demonstration)
• GFC Green Flooring Calculator (with Gyvlon, Started)
• GIG Green Interiors Calculator (with HiiGuru, Proposal and grant application, no progress)
• GRRC Green Reclaim & Reuse Calculator (With Salvo UK, Proposal)
• GGC Green Glazing Calculator (With VacuumGlas, Substantially complete)
• GWCC Green Waste Cost Calculator (with VacuumGlas, Version 1 complete)
• GTEC Green Transport Emissions Calculator (with VacuumGlas, Substantially complete)
• GTWC Green Temporary Works Calculator (with VacuumGlas, V1 Complete)
• GHC Green Historic Calculator (with STBA & CALECHE project, Current development)
• GMEPC Green Mechanical Electrical Plumbing Calculator (with Home@ix, Started)
• GMMC Green Modern Methods Calculator (Proposal)
• GUVC Green U Value Calculator (Proposal & Feasibility underway)
• GWRRC Green Water Reduce & Recycle Calculator (Discussion starting in February 2026)

Ambition and progress:

• GBC has so far focussed on Embodied Energy & Carbon, Sequestered Carbon & LCA Life Cycle Assessment & EPD Environmental Product Declaration calculations and Bill of Quantities addressing costs.
• GBC has for a while also wanted to address EW Embodied Water and ECh Embodied Chemistry and human health.
• At exhibitions GBC’S BrianSpecMan Murphy continued to ask material & product manufacturers, IAQ Indoor Air Qualitytest kit manufacturers and consultants if we can yet find a correlation between surrounding room surfaces, material’s chemical content and indoor air quality, so far, the answers have been firm nos.
• GIC was an opportunity to address these issues, but the AI Artificial Intelligence focussed GUI Graphic User Interface, UX User Experience soaked up all the money, so no progress there.
• CALECHE Coherent, Acceptable, Low Emissions, Cultural, Heritage, Efficient, Renovation project developing tools for Historic Domestic & Non-domestic Public Building Renovation
• CALECHE addressing IAQ Indoor Air Quality with Greek and Swedish team member’s expert advice.
• The same Swedish team are also starting an IAQ funded project aiming to solve BrianSpecMan’s exhibition question.

Method Statement of Approach:

Under Greek advice we got back to Mechanical Ventilation basics

Identifying and recording: (Substantially complete)

• Local outdoor air monitoring stations and choosing closest to the building in question
• Capturing data outputs from the monitoring station
• Identify external pollution sources, pollution types, distance, direction
  • Rail lines, road routes, traffic lights, airports, industrial, marine, harbours
• Further considerations: short term and temporary pollutants: (not normally considered, so far)
  • Construction chemistry off gassing and products of combustion
  • Agriculture chemicals and pollen
  • Restaurant Kitchen extraction
  • Ventilation outlets: Thermal pollution, moisture vapour, smells
• Determine if there is a pattern in the timings to pollution instances: examples:
  • Food Kitchen hours of operation
  • Seasonal crop spraying
  • Construction Site working hours
• Appropriate response:
  • Avoid air intake during these instances if practical
  • Filtration to match pollution instances
• Monitoring equipment is being promoted
  • It can be selected according to any known pollutants
• An output is guidance to the designers and specifiers of ventilation systems:
  • Avoid drawing in external air at the time of known recurring external pollution incidences
• Building’s ventilation systems: intake, filtration methods, distribution, outlets and rooms served
• Internal pollution sources:
  • Off gassing from: (Data collection pending)
    • Core, surface finishes, protection, adhesives
    • Modern (1957? Onwards high chemistry) furniture, upholstery (IDD advisor identified)
    • Cleaning materials
  • Pollution generators:
    • Fireplaces, kitchen, cookers, bathrooms, laundry, etc.
  • Pollution Generated:
    • Mould spores, smoke, particulates, smells, VOC, CO2, heat, humidity, etc.
  • Toxic smoke from materials in fires
    • Example: PVC in fires generates dioxins (as do plastics in fireworks)
    • Most plastics generate toxic smoke in fires
    • Upholstery materials have substantial % of plastics
    • Smoke is usually the killer in fires
    • Smoke inhalation by fire fighters can be lethal many hours after the call out is over

Following Swedish advice: investigate the surface materials

Continuing GBC approach looking at building fabric: and exploring the ingredients: (Substantially developed)

• Considering:
  • Core materials and their distance from surface
  • Surface materials
  • Decoration, corrosion, fire chemical protection materials
  • Impregnations, rot and fire treatments, coatings, oils, waxes
  • Cleaning and maintenance materials:
    • frequency of application, application rates, concentration levels
  • Considering air and moisture vapour permeability of core, surface, impregnation and decoration materials
  • Considering moisture transport from core to surface and direction of flow driven by hygrothermal pressure
  • Consider evaporation or off gassing driven by heat
  • Considering blowing agents from petrochemical plastics escaping from surfaces
  • Considering multiple glass insulating gasses escaping from units
  • Quantifying surface areas around spaces
  • With heights calculating volumes of spaces
  • Thickness and volumes of core, surface, impregnation and decoration materials
  • Determining core and finish material recipes used to determine chemistry contents
  • Calculating chemistry quantity available to affect IAQ
  • Considering the interactions of ingredients with each other generating more unhealthy materials
  • Not forgetting maintenance activities: (Pending)
    • Abrasive sanding of surfaces can release micro particles (particulates) to atmosphere
      • Sanding paint contributes to largest % of microplastics that are everywhere
    • Drilling to add fixtures can also release micro particles
    • Once released to atmosphere they risk entering the breathing tracts of any persons present
    • Cleaning particles from floor should avoid flicking brushes but use vacuum suction
    • Competent safe legal disposal of collected particles is essential
  • Not ignoring site pollutants: (Pending)
    • From prior, current and future use
    • Airborne particulates pollutants landing on site
    • Rainwater delivered pollutants absorbed into site

Cataloguing ingredient chemistry, materials and products that have potential to affect IAQ: (only >125 so far)

• Base on prior knowledge
• Adding recent industry priorities
• Adding current campaign targets
• Internet searches including with AI (with caution, substantially developed, but many more to capture)
• Include: Synthetic and natural solvents (e.g. plant-based oils and paints)
• Looking to Health & Safety legislation
  • CHIP, COSHH,
  • REACH, Candidate List, SIN Substitute it Now List, LBC Red List,
  • Capturing links to data sources for users to investigate
  • Consider future APIs to auto update from data sources into calculator cells
• Other guidance:
  • WHO World Health Organisation, EU European Union and National regulations, many others
  • Green labels, excluded materials
  • Red List (>15,000 materials) below

Capture data about chemistry and material ingredients (Pending)

• From:
  • Generic Material’s MSDS Material Safety Data Sheets
  • Manufacturer’s Product MSDS Material Safety Data Sheets
  • Manufacturer’s REACH declarations
  • Manufacturer’s literature
  • Maintenance & cleaning MSDS materials safety data sheets
• Material names, chemical symbol or other shorthand, initials, acronyms (Substantially developed)
• Collate Product information: Manufacturers and Product references
  • Unhealthy materials
    • Red Lists (see above example)
    • REACH lists,
    • Candidate list,
    • SIN Substitute it Now list,
    • SVHCs Substances of Very High Concern lists
  • Alternative healthy materials to substitute
    • Competent, Green & Health Labelled materials E.g. natureplus
    • Declare healthy database
    • Low Allergy database (UK) includes maintenance equipment
    • Quiet Mark database (UK)
    • REACH’s Substitute it Now lists
    • REACH’s SubsPort Substitution Portal
  • Information collected for:
    • Design & Decision Tool
    • Calculator
    • Robust specifications clauses for products, for contracts
      • to resist substitution for unhealthy
      • to include properties (reason for choosing it and defending it in substitution scenarios)
    • Map Ingredients, Materials, Products to applications
      • Materials to Applications (CALECHE Generic Solutions)
      • Products to Applications (CALECHE Solutions Repository)
      • Map applications to Building elements, their build ups and components (to be developed)
      • Map materials to applications (started)
    • Collate Tell-tale signs of material presence: (started, limited data available)
      • Colours
      • Off gassing
      • Polymer migration affecting adjacent materials, adhesive failure, discolouration, etc.
    • Determine significant dates: (Substantially developed)
      • when materials were introduced (if knowable)
      • when materials were identified as a risk
      • when materials awareness and rejection by consumers
      • when materials were limited, restricted: nationally or globally
      • when materials were banned
      • when materials were required to be removed
    • Which directives, legislations, regulations, labels initiated the changes (Substantially developed)
      • Which organisations or consumers
      • Which countries
      • Which publications, databases or websites
    • Any obligations and financial grants for removal (no progress)
    • Which test kits are available in retailers (started)
    • Create Hazardous Materials Chronology (Substantially Developed)
      • Map material significant dates
      • Create charts to graphically show the start, change and stop dates (refinements progressing)
      • Show which materials were being used in which materials and application

© GBE GBC GRC GIC GGC GBL NGS ASWS Brian Murphy aka BrianSpecMan ******
11th July 2026

Images:

© GBE GBC GRC GIC GGC GBL NGS ASWS Brian Murphy aka BrianSpecMan ******
11th July 2026

See Also:

GBE Proposals

• GIC Green Interior Calculator (Proposal)

GBE Equations

GBE Datasets

• Generic Materials (Dataset)
• Glazing k values (Dataset)
• Insulation Materials k values (Dataset)
• Secondary Elements U values (Dataset)
• Timber Species (Dataset) G#1371 N#1351
• Embodied Energy, Carbon and Sequestered Carbon (Dataset)
• Life Cycle Assessment Environmental Product Declaration (Dataset)

GBE Calculator

• Bill of Materials Quantities Labour Costs (Calculator)
• WasteCost®Lite (Calculator) G#531 N#551
• Scale Changer (Calculator) G#19287

Calculators By Others

• Shared Earth Building Embodied Carbon (Database) G#1307 N#1298

GBE Proposal

• GBE Timber Carbon calculator (Proposal) A01BRM301014 PDF
• Timber Sector Carbon Calculator (Proposal) G#15015
• Whole Building LCA Calculator (Proposal) G#17689

GBE Jargon Buster

Initials, Abbreviations, Acronyms:

• BC
• BID
• BRE
• C
• CO2
• CO2e
• D&DT
• EC
• EChem
• EE
• FFE
• GBC
• GIC
• RICS
• SAP
• SBEM
• SC
• SCOPE
• TSB
• WRAP

• Building Embodied Carbon
• Building Embodied Energy
• Building Embodied Chemistry
• Design & Decision Tools
• GBC Green Building Calculator (Navigation) G#38828
• ICE Database (Jargon Buster) G#1018 N#1037
• Innovate UK
• Sequestered Carbon (SC)
• Technology Strategy Board (TSB)
• WasteCost®Lite (by GBC)
• Water Calculator (by AECB)
• Whole Building Calculator 2020 (by GBE)

GBE Links

• WRAP

• Innovate UK
• RIBA 2030 Carbon Challenge
• Waste Resource Action Plan (WRAP)

© GBE GBC GRC GIC GGC GBL NGS ASWS Brian Murphy aka BrianSpecMan ******
11th July 2026

GIAQC Green Indoor Air Quality Calculator (Proposal) G#43961 End.