ASHRAE's IAQ 2013, Environmental Health in Low-Energy Buildings will examine indoor air quality, thermal comfort, source control, air cleaning, ventilation, exposure and related environmental health concerns associated with low energy building design, construction, retrofit and operation. The conference takes place Oct. 15-18, 2013, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is co-organized by ISIAQ and is the 17th in the ASHRAE IAQ conference series.

"Besides addressing thermal comfort and other IEQ issues, buildings and other enclosed spaces are increasingly challenged to provide a healthy environment while focused on minimizing energy use intensity," Steve Emmerich, conference co-chair, said.

"The complex relationship between indoor and outdoor environmental conditions, coupled with the impacts of climate change, requires a paradigm shift towards creating buildings that are not only comfortable but also healthy for the occupants while minimizing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions," Hal Levin, co-chair, added.

Levin noted that increasing energy consumption is only one way to achieve the goal of improved IAQ and thermal comfort. It can also be achieved without significant increase or even with decreased energy consumption. However, the current focus on energy efficiency often results in insufficient consideration of the environmental health impacts of reduced energy efficiency use in buildings.

IAQ 2013 will review the state of knowledge of the balance of environmental health and energy efficiency in buildings and help define future education, policy and research directions. The roles of building, HVAC and passive system design and operation for achieving good environmental health in low energy buildings (both new and retrofit) are the core themes of this conference.

The conference program will include internationally acclaimed keynote speakers, original peer reviewed conference papers and extended abstract presentations. Abstracts are invited in the following subject areas:
• Environmental Health in Low Energy Buildings
• Moisture and Health
• Sources and Chemistry
• IEQ Factor Interactions
• Residential Buildings
• Commercial and Institutional Buildings
• Air Cleaning and Filtration
• Microorganisms and Infection
• Tools (models, measurements and more)

For more detailed descriptions of each of the topic areas, visit www.ashrae.org/iaq2013.