n058  1456  05 Jun 80
 
BUILDINGS 2takes
(Newhouse 008)
By PETER J. BERNSTEIN
Newhouse News Service
    WASHINGTON - Medical evidence is mounting that energy-efficient
buildings can be downright dangerous, preventing not only warmed or
cooled air but pollutants from escaping to the open air.
    New data compiled by the federal Environmental Protection Agency
shows that some extremely serious illnesses can result from living in
well-insulated homes unless there is adequate ventilation.
    According to Ronald Bruno, an EPA radiation expert, available data
suggest 10 percent of lung cancers in the United States now are
caused by an indoor pollutant called radon, a gas that's given off by
certain rocks, soils and building materials that are naturally high
in uranium.
    Although radioactive, radon itself is not especially dangerous. But
it can become so when linked to dust particles that may lodge in the
lungs.
    ''We believe radon occurs in lots of places around the country - and
that exposure to it by the average homeowner could be very
significant,'' Bruno says.
    EPA studies within the past few months show that the upshot of
swapping ventilation for energy conservation in many homes and
offices is a build-up of not only radon but such pollutants as
morpholine from furniture polish, hydrated aluminum chloride from
deodorants, vinyl-acetate-copolymer resins from hair sprays,
formaldehyde from wallboard and carpet adhesives, and byproducts of
combustion from gas-fired appliances.
    David Rosenbaum, an EPA pollution specialist, says well-insulated
buildings without adequate air flow could cause an additional 10,000
to 20,000 deaths a year.
    According to one World Health Organization expert, indoor pollution
already is doing more damage to human health than the outdoor
pollution which regulatory authorities are fighting.
    New findings suggest the problem is growing, particularly in the
United States.
    In Port Washington, N.Y., 150 employees of a corporation moved into
a modern new office building last September. Within days the entire
staff complained of nausea, headaches, lethargy and puffy eyes. They
were promptly moved out and a crack team of epidemiologists was moved
in.
    The team's finding: The new building was so well insulated to
conserve energy that its occupants were being ''poisoned'' by trapped
emissions from their own bodies, cigarettes, office copiers,
typewriters, rugs, furniture and chemically treated wallboard.
Improved ventilation restored good health to all.
    In Maryland, builders installed double insulation, triple-glazed
windows, polyurethane caulking and other conservation measures to
produce a house that used only a third to half as much energy as a
conventional one. To their surprise, they discovered they also had a
produced a dangerous one to inhabit - with very high levels of
humidity, odors, pollutants and radioactive radon gas.
    Old buildings, federal energy officials say, tend to leak like
sieves, typically producing a complete changeover of air every hour.
Modern, energy-efficient structures tend to allow only one air
exchange every 10 hours - if that often.
    Some very snug homes like the one in suburban Maryland have been
found to permit less than one complete exchange in 24 hours.
    High humidity makes matters worse. In areas where sulfur emissions
from coal combustion are high, the result can be indoor ''acid rain''
as the sulfur combines with oxygen to form sulfate. The sulfate then
forms deposits that eat away at furniture - and possibly lung tissue.
    The big pollution problem in office buildings is formaldehyde and
fumes from metals, motors, chemicals, paper and ink.
    George Rand, an energy specialist in the school of architecture at
the University of California at Los Angeles, says the use of
synthetic materials in offices is partly responsible for such varied
disorders as depression, hypertension and pulmonary diseases.
    Formaldehyde is of particular concern. The chemical industry
produces 7 million pounds of formaldehyde a year, some of it going
into curtains, furniture and rugs, much of it into resins for foam
insulation, wallboard and other construction materials. Because it
produces excess gas that's been implicated in chronic respiratory
illnesses, formaldehyde foam insulation has been banned in
Massachusetts.
    Radon, however, appears to pose the greatest danger. Just a few
months ago, 21 staff members of the Department of Energy's
Environmental Measurements Laboratory monitored their own homes in
New York and New Jersey for the radioactive gas. To their horror,
they found ''significant levels,'' according to one federal energy
official. RB (MORE)
***************

n061  1518  05 Jun 80
 
BUILDINGS 1stadd
(Newhouse 010)
Bernstein - WASHINGTON X X X official.
    Surveys elsewhere in the country have found high levels of radon in
mining areas of Butte and Anaconda, Mont., and in parts of central
Florida, where phosphate mining is done.
    Another radon hot spot is Maine, where many homes use water pumped
from underground aquifers that are naturally high in radioactive
substances.
    Because it's extremely expensive to shield homes from radon, federal
environmental officals are advising states like Florida and Maine to
alert people of the need for adequate ventilation.
    But federal officials acknowledge that they're also groping in the
dark. ''We don't know very much about the effects of many indoor
pollutants, or the extent to which homeowners are being exposed to
them,'' says EPA's Ron Bruno.
    To get a better handle on the potential hazards, the National Bureau
of Standards is conducting tests on building materials, and a federal
inter-agency committee is weighing plans for spot surveys of homes in
different parts of the country.
    The Energy Department, which is developing energy performance
standards for new buildings, is being urged by EPA to give serious
attention to pollution hazards. ''We want to make sure the government
doesn't do anything to worsen the problem,'' one EPA official says.
    Officials say people who want to live in energy-efficient homes
without worrying about health hazards from caulking or
weatherstripping should buy heat exchangers which preserve indoor
heat (or coolness) while at the same time bringing in fresh air.
    Easy to install, simple to operate and effective in removing excess
humidity and pollutants, such devices cost as little as $150 for a
household and up to $2,000 for an office.
    Officials say an air exchanger can pay for itself in only a few
years through heat savings.
    But they emphasize that insulation poses no health risk provided
measures are taken to ensure enough air filtration. ''If anything, we
ought to be erring on the side of adequate ventilation,'' Bruno says.
RB END BERNSTEIN
    
ny-0605 1817edt
***************