University of Houston
OP-5: Indoor Air Quality

The University of Houston’s indoor air quality program is taken from the LEED Silver criteria (LEED 4). This includes the following regulations: 1) Smoking will be prohibited in and adjacent to the building: Required. (The University of Houston transitioned to a tobacco-free campus beginning Fall 2015.) 2) Minimum ventilation performance: Required. 3) Carbon dioxide monitoring and control: Required in large common spaces (student lounges, multi-purpose rooms, etc.). 4) Increased ventilation effectiveness: Desirable. 5) Construction procedures that reduce impact on interior air quality during and after construction: Required. 6) Use of materials that are low-emitting, non-toxic, and chemically inert: Required. 7) Control of sources of indoor pollutants: Required. 8) Individual occupant control of environmental systems: If possible. 9) Individual occupant control of lighting systems: Desirable. 10) Thermal comfort conditions: As specified. 11) Provision of daylighting: Desirable. 12) Provision of views to outdoors: Desirable. 13) Humidity control and monitoring: Required in large common spaces (student lounges, multi-purpose rooms, etc.). All buildings built since 2009 must meet these criteria. Environmental Health and Life Safely no longer regulates indoor air quality, but instead respond to incident reports. Campus labs also self-regulate indoor air quality.

Square footage comes from the total area of buildings built to LEED Silver criteria (all buildings since 2009) and total laboratory area (self-regulate indoor air quality). LEED Buildings: 3,210,283.94 square feet Lab Space: 937,263.0 square feet Laboratory regulations: http://www.uh.edu/ehs/manuals_and_forms/Laboratory-Standard-and-Design-Guideline.pdf General Safety Guidelines: http://www.uh.edu/ehs/manuals_and_forms/manuals_Lab_Saf.pdf