Atlanta, Georgia: According to an official communiqué from ASHRAE, the keynote speakers for the ‘IAQ 2016 Defining Indoor Air Quality: Policy, Standards and Best Practices Conference’, scheduled to take place from September 12 to 14, 2016, at the Crowne Plaza Old Town Alexandria in Alexandria, Virginia, has been announced. The conference has been co-organised by ASHRAE and Air Infiltration and Ventilation Centre (AIVC), added the communiqué.

The conference, the communiqué said, seeks to facilitate the understanding of current indoor air quality (IAQ) policies, standards and best practices, via themes, which include regulatory versus voluntary compliance for achieving IAQ, the role of IAQ in sustainable building programmes and the relationship between IAQ and IEQ. The technical programme, it added, includes internationally acclaimed keynote speakers, conference papers and steering committee-organised sessions consisting of industry leaders in various aspects of indoor air quality.

According to the communiqué, the keynote speakers include Chris Pyke, U.S. Green Building Council; Howard Wolf, HW3 Group (IICRC); Pawel Wargocki, Technical University of Denmark; David Jacobs, National Center for Healthy Housing and David Rowson, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The communiqué informed that 13 paper sessions with 60 papers are included, covering IAQ metrics, demand-controlled ventilation, IAQ measurement methods, residential IAQ, natural ventilation, infiltration, approaches and tools for achieving better IAQ, the policymaker’s perspective, continuous assessment of IEQ and others. In all, around 130 presentations will take place during the two-and-a-half day conference, added the communiqué.

The session, ‘IAQ Standards Around the World: Where We Are and Where We Want To Be’, the communiqué highlighted, discusses the current status of IAQ standards and guidelines throughout the world and how they might change in the future, particularly given the current focus on net, or near, zero energy and high-performance buildings.

Furthermore, the communiqué added that the ‘Practical Strategies for Achieving IAQ in High Performance Buildings’ session discusses performance measurements to assess the achievement of IAQ in high-performance buildings and materials specifications programmes to guide improved IAQ by better materials selection to reduce contaminant sources.

ASHRAE said that the Indoor Air Quality Association (IAQA) and the Indoor Environmental Quality Global Alliance are partnering organisations.

The Society said that information regarding early bird registrations (before August 18) and other details are available on its website www.ashrae.org/IAQ2016.