Building biology

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Building biology (or Baubiologie as it was coined in Germany) is a science that investigates the indoor living environment for a variety of irritants. It is a comprehensive science that considers our living environment as an organism, and considers how its functioning can produce a restful or stressful environment. Far from being "fringe science", its experiential findings provide robust guidelines to use in building a healthy home, or healing one that is sick. Two of the major areas researched are indoor air quality (IAQ) and electromagnetic fields (EMFs).

Building biology has a training environment for those interested in their environment, or in serving others after being appropriately informed through the International Institute of Building Biology and Ecology (IBE). While it is not a topic whose depth and breadth you can easily study from a book at your local library, there is some related material on the internet: see External links below.

1 Indoor air quality: criteria for testing
2 Electromagnetic fields: criteria for testing
3 Effects of poor building
4 See also
5 External links
- 5.1 German pages

[edit] Indoor air quality: criteria for testing

Fresh air indoors (or lack thereof)
Volatile organic compounds
Dust content and character
Aeroallergens and bioaerosols (pollen, mold, bacteria, viruses, and fragments thereof)
Airflow Dynamics (Airflow, Temperature, Relative humidity)

[edit] Electromagnetic fields: criteria for testing

Magnetism (static and alternating)
Voltage (static and alternating)
Transient electrical phenomena
Radio frequency content
Radiation content
Light quantity and quality

[edit] Effects of poor building

After World War II, new houses were quickly built in Germany to accommodate the growing population. Studies of these new houses found a pattern of illnesses not characteristic of the population, but characteristic to the commonalities of the living environments. The new housing, being quickly built, and unable to properly air out ("outgas", or "offgas") provided for an environment where the occupants were the recipients of every volatile organic compound (VOC) emitted from the construction materials. Along with this, other irritations became manifest due to the electrical systems. The two major irritants set to work simultaneously, and enhanced effects arose.

From these discoveries a study began in earnest among a few individuals to catalog and characterize the offending components. What emerged was a Standard of Baubiologie Method of Testing, with recommended threshold guidelines for sleeping areas (the space where and when one is most susceptible to biological irritation and damage). A small cadre of individuals was formed among whom Dr. Anton Schneider, Wolfgang Maes, and the Institut für Baubiologie und Ökologie Neubeurn (IBN) started a training system to educate those that were willing.

One of the architects, Helmut Ziehe, took the program and its possibilities to the USA. He founded the International Institute of Building Biologie and Ecology (IBE) which presently offers seminars across the USA. The Institute's new Director, Robert Steller, is positioned to improve the process from a strong foundation, and keep the links open to the researchers from Germany that made the initial discoveries.

While building biology has the capability to produce living spaces that are healthy for everyone, it does not have extensive public funding. This sometimes leads to people being injured, which could potentially have been prevented had indoor irritants been identified.

The three most sensitive individuals that reap the greatest benefits are: infants, the elderly, and the injured. These comprise the remainder of the population, and when one of these becomes environmentally hypersensitive, all social contacts seem to vanish, and those remaining go so far as to suggest that the problem(s) may be psychological.