Mould growth in energy efficient buildings: Causes, health implications and strategies to mitigate the risk

Arianna Brambilla and Alberto Sangiorgio

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2020, vol. 132, issue C

Abstract: Today, buildings still account for almost half of the global energy consumption and carbon emission. This highlights the necessity to increase energy efficiency requirements worldwide in a common effort to reduce the construction sector's impacts on the environment. The current energy policies are driving toward a design that relies on airtight and highly insulated envelopes. As a consequence, energy efficient houses are found to have insufficient indoor air change rates, impacting on the indoor air quality and resulting in higher latent loads. The increased indoor humidity, coupled with the rising trend to use bio-based construction materials, can easily support mould growth and facilitate indoor organic proliferation. It has been estimated that the proportion of buildings damaged by mould is 45% in Europe, 40% in the USA, 30% in Canada and 50% in Australia, highlighting the extent of this issue. Beyond the economic loss due to the remediation works needed to rectify a buildings degradation due to fungi, mould also has significant adverse health effects on the building occupants. Data show that the occurrence of asthmatic symptoms is higher in new energy efficient buildings with low ventilation rate. This paper investigates the effects of building sustainably on the indoor environment in relation to the risk of mould growth. Favourable conditions for growth, causes of growth, effects on health as well as possible solutions are addressed. The conclusions are a step forward toward a more precise and detailed comprehension of mould growth to support policymakers and promote sustainable housing standards.

Keywords: Mould growth; Indoor environmental quality; Energy efficiency; Construction detail; Building envelope; Air change rate; Critical moisture level; Building occupants health; Literature review (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032120303841
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:rensus:v:132:y:2020:i:c:s1364032120303841

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 600126/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2020.110093

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews is currently edited by L. Kazmerski

More articles in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().