ASHRAE's long history of increasing building energy efficiency is even more important today given increasing energy costs and growing concerns about the environmental impacts of building energy use. These contributions include the decades-long prominence of ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1 and the more recent Advanced Energy Design Guides and Building Energy Quotient (bEQ) labeling program. However, as ASHRAE continues its important work to reduce building energy consumption, concerns have been expressed about whether indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and environmental health (EH) in general are being given enough emphasis in the race toward energy reduction. Many recall the poor decisions that were made during the "first" energy crisis of the 1970s to reduce, even eliminate, outdoor air ventilation to save energy and the negative impacts on indoor air quality (IAQ) that resulted. The intent of this article is not to argue whether or not EH is being neglected, but to discuss its role and history within ASHRAE and to describe how and where EH issues are being addressed within the Society.
