Indian Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ISHRAE) and fellow founding members (AiCARR, AIHA, AIVC, ASHRAE, and REHVA) have announced the creation of the Indoor Environmental Quality Global Alliance (IEQ-GA) registered in Brussels, Belgium. The mission of the IEQ-GA is to promote and advocate for indoor climate and health in buildings. Indoor environmental quality is a multidisciplinary domain involving, among others, architects, engineers, industrial/occupational hygienists and health sector specialists. To date there was no association to join all stakeholders in the field of indoor environmental quality to work together, exchange knowledge and advance the cause. The IEQ-GA will provide such a platform and is seeking new members from all the involved sectors and disciplines to join forces. ISHRAE is keen to develop the organisation strongly, relying on the major work done in this field like the IEQ Standard.

The IEQ-GA will serve as a global platform facilitating the exchange of indoor environmental knowledge and information, promoting related education and research for health and indoor environmental quality in buildings. The IEQ-GA operated since 2014 based on a Memorandum of Understanding signed by interested parties and is now formalised as an association to enable further development of the organisation. The founding members of the association represent professionals from various disciplines linked to indoor environment. They are committed to work together and promote education, research and knowledge exchange at a global scale, to develop standards, codes, guidelines and advocate the well-being of the general public in indoor environments over the globe. The IEQ-GA is inviting interested organisations in the field to become members and join forces to achieve better indoor environment quality in buildings across the world.

The announcement of the IEQ-GA was made at a festive ceremony during the 40th AIVC conference “From energy crisis to sustainable indoor climate”, which took place in Ghent, Belgium on October 15-16, 2019. At the ceremony, the founding members celebrated with short speeches the establishment of the association and presented its mission and objectives to facilitate healthy indoor environment in the buildings sector. The first set of Leaders elected to head the newly formed IEQ Global Alliance are President Donald Weekes from Canada, ISHRAE Presidential Member Vishal Kapur and ASHRAE Presidential Member Bill Bahnfleth as the two Vice Presidents. This is indeed a recognition and honour of ISHRAE’s eminence in this important field of building design and performance.

Donald Weekes, President of the IEQ-GA, expressed his gratitude to the six founding members that have persevered in their efforts to develop the IEQ-GA. “The work that has been done to create the IEQ-GA has been shared by the members since 2013, and it has resulted in a bond across the world for our members. Now is the time to move forward with this new association to help ensure that people everywhere get the best possible working and living conditions, including clean air, adequate lighting and a reduction in noise levels. I look forward to a bright future for IEQ-GA, and to its work with other related professional associations, who I invite to join us in the global eff ort to improve the lives of all humans.”

Vishal Kapur, Board Member of IEQ-GA expressed his satisfaction with joining forces globally around the cause of IEQ-GA. “It is of great importance to have well-defined
standards and high-quality engineering practice to make sure buildings provide healthy indoor climate. Health is a basic human right and we must develop, promote and advocate harmonized standards at a global scale to achieve this.” In India, Indoor Environment Quality is of utmost importance with the built space bound to multiply exponentially in the years ahead. Alliances like the IAQ-GA will ensure that correct practices are followed at the design and execution stages.

Vikram Murthy, President of ISHRAE welcomed the establishment of the IEQ-GA, a Global Alliance, emphasising that good Indoor Environment Quality is prescribed by Indian regulatory authorities, architects, consultants and the Indian industry. ISHRAE actively pursues continuing research to arrive at prescribed standards for Indoor Environment Quality in Indian buildings that are a reference for designers and certifying organisations. ISHRAE will support the IEQ-GA to establish prescribed global practices for healthy and habitable indoor environments.

The founding members of the IEQ-GA are:
AiCARR, the Italian Association of Air Conditioning, Ventilation and Refrigeration (http://www.aicarr.org/).
AIHA, the American Industrial Hygiene Association (http://aiha.org/).
AIVC, the Air Filtration and Ventilation Center (http://aivc.org/).
ASHRAE, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (http://ashrae.org/).
ISHRAE, the Indian Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (http://www.ishrae.in/).
REHVA, the Federation of European Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning Associations (www.rehva.eu).