Environmentally Friendly and Low-Emissivity Construction Materials and Furniture

Creating a healing environment that nurtures the curing process requires paying attention to all that patients eat, drink and breathe. This approach is correct, although, very often, IAQ monitoring is neglected. The causes of poor IAQ are numerous, among which there are the building products that emit VOCs (formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, naphthalene, toluene, xylene, isocyanates, etc.), important pollutants that arouse great concerns. Improving IAQ and avoiding materials responsible for some of the worst toxic chemicals released into healing environments should be one of the top priorities during the design decision-making, evaluating environmental performances of construction materials. Therefore, the paper argues several strategies towards green materials with considerations on how to design healthcare settings, such as using locally durable and recyclable products with low environmental and human impacts, introducing renewable resources and reducing wastes.