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Scientific and technical programsHealth & Comfort
Credits: Fotolia
Anticipating health challenges, offering pleasant living spaces and ensuring the efficiency and safety of innovations (safety by design): this is why CSTB researcher are developing solutions for the design, diagnosis and organization of projects to improve the wellbeing of people in buildings and cities. The research also helps reduce the socioeconomic costs of indoor pollution (€19 billion/year) and noise (€57 billion/year*).
Reducing asbestos
Asbestos in buildings is the subject of a research program initiated by the government (PRDA). The CSTB is providing its skills to develop new techniques for finding and managing asbestos, with the aim of reducing costs and optimizing the time needed for large-scale renovation of buildings, while protecting workers and the environment.
Improving Indoor Air Quality
At the scale of components, the work of the CSTB on volatile pollutant emissions by products has contributed to the creation of a labelling program, since 2013, on construction products and, very soon, on consumer and furniture products. On the scale of buildings, the measurement campaigns of the Indoor Air Quality Observatory concerned energy-efficient nursery and elementary schools, offices and housing units. The next step: social and medico-social structures. Regarding solutions, the CSTB now offers a tool for detecting fungal contaminants through its new subsidiary, Bioguess.
Improving the quality of ambient conditions
People in 54% of households in medium-sized and large cities say they are annoyed by noise.** To predict this pollution and adapt the solutions, the CSTB is increasing its expertise in modeling soundscapes and assessing acoustic solutions. A fine example of this is theAcoubois project, which studied the acoustic performance of lightweight structures, receiving the Golden Decibel Prize 2016. The CSTB also contributes to the development of urban rail transportation by studying its vibratory impact in the ground and in structures, using its Meffisto software, which is now available on the market.
The quality of life in cities also depends on the lighting comfort of living spaces. Mobilized on this issue, the CSTB conducts research to define tolerance thresholds for new LED technologies (high-power white light-emitting diodes) to minimize glare and guarantee peoples' visual comfort.
Finally, the CSTB contributes to collective expertise on peoples' exposure to radio frequencies from electrical and telecommunication devices.