Setting the Record Straight
Indoor Air Quality and Indoor Comfort Quality.

Industry and consumers alike mistakenly group indoor air quality and indoor comfort quality under the same banner. However, one can be uncomfortable whilst breathing fresh air (think sitting on a ski chairlift at -20 deg F) and one can be breathing bad air (carbon monoxide) while being comfortable.

Indoor Air Quality and Indoor Comfort Quality are in fact, two separate and distinct topics though both contribute to indoor environmental quality. The American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers publish industry standards for building professionals. For indoor air quality in low-rise residential buildings, the document is ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 62.2-2007; and for thermal environments, ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 55-2004, Thermal Environmental Conditions for Human Occupancy.

Each standard explicitly states that one is not about the other. See below.

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The purpose of this standard is to specify the combinations of indoor thermal environmental factors and personal factors that will produce thermal environmental conditions acceptable to a majority of the occupants within the space.

This standard does not address such nonthermal environmental factors as air quality, acoustics, and illumination or other physical, chemical, or biological space contaminants that may affect comfort or health.

This standard defines the roles of and minimum requirement for mechanical and natural ventilation systems and the building envelope intended to provide acceptable indoor air quality in low-rise residential buildings.

This standard considers chemical, physical, and biological contaminants that can affect air quality. Thermal comfort requirements are not included in this standard.