# Building biology (Baubiologie) and SBM

> A German-origin discipline whose SBM testing methodology grades sleeping areas into precautionary bands far below regulatory limits.

- Canonical URL: https://emfbase.com/glossary/building-biology
- Collection: Glossary
- Record id: `glossary:building-biology`
- Status: verified
- Last verified: 2026-08-12
- JSON: https://emfbase.com/api/glossary/building-biology

## Key values

- **Category:** measurement

## Definition

Building biology assesses the built environment for occupant health, and its Standard of Building Biology Testing Methods (SBM) defines evaluation bands — no anomaly, slight, strong, extreme — for RF power density, AC magnetic and electric fields, and body voltage in sleeping areas. The bands are precautionary professional guidance, deliberately set well below regulatory limits, and are not law anywhere. Most consumer EMF advice online derives from them, usually without saying so.

## Sources

- `sbm-2024` Institut für Baubiologie + Nachhaltigkeit (IBN) (2024). *Building Biology Evaluation Guidelines for Sleeping Areas (SBM-2024)*. https://buildingbiology.com/site/downloads/SBM-2024_EVALUATION_GUIDELINES_EN.pdf — ngo, link checked 2026-08-12
- `ibe-building-biology` IBN / buildingbiology.com. *Institute of Building Biology + Sustainability IBN — building biology testing and training*. https://buildingbiology.com/ — ngo, link checked 2026-08-12

Data licence: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Dataset version 2026.08.1. Retrieved from EMFBase, https://emfbase.com.

This record is reference data, not medical or legal advice. Regulatory limits, scientific guidelines and precautionary values are labelled separately and answer different questions.