scholarly journals Indoor Air Quality Assessment of Latin America’s First Passivhaus Home

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 1477
Author(s):  
Alejandro Moreno-Rangel ◽  
Filbert Musau ◽  
Tim Sharpe ◽  
Gráinne McGill
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Building Design ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Living Room ◽  
Physical Measurements

Sustainable building design, such as the Passivhaus standard, seeks to minimise energy consumption, while improving indoor environmental comfort. Very few studies have studied the indoor air quality (IAQ) in Passivhaus homes outside of Europe. This paper presents the indoor particulate matter (PM2.5), carbon dioxide (CO2), and total volatile organic compounds (tVOC) measurements of the first residential Passivhaus in Latin America. It compares them to a standard home in Mexico City. Low-cost monitors were installed in the bedroom, living room, and kitchen spaces of both homes, to collect data at five-minute intervals for one year. The physical measurements from each home were also compared to the occupants’ IAQ perceptions. The measurements demonstrated that the Passivhaus CO2 and tVOC annual average levels were 143.8 ppm and 81.47 μg/m3 lower than the standard home. The PM2.5 in the Passivhaus was 11.13 μg/m3 lower than the standard home and 5.75 μg/m3 lower than outdoors. While the results presented here cannot be generalised, the results suggest that Passivhaus dwellings can provide better and healthier indoor air quality in Latin America. Further, large-scale studies should look at the indoor environmental conditions, energy performance, and dwelling design of Passivhaus dwellings in Latin America.

scholarly journals Building Performance Evaluation of a New Hospital Building in the UK: Balancing Indoor Environmental Quality and Energy Performance

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 115
Author(s):  
Nishesh Jain ◽  
Esfand Burman ◽  
Samuel Stamp ◽  
Clive Shrubsole ◽  
Roderic Bunn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Performance Evaluation ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Indoor Air Quality ◽  
Environmental Quality ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Building Design ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Building Performance ◽  
Indoor Environmental Quality

Hospitals are controlled yet complex ecosystems which provide a therapeutic environment that promotes healing, wellbeing and work efficiency for patients and staff. As these buildings accommodate the sick and vulnerable, occupant wellbeing and good indoor environmental quality (IEQ) that deals with indoor air quality (IAQ), thermal comfort, lighting and acoustics are important objectives. As the specialist nature of hospital function demands highly controlled indoor environments, this makes them energy intensive buildings due to the complex and varying specifications for their functions and operations. This paper reports on a holistic building performance evaluation covering aspects of indoor air quality, thermal comfort, lighting, acoustics, and energy use. It assesses the performance issues and inter-relationships between IEQ and energy in a new building on a hospital campus in the city of Bristol, United Kingdom. The empirical evidence collated from this case study and the feedback received from the hospital staff help identify the endemic issues and constraints related to hospital buildings, such as the need for robust ventilation strategies in hospitals in urban areas that mitigate the effect of indoor and outdoor air pollution and ensuring the use of planned new low-carbon technologies. Whilst the existing guidelines for building design provide useful instructions for the protection of hospital buildings against ingress of particulate matter from outdoors, more advanced filtration strategies may be required to enact chemical reactions required to control the concentration levels of pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide and benzene. Further lessons for improved performance in operation and maintenance of hospitals are highlighted. These include ensuring that the increasingly available metering and monitoring data in new buildings, through building management systems, is used for efficient and optimal building operations for better IEQ and energy management. Overall, the study highlights the need for an integrated and holistic approach to building performance to ensure that healthy environments are provided while energy efficiency targets are met.

scholarly journals Effects of Climatic Conditions, Season and Environmental Factors on CO2 Concentrations in Naturally Ventilated Primary Schools in Chile

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 4139
Author(s):  
Muriel Diaz ◽  
Mario Cools ◽  
Maureen Trebilcock ◽  
Beatriz Piderit-Moreno ◽  
Shady Attia
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Co2 Concentration ◽  
Building Design ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Indoor Environmental Quality ◽  
Co2 Concentrations ◽  
The Impact

Between the ages of 6 and 18, children spend between 30 and 42 h a week at school, mostly indoors, where indoor environmental quality is usually deficient and does not favor learning. The difficulty of delivering indoor air quality (IAQ) in learning facilities is related to high occupancy rates and low interaction levels with windows. In non-industrialized countries, as in the cases presented, most classrooms have no mechanical ventilation, due to energy poverty and lack of normative requirements. This fact heavily impacts the indoor air quality and students’ learning outcomes. The aim of the paper is to identify the factors that determine acceptable CO2 concentrations. Therefore, it studies air quality in free-running and naturally ventilated primary schools in Chile, aiming to identify the impact of contextual, occupant, and building design factors, using CO2 concentration as a proxy for IAQ. The monitoring of CO2, temperature, and humidity revealed that indoor air CO2 concentration is above 1400 ppm most of the time, with peaks of 5000 ppm during the day, especially in winter. The statistical analysis indicates that CO2 is dependent on climate, seasonality, and indoor temperature, while it is independent of outside temperature in heated classrooms. The odds of having acceptable concentrations of CO2 are bigger when indoor temperatures are high, and there is a need to ventilate for cooling.

Recent advancements in low-cost portable sensors for urban and indoor air quality monitoring

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Hernández-Gordillo ◽  
S. Ruiz-Correa ◽  
V. Robledo-Valero ◽  
C. Hernández-Rosales ◽  
S. Arriaga
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Quality Monitoring ◽  
Air Quality Monitoring ◽  
Portable Sensors

Development of low-cost indoor air quality monitoring devices: Recent advancements

2020 ◽  
Vol 727 ◽  
pp. 138385 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Chojer ◽  
P.T.B.S. Branco ◽  
F.G. Martins ◽  
M.C.M. Alvim-Ferraz ◽  
S.I.V. Sousa
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Quality Monitoring ◽  
Air Quality Monitoring ◽  
Monitoring Devices

A Health Performance Evaluation Model of Apartment Building Indoor Air Quality

2011 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qi Zheng ◽  
Donghoon Lee ◽  
Sungho Lee ◽  
Jeong Tai Kim ◽  
Sunkuk Kim
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air Quality ◽  
Health Effects ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Evaluation Model ◽  
Construction Materials ◽  
Human Perception ◽  
Building Design ◽  
Critical Issue ◽  
Apartment Buildings

As illnesses attributable to deteriorating indoor air quality (IAQ) increase, people are becoming more aware of the health effects of IAQ because most people in Korea spend >80% of their time indoors. Notably, the IAQ of apartment buildings accounts for a massive share of the construction volume in Korea, which is a highly critical issue. Evaluation of health effects of IAQ would influence not only the statutory criteria for air quality improvement but could also contribute to the development of building design standards. In addition, such evaluation supports quantification efforts for the selection of wholesome construction materials and techniques. Evaluation of the health effects of IAQ is a complex exercise that would require comprehensive consideration of factors such as the concentrations and occurrences of various known, harmful indoor pollutants, ventilation performance in a building and temperature/humidity. Evaluation involves not only quantitative assessment of pollutants but also evaluation of IAQ based on human perception. The aim of this study was to develop a model to evaluate IAQ in quantitative terms based on health impact, but with an emphasis on apartment buildings.

scholarly journals Indoor Air Quality – a Key Element of the Energy Performance of the Buildings

2016 ◽  
Vol 96 ◽  
pp. 277-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Vasile ◽  
H. Petran ◽  
A. Dima ◽  
C. Petcu
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Energy Performance
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