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This book provides a clear, concise presentation of the most significant aspects of indoor air pollution. This volume defines a wide range of indoor air quality problems and solutions. Discussions center around common symptoms and potential environmental and chemical causes, health hazards from arts and crafts and from common household products, and the impact of common building ventilation problems and how to solve them. Because it is so easy to waste dollars and time when identifying the causes of an indoor air pollution incident, this book presents an expert summary of how to conduct an indoor air pollution survey. Psychological factors of indoor air pollution problems are characterized, and solutions for solving these problems are discussed. The book also covers the role of ergonomic design in office injuries and worker comfort, as well as defines causes and solutions of nuisance noise. Radiation exposure from video display terminals (VDT) is addressed, including topics such as types of radiation and exposure limits. ... Read more

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This digital document is a journal article from Atmospheric Environment, published by Elsevier in 2005. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Under the French national research program PRIMEQUAL, measurements of outdoor and indoor pollution have been performed in eight school buildings in La Rochelle (France) and its suburbs. The school buildings were either naturally ventilated by opening the windows or mechanically ventilated with minimum fresh air, and demonstrated various permeabilities. Ozone, nitrogen oxides (NO and NO"2), and particulate matter (PM) (15 size intervals ranging from 0.3 to 20@mm) concentrations were monitored continuously indoors and outdoors for two 2-week periods. The indoor relative humidity, temperature, CO"2 concentration (room occupancy), window openings and permeability of the building were also measured. Principal component analysis (PCA), a multivariate observation-based statistical method, was used to determine the parameters influencing the relationship between the outdoor and indoor concentration levels. After a brief description of the experimental data and methodology, the paper presents a detailed analysis of the PCA diagrams. This analysis leads to distinguish between positively correlated, negatively correlated and non-correlated variables. The main conclusions arising from the study are: (1) the influence of the room occupancy on the particle concentrations indoors changes with different particle sizes, (2) the building air-tightness and the outdoor concentration level greatly influence the indoor/outdoor (I/O) concentration ratios of ozone, and (3) indoor ozone and particles concentrations are negatively correlated, which may be the result of complex homogeneous and/or heterogeneous processes. ... Read more

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Each year Americans take more than 300 million plane trips staffed by a total of some 70,000 flight attendants. The health and safety of these individuals are the focus of this volume from the Committee on Airliner Cabin Air Quality. The book examines such topics as cabin air quality, the health effects of reduced pressure and cosmic radiation, emergency procedures, regulations established by U.S. and foreign agencies, records on airline maintenance and operation procedures, and medical statistics on air travel. Numerous recommendations are presented, including a ban on smoking on all domestic commercial flights to lessen discomfort to passengers and crew, to eliminate the possibility of fire caused by cigarettes, and to bring the cabin air quality into line with established standards for other closed environments. ... Read more

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Given the amount of time the general population spends in indoor living and work, this book presents current studies and research on issues of safety, health, and environment. The effect of carpets, for example, on energy conservation, thermal comfort, and sustainability is described and a comparative study on air quality in various types of buildings is presented. Also included is a study on the benefit of using environmentally friendly products compared to using more traditional products containing biogenic volatile organic compounds. Some theoretical aspects of CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) are given as well as a literature review on the existing thermal comfort models. The use of CFD for indoor airflow simulation is also reported. A further chapter analyses theories of stress and health and an integrative framework for personal and workplace well-being. Finally, this book addresses the concern of indoor mould: its cause, prevention, methods of removal, and health issues. ... Read more

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Indoor Air Pollution has become a major topic in environmental research and health. Most people spend more than 80 % of their time in buildings and are exposed to a broad range of pollutants from indoor sources like building materials, furniture, carpets and textiles, heating and cooking, household and consumer products etc. The volume on Indoor Air Pollution (IAP) provides a comprehensive review on the major indoor air pollutants: volatile organic compounds, biocides, indoor particles and fibres, combustion products and micro organisms and their metabolites. Sources and sinks of air pollutants in indoor environments and their chemistry are distinctly different from ambient air pollution even though the latter may influence indoor air quality. Adsorption and desorption processes, the pollutant source dynamics, gas phase reactions and kinetics + including the fate and final chemical destiny of chemically unstable intermediate compounds - are topics of scientific research as well as the evaluation of their sensory impact and irritation potential. Guidelines for assessing indoor pollution and a broad range of analytical methods have been recently developed and are reviewed by internationally renowned scientists. The specific characteristics of indoor air pollution in developing countries due to the widespread use of open fires for cooking, heating and lighting are analysed as well as the Chinese strategies to address the growing pollution problems by air pollution in its modern building stock.

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This digital document is a journal article from Atmospheric Environment, published by Elsevier in 2007. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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The variety of chemical substances present in modern building products, household products and furnishings provides potential for chemical reactions in the material (case 1), on the material surface (case 2) and in the gas phase (case 3). Such ''indoor chemistry'' is known as one of the main reasons for primary and secondary emissions. The conditions of production often cause unwanted side reactions and a number of new compounds can be found in finished products. Elevated temperatures are responsible for the degradation of cellulose, decomposition of non-heat-resistant additives and other thermally induced reactions like Diels-Alder synthesis. Heterogeneous chemistry takes place on the surface of materials. Well-known examples are the formation of aliphatic aldehydes from the oxidation of unsaturated fatty acids or the cleavage of photoinitiators under the influence of light. In case of composite flooring structures hydrolysis is one of the major pathways for the appearance of alcohols from esters. If different kinds of material are fixed together, emissions of new VOCs formed by inter-species reactions are possible. Other indoor air pollutants are formed by rearrangement of cleavage products or by metabolism. Compounds with -C?C- bonds like terpenes, styrene, 4-phenylcyclohexene, etc. undergo gas phase reactions with O"3, NO"x, OH and other reactive gases. It has been shown that such products derived from indoor-related reactions may have a negative impact on indoor air quality due to their low odor threshold or health-related properties. Therefore, the understanding of primary and secondary emissions and the chemical processes behind is essential for the evaluation of indoor air quality. This publication gives an overview on the current state of research and new findings regarding primary and secondary emissions from building products and furnishings. ... Read more

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This digital document is a journal article from Science of the Total Environment, The, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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To characterize indoor air quality at the markets in Hong Kong, three non-air-conditioned and two air-conditioned markets were selected for this study. The indoor air pollutants measured included PM"1"0 (particulate matters with aerodynamic diameter less than 10 @mm), total bacteria count (TBC), carbon monoxide (CO), nitric oxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO"2) and sulfur dioxide (SO"2). The indoor and outdoor concentrations of these target air pollutants at these markets were measured and compared. The effects of air conditioning, temperature/relative humidity variation and different stalls on the indoor air quality were also investigated. The results indicated that all of the average indoor concentrations of PM"1"0, TBC, CO and NO"2 at the markets were below the Hong Kong Indoor Air Quality Objectives (HKIAQO) standards with a few exceptions for PM"1"0 and TBC. The elevated PM"1"0 concentrations at Hung Hom, Ngau Tau Kok and Wan Chai markets were probably due to the air filtration of outdoor airborne particulates emitted from vehicular exhaust, whereas high concentrations of airborne bacteria at Sai Ying Pun and Tin Shing markets were linked to the use of air conditioning. Correlation analysis demonstrated that indoor bacteria concentrations were correlated with temperature and relative humidity. The operation of air conditioning did not significantly reduce the levels of air pollutants at the markets. However, the higher indoor/outdoor ratios demonstrated that the operation of air conditioning had influence on the levels of bacteria at the markets. It was found that average PM"1"0 concentration at poultry stalls was higher than the HKIAQO standard of 180 @mg/m^3, and was over two times that measured at vegetable, fish and meat stalls. Furthermore, the concentration of airborne bacteria at the poultry stalls was as high as 1031 CFU/m^3, which was above the HKIAQO standard of 1000 CFU/m^3. The bacteria levels at other three stalls were all below the HKIAQO standard. Statistical analysis indicated that there were no significant differences among the four stalls for CO, NO"x and SO"2. ... Read more

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This digital document is a journal article from Building and Environment, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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A dual-mode demand control ventilation strategy was established targeting at use in buildings where the number of occupants varies frequently. The first contaminant chosen for sensor control is CO"2 and the second is a non-occupant-related indoor pollutant which indicates the demand of fresh air to dilute the non-occupant-related indoor contaminants. Experiments were conducted to verify the performance of this control strategy. The experimental results showed that an acceptable indoor air quality could be obtained. More than 90% of the occupants thought that the indoor air quality was acceptable. Comparing with the original fixed-rate ventilation control strategy, about 8.3-28.3% of the daily electrical energy could be saved. ... Read more

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This digital document is a journal article from Building and Environment, published by Elsevier in 2007. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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There are various emission sources of chemical contaminants, such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and ozone and particulate matter. This report is a study into the indoor air of a room containing either a laser printer/ink-jet printer, and the air contaminations were monitored for VOCs, ozone and ultrafine particle. The result confirmed an increase in the concentration of ozone and ultrafine particle numbers in the printing processes of the printer. The emission of VOCs and ozone were measured by the use of a test chamber. The chamber concentrations of styrene, xylenes and ozone were increased in printing process of the laser printer, and pentanol was detected from the ink-jet printer. The results suggest that an office or residential printer may be a source of indoor air contamination. It is necessary for emission from printers to monitor not only VOCs and particle but also ultrafine particles and other contaminants in indoor air. ... Read more

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This digital document is a journal article from Building and Environment, published by Elsevier in 2007. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Based on analysis of uncertainty, this paper presents grey system theory to handle the ''grey'' characteristic of IAQ. Grey comprehensive analysis of indoor air quality reveals that we should pay more attention to the air purification and humidity control in the design and maintenance of HVAC. In order to represent grey characteristic of IAQ system, the educed grey IAQ models can identify the variation intervals of key IAQ model parameters that are lack of directly measurable messages in practical situations. Furthermore, grey assessment is an effective multifactor comprehensive assessment method that can express the integrative influence of contamination indexes on indoor air quality. We can determine the IAQ grade and make comparison according to the grey incidence matrix R. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is a journal article from Building and Environment, published by Elsevier in 2007. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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We performed the experimental and the numerical studies on thermal comfort (TC) and indoor air quality (IAQ) in the lecture room with cooling loads when the operating conditions are changed. Predicted mean vote (PMV) value and CO"2 concentration of the lecture room were measured and compared to the numerical results. Both of them showed a reasonable agreement with each other and then we applied the numerical model to analyze TC and IAQ for a couple of different operating conditions. From the results we found that the increment of the discharge angle of 4-way cassette air-conditioner makes uniformity of TC worse, but rarely affects IAQ. It turned out that TC and IAQ are hardly affected by the variation of the discharge airflow. Finally TC was merely affected by the increment of the ventilation rate, but when the ventilation rate is more than 800m^3/h, the average CO"2 concentration can be satisfied with the standard limits of Japanese in our case studies. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is a journal article from Building and Environment, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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The validation of the concentration levels of indoor contaminants and the measurement of ventilation parameters with CFD simulation results often poses considerable difficulty due to the effect of several confounding factors. Whilst a building in dynamic operation with varying operating characteristics in terms of the air-conditioning system and the activities of the occupants renders the possibility of a continuous measurement of IAQ and ventilation data, it is almost impossible to simulate such dynamic changes in the CFD environment. It then becomes imperative that steady-state measurements in buildings be used as representative data for the purposes of CFD simulation. This paper reports the findings of a study, in which the simulation of airflow pattern in an office building in Singapore is based on the indoor environmental conditions and the corresponding ventilation parameters measured on a typical day. Boundary conditions are obtained through hood measurements to determine the airflow rate from each diffuser. The findings of this study clearly support the critical impact of airflow on pollutant pathways in the building as a result of air supply volume, arrangement of air inlet and outlet devices, space design and the presence of heat sources. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is a journal article from Building and Environment, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Indoor air quality (IAQ) measurements were carried out in 3 residential dwellings in Singapore to find out the indoor air quality (IAQ) of the bedrooms. It was found that when the subjects utilized air-conditioners while sleeping, there was a considerable build-up of carbon dioxide (CO"2)(>1000ppm) for all types of air-conditioners. These CO"2 levels were substantial higher as compared to naturally ventilated bedrooms. A survey was also conducted to investigate whether occupants exhibited sick building syndrome (SBS) symptoms while sleeping in air-conditioned (AC) as well as naturally ventilated (NV) bedrooms. A comparison showed that almost all occupants who used air-conditioners while sleeping exhibited one or more SBS symptoms and these occupants usually displayed more SBS symptoms after using air-conditioning than when they utilized natural ventilation. The survey also revealed that the frequency and duration of usage of air conditioning has important impact on the exhibition of the SBS symptoms. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is a journal article from Science of the Total Environment, The, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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A voluntary indoor air quality certification scheme has been proposed in Hong Kong for assessing and evaluating the indoor air quality level in a variety of public places like offices, restaurants and pubs. The scheme intends to promote the public well being, however, its technical and financial practicality has led to serious discussions among the government officials, practitioners and premises owners. Accordingly, this study intends to develop a protocol for examining its financial viability by linking the appropriate dose-response and economic data with the results from indoor micro-environment models. The financial viability of the scheme is evaluated by examining the cost and benefit associated with compliance on the different prescribed indoor particulate (PM"1"0) levels. According to our analysis, the indoor action level of 180 @mg/m^3 as 8-h mean (with the objective of protecting the health of general public) does not require office owners to improve beyond the base setting. Nevertheless, owners should consider altering the base settings in their air conditioning systems so as to secure more benefit on every dollar they spent. On the contrary, the 20 @mg/m^3 level as 8-h mean (with the objective of providing comfort) is not considered to be financially viable for office owners as they will incur financial loss on compliance. Subsequent sensitivity analysis indicates that the total net benefit derived have a great dependency on the value-of-life estimates used. If conservative health estimates are adopted, the optimum level determined to be beneficial to both owners and the society will be 55 @mg/m^3, which can be obtained by operating the air conditioning system with a ventilation rate of 10 l/s, primary filters of 80-85% efficiency and secondary filters efficiency of 60-65% arrestance. This information should be extremely valuable for government officials and policy makers in assessing the financial viability of the voluntary indoor assessment scheme. ... Read more

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Part I is a supplement to the EMSL-Cincinnati publication "Methods for the Determination of Metals in Environmental Samples" and was prepared to revise and place in the Environmental Montioring Management Council (EMMC) format certain spectrochemical methods used for metals. Part II, the EMSL-Cincinnati publication "Methods for the Determination of Inorganic Substances in Environmental Samples," was prepared as the continuation of an initiative to gather together a compendium of standardized laboratory analytical methods. ... Read more

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How does the way in which we heat, cool, insulate, furnish, and ventilate our buildings affect our health? What is the association between physical and chemical conditions of indoor air and human health? This new book presents the latest breakthroughs in applied research in the areas of chemical sensitivity, allergies, bioaerosols, neurotoxicity, and carcinogenic effects of radon and tobacco smoke. Anyone involved in public health, including epidemiologists, health regulators, public health scientists, microbiologists, radiologists, organic chemists, environmental scientists, neurotoxicologists, and industrial hygienists, will find the information in Indoor Air and Human Health both practical and interesting. ... Read more