A small, personal monitoring study was performed in a subpopulation (14 families) of a case-control study on the relationship between indoor nitrogen dioxide exposure and respiratory diseases of school children.
Describes construction of two townhouses taking into consideration several technical issues: 1) limiting of indoor sources of contamination, 2) limiting contaminants off-gassed from construction materials, 3) limiting entry of exterior contaminants, 4) control of occupant generated contaminants by mechanical and by natural ventilation, and 5) control of indoor humidity The units are to be monitored over the next two years.
Reduced ventilation and infiltration, and new materials and machines have increased levels of indoor contaminants. Investigations of many indoor environments reveal contaminant levels above those set as standards for the workplace environments. The acute and chronic health effects on the population are not well known. This paper discusses the current general status of the research in the USA and the planned future effort. Worldwide research is also summarized and future directions are suggested.
Specific indoor air quality issues that have arisen in the UK in recent years have involved asbestos, formaldehyde, pesticide residues, radon and combustion products. Different measures have been taken with regard to each of these substances. In general, an education approach has been adopted, although national standards, industry self-regulation and some regulatory measures have been used. In the UK, control of ill defined, distributed or non stationary indoor air pollutants such as body odour, tobacco smoke and water vapour, is considered to be best achieved by suitable ventilation.
The influence of the various sources of pollution on the home environment in the Netherlands is reviewed, eg, outdoor air, gas-fired appliances, tobacco smoking and building materials. The pollutants carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, particles and radon are discussed in more detail. Available data show that outdoor standards for air quality are often exceeded indoors. However, conclusions on exposure and health effects cannot be drawn until more data are available from random or stratified samples of houses.
Summarizes the state of knowledge about combustion products, surface condensation and mould, formaldehyde and radon, and the guidance currently offered on their control in the UK. Statutory ventilation requirements are outlined and various measurement techniques described.
A cross sectional survey investigating building sickness was carried out in two buildings with similar populations of office workers but differing ventilation systems, one being fully air conditioned with humidification and the other naturally ventilated.
This is a review paper addressing the current state-of-the-art. Concerns that motivate studies of the indoor environment are reviewed in the introduction. The source and typical diurnal variations of the concentration of several air contaminants are discussed in the section on characterization. A dynamic model is described in the section on indoor air quality modelling. Indoor air pollution control techniques are addressed in the last section.
Carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide were monitored in 12 homes on a real-time basis to determine their transient concentrations, their dispersion through the homes and day-to-day variation in pollutant levels. Kitchen ventilation was determined using sulphur hexafluoride tracer gas, and use of unvented gas appliances was monitored with thermo couples. A week-long measurement programme was undertaken in a wide range of homes to determine the distribution of carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, particulates and organic compounds.
Contains references and abstracts on laboratory techniques for analyzing formaldehyde, methodologies for identifying and characterizing a wide variety of organic contaminants and selected field studies of organic contaminants inindoor air.
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