indoor air quality

This study aims to investigate the impact of changing residential user behaviour after the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020-2021 on indoor health and comfort conditions. In this context, user behaviour-focused studies conducted before 2020, the year of the pandemic, and behavioural patterns that changed with the pandemic will be discussed comparatively.

It is often difficult to implement prevention recommendations and plan targeted measures to limit the spread of airborne viruses in communal spaces. To effectively accomplish this goal, it is crucial to comprehensively characterize the indoor environmental quality in the space and, from these space-specific data, draw recommendations adapted to the setting. In this context, 11 elderly care homes in Belgium were selected for a comprehensive assessment of the indoor air quality (IAQ).

Maintaining good indoor air quality (IAQ) post energy retrofit is essential to ensure the health and wellbeing of building occupants. In this study, a number of indoor air pollutants were measured in a sample of Irish homes pre and post deep energy retrofit (DER). Airborne concentrations of PM2.5 and formaldehyde showed significant increases (p <0.0001) post-retrofit. A health impact assessment was conducted and the results suggest that the greatest health burden (for lung cancer and all-cause mortality) was associated with exposure to PM2.5.

Research suggests that energy retrofit measures can have a positive impact on temperature, relative humidity, and can reduce the occurrence of damp and mould (Wang et al., 2022, Fisk et al., 2020). Furthermore, energy renovation offers an opportunity to improve living conditions and the health of occupants of social housing by reducing exposure to indoor air pollution and by improving thermal comfort (Wang et al., 2022, Patino and Siegel, 2018).

This article follows a first publication presented at the AIVC2022 conference (Handtschoewercker, 2022), with the preliminary results of the RENOVAIR project, that studies the impact of energy renovation works on social housing on the comfort and health of occupants when no requirements are given on IAQ, ventilation and airtightness performances. 

Achieving better energy efficiency requires dwellings to face a delicate equilibrium, balancing thermal comfort and indoor air quality. This longitudinal study uses crowdsourced data collected over a year from 15 residences in Santiago, Chile, to examine the intricate relationship between these two parameters and the houses' typology. Results highlight considerable variability in PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations and thermal comfort across the sample. PM concentrations are below the worldwide representative value, but the maximum values are above the representative maximum.

Improving the energy performance of a building has been shown to improve health outcomes in fuel poor homes (Wang et al., 2022).  However, increasing building air tightness through provision of increased insulation, without due regard to building ventilation, can result in poorer air quality and impaired health for residents, in particular impaired respiratory health (Wimalasena et al., 2021; McGill et al., 2015; Ferguson et al., 2020).

Daycare centers (DCCs) are pivotal in early childhood development, serving as a primary indoor environment for young children. A notable feature of DCCs, especially in the Netherlands, is the use of semi-enclosed baby beds for children aged 0-4 years. These beds provide safety and comfort but pose challenges in maintaining healthy air quality due to their enclosed design, which is critical given infants' vulnerability to pollutants and extended daytime sleep.

More than 70% of the dwellings in Chile were built before 2000, when the use of thermal insulation in the roofs of residential buildings became mandatory. This explains why less than 2% of dwellings are considered energy efficient. Social housing is no exception. Several studies have shown poor thermal performance of the envelope of social housing throughout the country, with low levels of thermal comfort and indoor air quality that affect the health of its occupants.

This study evaluates the performance of Single-Flow and Dual-Flow ventilation systems in a residential building situated in Strasbourg, characterized by high PM2.5 levels, permeable tightness, and strong wind conditions. The research examines indoor air quality by measuring CO2 and PM2.5 concentrations in bedrooms and compares the energy consumption of both systems across different cities.