The impact of the concentration of pollutants in the air on emissions from building materials is the subject of that study.Different building materials were studied in ventilated small-scale test chambers. The experiment allowed the changing of the dilution factor or the changing of the area factor.The results showed that more ventilation in a given space may increase the emissions from the inner surfaces.
A good indoor air quality is necessary to minimize exposure to airborne pollutants. The main source of those pollutants is often outdoor air. Ventilation and air filtration are the main solutions to reduce them.The aim of that study was to investigate the effects of air ventilation and filtration on submicrometer particle concentrations indoors thanks to a simple one zone mathematical model that simulates the time evolution of particle concentrations indoors.
In France, air quality in working areas is a matter of preoccupation for both the industry and the welfare state, that is in charge with the application of the rules and regulations in that field. The Labour Legislation and the Institution of Prevention, bring advice and assistance to the companies and final users.20 practical guides dealing with ventilation are listed at the end of the article.
Today the term of comfort includes the different aspects of indoor air quality, thermal, acoustical and visual comfort.Standardisation working groups have already worked in those different fields, and some standards already exist but it will certainly take several years to adapt them according to the countries and continents. Anyway environmental quality is a subjective perception and depends on many interactions. The aim is to insure comfort to the majority of people, but a personal adaptation of the user will always be necessary.
The notion of comfort is not easy to define. As it relies on elements partly subjective, a statistical approach of the user requirements is necessary.In order to reach the optimum reduction of the causes of discomfort, the profession in charge with the indoor air quality has adopted a certain number of rules that working groups of standardization try to improve and complete.
Maintenance of air-conditioning systems is acknowledged as an important means to run HVAC-systems properly. Although several maintenance programs and standards exist, not many systems are maintained in a proper way. Most standards and programs are not concerned with the indoor environment, they are only concerned with repair and failure-response of system components. Just now, some new guidelines come out in Europe, which contains first definition of cleanliness.
Air quality in conditioned spaces can be improved even in humid locations, in Florida. A field experiment in a Florida school confirmed that the use of a dual-path air-distribution system with low temperature air can maintain lower and more comfortable humidity levels.
Furthermore, that system coupled with a thermal energy storage (TES) keeps energy use as low as possible, and makes costs savings.
In this article the author gives some guidelines and techniques to conduct IAQ investigations at low cost for school staff with small budgets : first he advises occupant interviews, followed by a physical survey of the premices. An IAQ toolkit at low cost can be prepared for a first level type of investigation.
Then a monitor data analysis can be made with the measurements of temperature, relative humidity and CO2.
Finally an hypothesis can be developed even with little background and small budget.
But particular problems may require an experienced consultant.
That study aims at proving that the use of low-polluting building materials leads to an improvement of the air quality. For the experiment the space of an office qualified as low polluting has been altered by introducing indoor pollution sources (such as linoleum, wooden shelves, books and paper documents) and an outdoor air supply rate altered too. The concentrations of VOCs were measured in those different conditions along with the perception of the air quality assessed by a panel of 30 female subjects.
A large opening has to be designed at the bottom of a Void (light-well in high-rise apartment building) in order to keep the indoor air quality (IAQ) acceptable, because of the exhaust gas discharge of the gas water-heater. This paper presents a simple calculation method of the ventilation rate induced by wind force and thermal buoyancy through openings at the bottom, along with heat sources such as water-heaters.
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