PM2.5

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).

The BENEFIT project evaluates the indoor environmental quality in non-domestic buildings where energy efficiency upgrades will be implemented; a baseline for indoor air quality hass been established across 50+ environments prior to the commencement of retrofit activities. Initial findings in pre-retrofit environments reveal widespread underventilation and the significant influence of outdoor PM2.5 levels indoors in existing classroom and office environments. Detailed pre-retrofit results will be presented at an upcoming conference. 

When making homes more sustainable, the emphasis is on scaling up to achieve the climate and energy objectives. Little attention is paid to air quality in homes, despite the fact that an estimated 98% of the Dutch homes do not meet the WHO's 2021 annual guideline value for PM2.5. Tackling sustainability and the indoor environment hand in hand is therefore important.

In recent years, population exposure to air pollution has been a major concern. Indoor air quality (IAQ) is mainly monitored with CO2-concentration-based indicators. High levels of CO2-concentration are avoided in buildings when airing by the windows is done and/or when air exchange rate of the existing ventilation is regulated, based on a CO2-level-information. However, as contributing to maintain low CO2-concentration-levels indoors, the increase of outdoor air intake is associated with a more or less important introduction of outdoor air pollutants in the building.

Achieving energy-efficient dwellings has become a vital part of the global climate action plan to reduce energy usage and carbon emissions. Deep energy retrofits (DER) can help reduce residential energy use significantly. However, evidence on how DER impacts on indoor air quality (IAQ), and consequently, occupant health, is scarce. More in-depth analysis of IAQ data before and after energy retrofits is essential to understand the indoor environmental challenges of adopting energy efficiency measures.

Indoor air quality in residential buildings has been attracting more attention from the public. Many portable air cleaner products have been developed and are available in the market. Manufactures generally claim that those portable air cleaners can efficiently remove PM2.5 and/or TVOC and can also remove virus from the indoor air. However, no standards are available to have the claimed efficiency comparable and thus unclear effect in applications at homes.

Outdoor PM2.5 has a continuous and significant effect on the indoor environment, and lobby floors, in particular, can be exposed to high concentrations due to entrance doors and greater airflow rates than other floors. In this study, the PM2.5 indoor-to-outdoor (I/O) ratio for lobby floors was evaluated according to the operation type and configuration of entrance doors. Airflow analysis was conducted for an office building with multi-zone network simulation, and the I/O ratio was evaluated for different entrance strategies according to the occupant traffic schedule.

In the current era, sensors in buildings have become an essential requirement for wide applications such as monitoring indoor air quality (IAQ), thermal and environmental conditions, controlling building heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems (HVAC). To accurately control the IAQ for all areas in the indoor space, it is necessary to obtain considerable data from different locations in the space for more precision.

Indoor air quality (IAQ) control in educative centres, where students spend most of their time, is essential. The presence of high levels of contaminants can impact the academic performance of the students and, ultimately, their health. A study has been carried out to assess the IAQ of higher education classrooms with natural ventilation in order to quantify the exposure of the occupants to certain contaminants during the cold season. CO2, PM10, PM2.5, PM1.0, and volatile organic compounds (VOC) have been measured.

In building energy renovation, the notion of payback time of the investments is often presented as the only goal. However, the potential benefits in terms of health are also valuable despite being not consciously perceived by the occupant and may need to be monitored to be assessed. Laboratory-grade devices or protocols are generally burdensome and expensive, and the growing popularity of low-cost devices may contribute to the perception of health benefits at a larger scale.