The occupant perception and investigation of indoor air quality at home in Seoul

Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) in workplace and residential environments has been a concern ofpeople. Recently, Ministry of Environment in Korea has recognized the potential risk on thehealth effects related to indoor air pollution at home. Therefore, the purpose of this study wasto measure the indoor air pollutants of IAQ at different homes and investigate the perceptionof IAQ recognition at home through a questionnaire survey in Seoul.We estimated the IAQ of six selected homes based on site region and housing type. Theindoor air pollutants and parameters, such as room temperature (RT), room humidity (RH),respirable suspended particulate matter (PM10), formaldehyde (HCHO), total bacteria counts(TBC), carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO2), were monitored in summer andwinter. In monitoring results, the PM10 concentrations and TBC of two homes were higherthan the standard in public places (150 g/m3 and 500 CFU/m3, respectively). The level ofHCHO exceeded the Korean standard (0.1 ppm) at all the monitored homes. In statisticsanalysis, we found a correlation between the building age and the concentration of CO andTBC (significant at p < 0.01) in summer. The correlation between RT, RH and HCHO wassignificant at the 0.05 level. Finally, the important air pollutants of IAQ in homes were HCHOand TBC. In addition, we performed a questionnaire survey of 500 people about theirawareness of the importance of IAQ in our homes during the same period. In the resultsobtained, most respondents recognized the importance of IAQ at homes.From the results obtained, it can be concluded that the IAQ of the six selected homes wasperceived as acceptable. Further, it is recommended that the government should suggestguidelines and control of IAQ problems, and the occupants need to make efforts to reduce theexposure to sources of undesirable pollutants.