Among these processes, chemical reactions play a pivotal role. A deeper understanding of indoor air chemistry and its relation to the parameters of building.
Air quality indoors and outdoors Priority areas for standardization and research support S. Nehr VDI – The Association of German Engineers, Commission on Air Pollution Prevention of VDI and DIN – Standards Committee KRdL
Motivation For several decades the community of indoor air researchers has been facing minor regulatory pressure with respect to indoor air pollutants and thus restricted research support. This situation is also reflected by the limited progress in the area of indoor air research compared to the area of atmospheric sciences. For example, the vast number of epidemiological studies on ambient air pollutants stands in stark contrast to the number of comparable indoor air investigations. However, occupants of indoor environments are exposed to substances that can be specifically apportioned to indoor sources. In addition, the abundance of many indoor air trace constituents is widely independent of the infiltration of ambient air. Various dynamic processes affect air quality, indoors and outdoors. Among these processes, chemical reactions play a pivotal role. A deeper understanding of indoor air chemistry and its relation to the parameters of building design is therefore indispensable for improving the configuration of future indoor environments and their maintenance. All these issues are aiming at increased knowledge regarding the impact of indoor air chemistry on the health and well-being of building occupants. The community of atmospheric scientists can be both ideal and supporter for researchers in the field of indoor air quality investigation.
Anticipating joint standardization efforts in a diverse network of interacting scientists Outdoor air quality
Objectives of field campaigns
Indoor air quality
• Checking compliance with guide or limit values • Identification of sources of air pollutants • Evaluation of chemical transport models • Short-term monitoring of air quality • Long-term recording of trends
• Complaints of room occupants • Real estate purchase or new construction • Remediation control
• Definition of room (building) categories Building materials Construction Room use Occupancy
Categorization of the environment
Source: F. Rohrer et al., Nature Geoscience, 2014, 7, 559‐563
Definition of target analytes
• Regulated and non-regulated (emerging) air pollutants • Known and unknown air pollutants
Emission factors Emission inventories Temporal behaviour of emission sources Data quality objectives Data assimilation Choice of the chemical mechanism
• Specific emission rates of building materials and products • Detailed chemical models adapted for indoor application Characterization of indoor surfaces Occupant exposure model Skin absorption model
• Environmental management system according to ISO 14001
ISO 16000-?? INDOOR AIR QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
BUILDING INTEGRATED SYSTEM
Policy implementation ISO 14001 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Source: www.iso.org
ISO 50001 ENERGY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
• Indoor air quality management system comprising: Indoor environmental policy Indoor environmental aspects Audits and certification
Summary and outlook Extended support of the development and dissemination of technical guidelines for the measurement of regulated and emerging indoor air pollutants is desirable while in the area of indoor air research there is the need for state-of-the-art field campaigns. However, buildings are highly heterogeneous regarding, e.g., building materials, occupancy and room use. Therefore, it is required to define the scientific objective, to categorize the indoor environment type, to determine the minimum number of investigated rooms (buildings) and to create a harmonized data base. Generally, the implementation of a management system for controlling different aspects of indoor air quality might have enormous benefits in terms of comfort and health of the population. However, the everyday management of indoor air quality must be balanced with energy management and outdoor environmental issues.
