RTCA Prof Nicola Carslaw - INTERIORS: A new facility for understanding air pollution in homes

Transcript

1. Dr. Anthony H Wild Wolfson INTERIORS facility: a new facility for understanding air pollution in homes Professor Nicola Carslaw Department of Environment and Geography University of York, UK nicola.carslaw@york.ac.uk 1
2. Overview • Increasing importance of indoor air pollution • Brief overview of sources of indoor air pollution? • The new INTERIORS facility: an introduction • Some preliminary data • Summary 2
3. Increasing importance of indoor air pollution: time indoors https://www.kent-teach.com/Blog/post/2016/10/22/why-science-says-you-must-spend-time-outdoors.aspx 3
4. Increasing importance of indoor air pollution: airtight buildings https://www.fast-epc.co.uk/epc-rating-explained-uk/ 4
5. Increasing importance of indoor air pollution: better outdoor AQ In summary, most of our exposure to air pollution now happens indoors https://www.magnific.com/vectors/electric-car 5
6. Sources of indoor air pollution • • • • • Building materials (e.g. concrete, wood) Furnishing/decorative materials (e.g. paint, flooring, furniture) Human activities: cooking, cleaning Outdoors Some direct emissions plus some chemical production from these emissions….. 6
7. Health Implications “Air pollution is one of the greatest environmental risks to health. By reducing air pollution levels, countries can reduce the burden of disease from stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, and both chronic and acute respiratory diseases, including asthma” World Health Organisation. 7
8. How can we study indoor air quality? • Research grade equipment is sensitive and accurate BUT… • Chambers do not represent realistic buildings Image courtesy of Terry Dillon, UoY 8
9. How about in occupied homes? • Realistic environments, but research grade equipment is bulky and noisy • Low-cost sensors can be used and provide some insight, but not as accurate or specific as researchgrade instruments….. 9
10. INTERIORS INTERdisciplinary Facility for IndOor Air Quality ReSearch Combines realistic housing with research grade instrumentation Scientific Objectives • Characterisation of IAQ under baseline and high concentration occupant activities • Quantification of emissions from commonly used material and consumer products • Understanding of lifetimes and secondary chemistry associated with air pollutants released from these products • Characterisation of long-term emissions as materials age • Input for indoor air models • Identification of solutions to improve IAQ 10
11. Build characteristics of the houses • • • Typical house (left), ACR ~ 1 h-1 Airtight house (right): MVHR, ACR 0.1-0.9 h-1 Airtight housing proxy for future Net Zero housing Image courtesy of Lia Chatzidiakou, UoY 11
12. Gas Sampling System A custom-built gas sampling system enables air to be sampled from any room in each house, or outdoors. 12
13. Instrumentation 13
14. Preliminary data 14
15. Low-emission paint experiments • • • • Day 1: Room ventilated, windows/doors closed overnight. Day 2: Baseline: windows/doors closed. Day 3: Painting: ~10AM and 4PM. Windows/doors closed. Day 4-6: VOC measurements using GC-MS. Data courtesy of Sophie Morton and Tom Warburton, UoY 15
16. Maximum VOC concentration over 72 h across paints • • • • acetaldehyde, ethanol ~ 800 ppb Acetone > 1000 ppb Gamma-terpinene > 100 ppb Methanol ~ 7 ppm!! Data courtesy of Sophie Morton and Tom Warburton, UoY 16
17. Persistence variation across paints • Most VOCs returned to baseline concentrations within 24-48 h • Good for occupants - decorators??? Data courtesy of Sophie Morton and Tom Warburton, UoY 17
18. Indoor and Outdoor Temperatures Typical house: Indoor temperatures follow outdoors Airtight house: Indoor temperatures elevated cf typical house Implication: Airtight house showed a greater risk of overheating Data courtesy of Lia Chatzidiakou, UoY 18
19. Humidity Variation • Outdoor air drives typical home humidity (but few occupant activities) • Higher levels in airtight house indicate higher water accumulation with potential for mould risk Data courtesy of Lia Chatzidiakou, UoY 19
20. Indoor CO2 concentrations • Concentrations are higher in the airtight house • Differences between rooms during experiments Data courtesy of Lia Chatzidiakou, UoY 20
21. Indoor PM2.5 concentrations • Indoor concentrations lower than outdoors • I/O = 0.5 for typical and 0.4 for airtight house • BUT few occupant activities at this stage Data courtesy of Lia Chatzidiakou, UoY 21
22. Ozone hourly data through summer heatwave Data courtesy of Tom Moore, UoY 22
23. Ozone hourly data through summer heatwave • Ozone concentrations usually < 10 ppb in both houses • Some high concentrations during heatwave, particularly in typical build house Data courtesy of Tom Moore, UoY 23
24. Summary • • • INTERIORS will allow us to understand air quality in homes in much greater detail than previously We can understand how going from traditional builds to more airtight houses of the future affects: • Indoor air pollutant concentrations • Persistence of indoor air pollutants • Exposure to air pollutants indoors • Temperature, humidity and thermal comfort Important to ensure that more airtight homes do not make indoor air quality worse for future generations Please contact us for further details: • Scientific Director: Prof Nic Carslaw (nicola.carslaw@york.ac.uk) • Technical Director: Prof James Lee (james.lee@york.ac.uk) 24