Benefits from investing in high indoor air quality

Transcription

1 Benefits from investing in high indoor air quality Pawel Wargocki International Centre for Indoor Environment and Energy Technical University of Denmark DTU Civil Engineering

2 great care is devoted to ensuring that we have a pure water supply and noone would suggest that in the interest of economy we should be doomed to drink polluted water; on aesthetics ground alone it should be one s right to be allowed to live and work in a clean atmosphere which is free from objectionable odours Bedford (1964)

3 Building design and operation affects IEQ and human responses, thereby quality of life Building design and operation IEQ Human response Quality of life, comfort, health, productivity, learning

4 Indoor Environmental Quality-IEQ Indoor environment Building Indoor air quality and climate Acoustics Lighting Space Interior design Workstation design Indoor air Thermal environment Cleanliness Sound level Speech Intelligibility Quality Quantity VOC Particles Microbes Odours Air temperature Air movement Surface temperature Distribution Ventilation Air handling equipment Space cleaning STI-index Frequency distribution Sound insulation Reverberation time * Luminance Glare Daylight Reflections Spectrum Moisture * STI= speech transmission index

5 How can energy be conserved w/o affecting IEQ? 30.6 GTCO 2 in 2010 (5% increase) max. 32 GTCO 2 aimed in 2020

6 EPBD 2002 The Directive 2002/91/EC Energy performance of buildings a measure to improve the energy performance of buildings Directive requires that the improvement of energy performance of buildings would be met with respect to indoor climate requirements, so the energy reduction can have no negative effect on indoor environment conditions

7 Building cerification schemes Provide a framework to design and build green buildings as well as to assess sustainable building performance. Is voluntary, though considered prestigious. Have been on the construction market for the last 15 years and are not anymore a niche segment. LEED Section Sustainable sites Water efficiency Energy and atmosphere Materials and resources Indoor environmental Quality Total Innovation in Design Regional priority Possible Points 26 Points 10 Points 35 Points 14 Points 15 Points 100 Points 6 Points 4 Points

8 The primary purpose of office/school building is to provide an optimal conditions for work/learning and not only to conserve energy

9 Average indoor exposures are 90-95% of a lifetime, a major part is at home and at work At home In public places In industry Commuting & travel Outdoors Liquids Solid food

10 Multitude exposures indoors

11 Sources, ventilation, ambient air Traffic Combustion Pollens AMBIENT AIR and exposures Humans Human activities Building Furniture Equipment Tobacco smoke SOURCES Can also be a source VENTILATION & INFILTRATION EXPOSURES HEALTH (COMFORT)

12 Burden of disease by exposure from compromised IAQ in Europe (EU-27): SOURCES Building site (radon from soil) Cleaning and other household Ventilation and conditioning Furnishing, interior materials and electric appliances Building materials [kdaly] Ambient air quality Heating and combustion Watersystems, dampnes and mould 355 ETS excluded!

13 DALY = Disability Adjusted Life Years One DALY can be thought of as one lost year of "healthy" life The sum of the Years of Life Lost (YLL) due to premature mortality in the population and the Years Lost due to Disability (YLD) for incident cases of the health condition The YLL is the number of deaths multiplied by the standard life expectancy at the age at which death occurs YLD is the number of incident cases multiplied by the average duration of the disease and a weight factor that reflects the severity of the disease on a scale from 0 (perfect health) to 1 (dead) DALY = YLL + YLD

14 Burden of disease by exposure from compromised IAQ in Europe (EU-27): SOURCES Building site (radon from soil) Cleaning and other household Ventilation and conditioning Furnishing, interior materials and electric appliances Building materials [kdaly] Ambient air quality Heating and combustion Watersystems, dampnes and mould 355 ETS excluded!

15 Burden of disease by disease from compromised IAQ in Europe (EU-27): DISEASES (HEALTH) Acute CO toxication Respiratory infectious diseases [kdaly] Asthma 661 Sick building syndrome, sensory irritation 517 Lung (& trachea & bronchus) cancer 125 COPD Cardiovascular diseases ETS excluded!

16 Few environmental factors are responsible for most of the environmental burden of disease in Europe Radon Dioxins Lead Ozone Benzene Formaldehyde Noise SHS PM2.5

17 WHO air quality guidelines Selected indoor chemicals establish targets at which health risks are significantly reduced Carbon monoxide Nitrogen dioxide Benzene Formaldehyde Naphthalene Trichloroethylene Tetrachloroethylene Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) Radon

18 Do we know what we don t know? There could be contaminants of concern that are as yet unidentified, but that have significant health effects

19 We often use man as a meter

20 IEQ requirements The extent to which human requirements are met

21 Major IEQ (IAQ) concerns in the western world Many report building related- symptoms when working in offices IEQ in schools is appalling Prevalence of asthma and allergy is growing rapidly

22 Studies in offices in Europe/Asia/USA 20-40% of occupants with building-related symptoms 10-60% of occupants finding the IAQ unacceptable Even though the existing ventilation standards are met

23 Building-related symptoms Irritation of mucous membranes, eyes, nose, skin and respiratory tract Difficulty to concentrate Headache Fatigue

24 Some evidence on SBS and methods to control exposures

25 Improving indoor environmental quality can increase office productivity by 5-15% Studies in Europe, Japan, Singapore and USA Experimental studies in laboratories with human subjects Studies in existing office buildings with employees Conclusion: Indoor environment does affect productivity Quantitave relationships have been developed between IEQ and productivity Dissatisfied (%)

26 Improving indoor environmental quality can increase office productivity by 5-15% Studies in Europe, Japan, Singapore and USA Experimental studies in laboratories with human subjects Studies in existing office buildings with employees Conclusion: Indoor environment does affect productivity Quantitave relationships have been developed between IEQ and productivity

27 Sick-leave % sick leave % lower Outdoor air supply rate (L/s per person)

28 Estimated annual savings from changes in building factors in U.S. (1997 data) Infectious diseases: $6-$19 billion Allergies and asthma: $1-$4 billion Acute sick-building (SBS) health problems: $10-$20 billion Direct impact of indoor environment on worker performance (unrelated to health): $12-$125 billion Total: $30-$170 billion/year

29 LCC analyses, example 12,300 m 2 office building with 864 p; air quality from 50% to 10% dissatisfied; The annual benefit of increased productivity due to improved air quality >> the increase in annual energy and maintenance costs Estimated pay-back time < 2 year Profit: 4-7 times higher than with interest rate at 3.2%

30 Productivity gain of just 10% would offset the full running and installation costs

31 Schools 20% af EU s population, 30% of time in schools Children are more vulnerable; their bodies are still growing Children must attend school; they can not absent themselves or find another school The work that children are obliged to perform in schools is not optional and almost always new Conditions are much worse than in offices (higher occupancy, less ventilation)

32 Education system has changed, the buildings did not the systems are not accommodating new needs CO2 concentration (ppm) Schools Offices Ventilation rate (L/s/person)

33 Improving indoor environmental quality can increase learning by >15%

34 Improving indoor environmental quality can increase learning by >15%

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36 Consequences 15% reduced performance = 1 school year Costs are unknown (more time for leisure or learning) (renovation costs perhaps less than 50 eurocents/day/pupil) Can be approximated by absenteeism for pupils (parents) and teachers or by the cost of teacher (5% less time gives ca eurocents saving) May be approximated by the loss of opportunity (salary) as regards future work May have future consequences for national economy

37 STAR Project, USA, 20 years later

38 It is certain that the additional expenses per pupil of the best ventilation needed not exceed the price of one or two cheap lunches. New Hampshire School District Ventilation Code, 1893

39 Homes Low ventilation rates Many materials containing plasticizers

40 Prevalence of asthma symptoms (wheezing) and ventilation Wheezing Ventilation

41 Risk (odds ratio) of symptoms of asthma and allergy (wheezing, rhinitis, eczema) as a function of ventilation rates in single family houses h -1 Air change rates (h -1 ) Median air change in homes

42 Prevalence of house dust mites in homes Prevalence (number of homes) (P=0.024) >100mites per 0.1g mattress dust = >0.50 Air change rates (h -1 ) Air change rate (h -1 )

43 Plasticizers in homes and the risk (odds ratio) of asthma

44 Dampness, lack of moisture removal

45 Risk (odds ratio) of bronchial obstruction 12 <0.5 h-1 >0.5 h Dampness Textile wall paper Plasticizer

46 What a new-born should do not to become allergic (Sundell, 2007) be a girl (up to 10 years of age), with a non-smoking, nonallergic, ginger-loving breast-feeding mother, not speaking english choose a non-allergic father not speaking english avoid pets (cats and dogs) if there are allergies in the family choose to live on a farm with animals in a communist country stay at home, avoid day care or school have at least some worm infections at an early age stay away from soft plastics, waterbased paints and many cleaning products = not stay indoors

47 Regulation of IEQ (IAQ) Outdoor AQ GUIDELINES AMBIENT AIR Certification schemes (DGNB-DK) and/or building codes Ca. 35 standards in Europe; rates defined by comfort VENTILATION & INFILTRATION Other guideline values, e.g. INDEX. SOURCES EXPOSURES HUMAN UPTAKE HEALTH (COMFORT) LABELLING SCHEMES CONSUMER PROD. Indoor AQ GUIDELINES Classes of comfort (% dissatisfied)

48 even today we are guided in air advice to patients by as much anecdote and folklore as proven facts Pravaz (1984) by Proctor (1982)

49 Remedies for IAQ reducing indoor pollution sources increasing ventilation rate improving filtration/air cleaning

50 Avoid sources!

51 Natural or mechanical ventilation? Natural ventilation does not always guarantee lower temperatures or increased outdoor air supply rate Opening of windows can increase noise and pollution (e.g. from traffic) Hybrid systems may be a way to go

52 Personal/efficient ventilation

53 Adaptive systems with optimum control in many respects today we submit ourselves to dramatic sudden changes in climate several times a day withouth giving it a second s thought (Proctor, 1982)

54 Buildings do not use energy, people do!

55 Questions?

56 Thank you