Air quality in offices, impact of ventilation rate, ozone and limonene

The objective of this study has been to clarify to what extent ozone (O3) and O3 /limonene in interaction with surface materials has an impact on the indoor air quality in typical low-polluting offices at realistic outdoor air change rates. Three similar offices furnished with the same materials and ventilated with charcoal filtered outdoor air were used in the study. Eight environmental conditions with different realistic combinations of air change rate, O3 and limonene levels were studied.

Low winter humidity indoors has a negative effect on the performance of office work

Thirty subjects (17 female) were exposed for 5 hours in a climate chamber to clean air at 5%, 15%, 25% and 35% RH at 22 °C, in balanced order. Another 30 subjects (15 female) were similarly exposed to air polluted by carpet and linoleum at 18, 22 and 26 °

Indoor environmental exposures and symptoms

It is a basic biological truth that people bring different levels of responsiveness to irritant stimuli to work. No one reacts to the same levels with the same intensity (symptoms are different)What are the stress factors that lead people to complain? Poor work organization, inadequate communication or pollutants ? The author suggests that priority should be given to the problems of work organisation before looking for problems of indoor air pollution, air-handling, or heating.Systematic approaches to stress management have shown to have major benefits.

Comfort and air quality. Existing standard in offices

Today the term of comfort includes the different aspects of indoor air quality, thermal, acoustical and visual comfort.Standardisation working groups have already worked in those different fields, and some standards already exist but it will certainly take several years to adapt them according to the countries and continents. Anyway environmental quality is a subjective perception and depends on many interactions. The aim is to insure comfort to the majority of people, but a personal adaptation of the user will always be necessary.

Influence of air diffuser layout on the ventilation of workstations

Seven air supply and return diffusion layouts were tested to determine their effects on air distribution, air change efficiency and ventilation efficiency for workstations in an open-plan office. This document describes and comments the results of these measurements.

Hybrid ventilation : state of the art review

This report summarizes the work of the initial working phase of IEA Annex 35 "Hybrid Ventilation in New and Retrofitted Office and Educational Buildings". It describes the state-of-the-art of hybrid ventilation technologies, of control strategioes and algorithms and of analysis methods. It provides examples of existing systems and show solutions to specific problems in 22 office and educational buildings locate in different outdoor climates.

Proceedings of Hybrid Ventilation 2002 - Fourth International Forum - May 2002 - Montreal - Canada

In 1998, an international research project entitled "Hybrid Ventilation in New and Retrofitted Office and Educational Buildings" was commenced under the auspices of the International Energy Agency. The fourth forum organized within the framework of this project was held in May 2002 in Montreal, Canada. About 25 papers related to the major outcomes and technologies were presented.

Uncertainty in predictions of thermal comfort in buildings

The research in this thesis aims to provide information about the uncertainty attached to the prediction of thermal comfort in buildings, in the context of the specific case of a naturally ventilated office building.

Correlation of indoor air quality measurements and CFD simulations - Findings from a case study in the tropics

This paper deals with the simulation of air flow pattern in an office in Singapore (22.5 m x 84 m) with a typical day environmental conditions. Thermal comfort and indoor air quality audit, as well as ventilation measurements are used for validation of the simulation results.

Multizone modeling approaches to contaminant-based design

Design process of buildings currently addresses indoor air quality through ventilation flow rates requirements. In some circumstances, this approach may be not sufficient and an alternative is to determine ventilation rates through contaminant-based design methods. The authors present several examples of such approach, especially using multizone modeling (CONTAMW model) in a two-story classroom/office building equipped with a CO2 demand-controlled ventilation.

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