Efficient energy utilization and indoor air quality (IAQ) inside office premises and other public places have become issues of increasing concern in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). The Government of HKSAR has launched a territory wide consultation in 1999 on the proposed Indoor Air Quality Management Programme for offices and public places. This paper briefly introduces the proposed Indoor Air Quality Management Programme and its proposed target objectives.
Thirty female subjects were exposed for 280 minutes to four conditions in balanced order of presentation: to 20 C/40%, 23 C/50%, 26 C/60% RH at10 L/s/p outside air, and to 20 C/40% RH at 3.5 L/s/p. They performed simulated office work throughout each exposure and repeatedly marked a set of visual-analogue scales to indicate their perception of environmental conditions and of the intensity of SBS symptoms at the time. They were repeatedly reminded to adjust their clothing so as to remain in thermal comfort, and succeeded in doing so.
Relationship between sick building symptoms and type of heating system were investigated through a questionnaire in 4815 dwellings from 231 multi-family buildings built before 1961. Results do not demonstrate that energy savings measures in general increase the risk of sick building syndrome, but major reconstruction of old dwellings may increase this risk.
A 2x2 replicated field intervention experiment was conducted in a call-centre providing a public telephone directory service: Outdoor air supply rate was 8% or 80% of the total airflow of 430 L/s providing 3.5 h-1; and the supply air filters were either new or used (i.e., used in place for 6 months). Each of these 4 conditions was maintained for a full working week at a time. Room temperature and humidity averaged 24 C and 27% RH.
This paper provides a summary of current knowledge about the associations of ventilation types in office buildings with sick building syndrome symptoms. Most studies completed to date indicate that relative to natural ventilation, air conditioning, with or without humidification, was consistently associated with a statistically significant increase in the prevalence of one or more SBS symptoms, by approximately 30% to 200%.
The contaminant emission rate is an important parameter describing the potential for materials to affect indoor air quality through the release of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Emission rates have traditionally been inferred from gas-phase concentration measurements obtained through chamber studies. However, models suggest that the rate at which VOCs are emitted by diffusion-controlled materials may be influenced by ventilation rates.
CSTB has built an experimental house MARIA: Mechanised house for Advanced Research on Indoor Air. The house is dedicated to study pollutants transfers, test ventilation systems, settle field investigation methods, and validate computational models. MARIA will be instrumented and automated according to pre-established scenario of operation reproducing parameters related to human presence and behaviour. The human presence is simulated with heat load and water vapour and pollutants emission. The operation of equipments such as doors and windows, domestic devices, will be automated.
In addressing the goals of energy-efficiency and indoor air quality (IAQ) in homes, industry teams in the U.S. Department of Energy's Building America program are installing mechanical ventilation systems in tight homes. A variety of designs - some simple and inexpensive, some more sophisticated - have been demonstrated. The advanced designs provide more consistent ventilation over time, more uniform ventilation among rooms, and source control measures that reduce the air-change requirement.
Although most of the apartments adopt state-of-the-art convenience facilities, since they have become the most popular housing type in Korea, they depend on natural ventilation for HVAC systems, as traditional floor heating systems (Ondol) are used. On the other hand, the indoor environments of the apartments have become more important, because people stay longer in a room and the room environment is polluted, because of various kinds of interior materials. Accordingly, some apartments apply air conditioning systems using AHU and ventilation systems using heat exchangers.
As part of a graduation research, six case studies were carried out to assess the validity of 10 often heard assumed disadvantages of natural ventilation in offices, including poor IAQ and thermal discomfort. The case studies included a methodic comparison of six buildings based on literature, interviews, field measurements and re-analysis of reports by others. Thus the preconditions for natural ventilation of office buildings and the most important design features could be determined in order to meet the performance standards as in use in the Netherlands.
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