Indoor radon concentrations in public buildings

Indoor radon concentrations have been measured in a 13 year old two story concrete building of the University of Texas at Dallas. Variations of the radon concentration from the basement to the second floor in offices, classrooms, laboratories, storage rooms, corridors and other locations have been measured. Dependence of the above concentrations on the location and ventilation rates have been studied.

Field survey of indoor air pollution in residences with suspected combustion related sources

Thirty residences were monitored for nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, respirable suspended particles, and air exchange rate for forty-one one-week periods using integrating samplers. The residences were located in the northwest a

Characterization of residential air pollution from unvented kerosene heaters

Investigates the generation of pollutants from unvented convective and radiant kerosene heaters in a residence over a 3 month period. The measured concentrations of carbon monoxide were low. However, under the conditions of use which were studied concentrations of SO2, NO, NO2, and CO2 reached or exceeded levels recommended for indoor air. Further, it was demonstrated that using a semi-open door to provide ventilation did not reduce concentrations of pollutants to acceptable levels.

Equipment for personal and portable air monitoring - A state-of-the-art survey and review

The Harvard School of Public Health and the Energy and Environmental Policy Centre of the Kennedy School of Government, under the auspices of the Electric Power Research Institute and the Gas Research Institute, conducted a"Workshop on Evalu

IEA Annex IX 'Minimum Ventilation Rates' - Survey and Outlook.

Eleven countries are cooperating to establish guidelines for minimum ventilation rates which are sufficiently large to meet the demand for outdoor air in buildings without unnecessarily wasting energy. The most important pollutants have been identified as: carbon dioxide, tobacco smoke, formaldehyde, radon, moisture, body odour, organic vapours and gases, combustion products and particulates. To a certain degree some of thesesubstances can be used as indicators for acceptable air quality to establish minimum ventilation rates.

Baseline data: health and comfort in modern office buildings.

Reduction of fresh air ventilation is becoming the major means of energy conservation in office buildings. Simultaneously, health and comfort problems experienced by occupants are often suspected to be a direct result of reduced fresh air ventilation. However, there is little data available on health and comfort problems experienced by occupants of buildings operated under normal ventilation rates.

Review of building airtightness and ventilation standards.

Increased attention to the reduction of energy consumption in buildings and greater awareness of the need to maintain acceptable standards of indoor air quality have led to the development of new or revised standards of building airtightness and ventilation requirements. In this review of the existing standards of twelve countries, an attempt has been made to compare their main features and criteria. In many cases, direct comparison is not possible because of different ways of expressing the significant parameters.

The IEA project on minimum ventilation rates. IEA-Projekt 'Minimale Luftungsraten'

The minimum fresh air requirements needed for perfect indoor air quality are being studied and these will form the basis of the Swiss Guidelines for Ventilation. An optimization between the need to reduce heat loss and fresh air requirements for health is the aim. Pollutants in indoor air, such as formaldehydes, radon, carbon dioxide, tobacco smoke, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and particulates, have to be considered.

Multivariate model for predicting NO2 levels in residences based upon sources and source use

Diffusion-type passive monitors were placed for a two-week period in each of 303 residences in the New Haven (Conn.) area during a 12 week sampling period January to April 1983. For each home NO2 levels were recorded outdoors, and in three ro

Characterization of indoor air quality and "sick buildings"

Notes the increased attention being paid to "sick buildings" of the irritating type. Occupants complain of deteriorated indoor air and subtle medical symptoms that may be related to the indoor air. The problem seems to coincide with energy economising. To evaluate the actual quality of the air in a building it is necessary to conduct field studies with mobile investigation units, taking representative air samples for immediate sensory and chemical analysis.

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