Indentifying pollutants that pose a potential hazard indoors is an important first step to reducing risks. We reviewed key published studies reporting measurements of chemical pollutants in residences. Summary results were compiled and used to calculate representative mid-range and upper-bound concentrations relevant to chronic exposures for over 300 pollutants and peak concentrations relevant to acute exposures for a few episodic activity-associated pollutants.

The indoor environment can play a significant role in the transmission and exposure of various contaminants. In some emerging aerial infections, such as influenza virus, tuberculosis virus, and other biological and chemical contaminants, the airborne route of transmission is thought to be important to evaluate exposure health risk.

Large-scale greenhouses are usually adopted to control the indoor climate conditions in agriculture. The envelope of agricultural greenhouses generally consists of a PVC (polyvinyl chloride) sheet, which produces a so-called greenhouse effect and protection from harmful insects. In winter, a supplementary heating device in greenhouses is needed because of the lower outdoor temperature and the non-uniform distribution of indoor temperature.

Stratum ventilation has been proposed to cope for elevated indoor temperature recommended by governments in East Asia. TRNSYS is used for computation of the space cooling load and system energy consumption. A typical Hong Kong office is investigated. Compared with mixing ventilation and displacement ventilation, stratum ventilation derives its energy saving potential largely from the following two factors: a reduced ventilation load and increased coefficients of performance (COP) for chillers.