Emerging HVAC filtration and air cleaning technologies
Author: González López De Aspe Enrique It is common knowledge that atmospheric pollution has a significant impact on health due to the wide range of harmful particles that may be present in the air we breathe. However, there is a widespread lack of awareness regarding exposure to air pollutants, as this issue is usually linked (…)
Airborne Infectious Disease Transmission in Hospitals: Significance and Control by Ventilation
Author: Wang Yihan It’s been three years since we first heard this draining word: COVID-19. The dominant role of indoor transmission [1] in the spread of this seemingly endless pandemic, is meant to undoubtedly bring the topic of prevention and control of indoor transmission of infectious diseases back into the public spotlight. Probably especially in (…)
Microbiology of the Built Environment
Author: Meier Jan The field of microbiology of the built environment includes the study of microbial diversity, interactions, and microbial ecology in indoor spaces such as workspaces, homes, hospitals, and other indoor spaces. In fact, microorganisms exist in the air, on surfaces and building materials. They are usually dispersed by humans, animals, and outdoor sources. (…)
Nanoparticles: Sources & Exposures
Author: Ana María Palencia Poblet Ana Palencia, April 26th of 2023 Nanoparticles or Ultrafine particles (UFP) have a size ranging from 1 to 100 nm, or about 1/100.000th the width of a human hair. Would you ever imagine such microscope particles can potentially affect your health? In this post, the sources from nanoparticles as well as the (…)
Indoor Radon : Sources, Exposures, Health Effects and Controls
Author: Marc Alassane Touré Radon, the Silent Killer A title that may remind you of the ‘Scream’ movie saga. This time, the killer has been known for decades but still manages to sneak into your homes without any service to save you. If you don’t smoke, you don’t live with smokers either and end up (…)
AIR HUMIDITY AND INDOOR AIR QUALITY
Author: Antonio García Have you ever felt short of breath? Your chest tightens and your respiratory rates increases sharply, Despite all your attempts to increase the inhaled air, it is not enough to support your needs. As exorbitant this narrative might sound, polluted air increases the difficulty to breathe properly. Yet we do not give (…)
Challenges in Monitoring Building IAQ: what and where to measure
Author: Cheng-Hua Huang Introduction Have you ever experienced that in the morning, your eyes, nose and/or throat got irritated? You felt fatigued, even though you just had a 10-hour sleep and woke up at 10 am. You felt dizzy, got a headache and even had a feeling of nausea. It seems like you never got (…)
Indoor Air Pollution in Wooden Construction Buildings
Author: Lea Mayr Sustainable buildings made of wood with a good indoor climate and positive life cycle assessment, but what about air quality? Wood is a building material that has become increasingly popular in recent years. This is due to many advantages that the natural raw material brings with it. Thanks to a high degree (…)
Flame retardants: Friends or Foes
Author: Enea Rossetti Introduction Fire has been one of the most revolutionary discoveries for human beings. It immediately became something of great value for humans. It gave protection, for example from cold, but also from enemies and predators. Today the opinion about fire is very different, almost the opposite. People in principle are afraid of (…)
Low-Cost Sensing of Indoor Air Quality – Is This a Future?
Author: Thomas Zonabend Have you ever noticed the time you spend indoor? In fact, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Americans spend 87% of their life in buildings[1]. And this data is from 1989, so one may conclude it has increased since. It means that someone that is 80 years old will have (…)