Innovative Plant Technology IAQ 2013

iplant@plantscleanair.com +612 9654 1264

Ronald Wood PhD BSc

Innovative Plant Technology

Would you be OK with consuming a product that contained the following

chemicals?

Isoprene, acetone, ethanol, methanol, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, butane, cis- and

trans-2-butene, 2-hexene, n-butyl alcohol, isobutyl alcohol, capryl alcohol,

methyl isobutyl ketone, butyl acetate, ethyl benzene, indene, pentanal, and

propanal

Well, in your workspace and your building you are breathing in (and out)

these chemicals with every breath you take.

Even carbon dioxide that we also exhale can impair decision-making

performance.

Carbon dioxide levels are often used as a surrogate for occupancy levels and

for determining ventilation rates.

Recent findings from the U S Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley

National Laboratory show that even code compliant carbon dioxide levels

(800 – 1000 parts per million (ppm), typical of the lower levels in many offices

have significant adverse effects on decision – making performance. Carbon

dioxide levels up to 5000 parts per million have been measured in some

offices, particularly in the afternoon and with high occupancy rates.

Irrespective of the building rating or HVAC system, the only source of “fresh”

air is outdoor air, contaminated with motor vehicle emissions including

nitrogen oxides, ozone and hydroxyl radicals, that react with these and other

indoor pollutants faster than the ventilation rate, generating free radicals and a

cascade of contaminants, many of which have adverse health effects.

New analytical techniques to measure these short-lived, highly reactive

“stealth” chemicals are yet to be developed, so rating systems that offer

credits for “Quality of the Indoor Air” and “Reduced Exposure to Pollutants”

although a positive attempt for better indoor air, remain essentially an

Innovative Plant Technology IAQ 2013

iplant@plantscleanair.com +612 9654 1264

aspiration. The present IAQ measurements are only a “snapshot,” for which

there is no valid rationale, only that “we can.”

There are no regulations on chemical emissions from building materials. De

facto environmental certification schemes have been developed by industry

associations that include material emission limits, but the legal standing of

these certifications raise considerable doubts.

Best IAQ Practice The aim should be to provide clean “breathable air free of all contaminants.

We wouldn’t knowingly drink polluted water (with concentrations just below

the level to cause adverse health effects) yet indoor air is considered

acceptable “in terms of the absence of known contaminants and of

concentrations high enough to cause adverse health effects2 “

Diluting contaminated water with more slightly less polluted water doesn’t

make it fit to drink.

Conventional building air filtration does not remove chemical contaminants

and is required to remove only 40 – 60% of particulate matter to be code

compliant.

Good indoor air quality (IAQ) safeguards the health of building occupants and

contributes to their comfort, wellbeing and work performance. The

conventional approach to improve indoor air quality is to increase the

ventilation rate to dilute pollutants in the workspace, however the additional

airflow from the various ventilation modes substantially increases building

operating costs, consuming as much as 30% of the total energy use, with little

appreciable improvement in air quality.

High efficiency air filtration in the workspace, reduces the need for high

ventilation rates to dilute pollutants, allowing energy savings by lower

ventilation rates in existing buildings and reduces the need to over-size HVAC

systems in newly designed buildings.