A simulation study of decreased life expectancy from exposure to ambient particulate air pollution (PM2.5) in naturally ventilated workspaces

Abstract

PM2.5 has significant health effects that lead to decreased life expectancy (DLE). Yet, the outdoor PM2.5 levels found in most urban environments exceed the safety limits set by the World Health Organization. In this context, using natural ventilation (NV) in urban indoor workspaces results in unhealthy increases in occupant exposure to outdoor PM2.5. This paper presents a building thermal and airflow simulation study of DLE due to exposure to outdoor PM2.5 in NV workspaces in several urban locations around the globe.Results show that, for a typical life span of a worker, replacing a traditional HVAC system with NV during the mild temperature hours of the day results in a DLE of 1.2–7.3 months. Further, for each hour of NV use, life expectancy decreases by up to 2 min (for Californian and European cities) and three to 6 min in Shanghai and Beijing. In New Delhi, using NV leads to a DLE effect that is comparable to smoking one cigarette per hour. The results also show that using an electrostatic particle filter in the NV building façade openings, with an efficiency of 60%, can significantly decrease PM2.5 exposure and DLE and allow for safe NV use.