Abstract
Indoor carbon dioxide (CO2 ) concentrations have been used for decades to characterize building ventilation and indoor air quality. Many of these applications require rates of CO2 generation from the building occupants, which are currently based on approaches and data that are several decades old. However, CO2 generation rates can be derived from well-established concepts within the fields of human metabolism and exercise physiology, which relate these rates to body size and composition, diet, and level of physical activity. This paper reviews how CO2 generation rates have been estimated in the past and discusses how they can be characterized more accurately. Based on this information, a new approach to estimating CO2 generation rates is presented, which is based on the described concepts from the fields of human metabolism and exercise physiology. Using this approach and more recent data on body mass and physical activity, values of CO2 generation rates from building occupants are presented along with the variability that may occur based on body mass and activity data.
Highlights
Indoor CO2 concentrations have been prominent in discussions of building ventilation and indoor air quality (IAQ) since the 18th century when Lavoisier suggested that CO2 build-up rather than oxygen depletion was responsible for “bad air” indoors.[1]
The approach described in this paper for estimating CO2 generation rates from individuals is based on concepts from the fields of human metabolism and exercise physiology, as well as more recent data that are currently used in the fields of ventilation and IAQ
This paper presents an approach to estimating CO2 generation rates from building occupants for use in the fields of IAQ and ventilation
Summary
Indoor CO2 concentrations have been prominent in discussions of building ventilation and indoor air quality (IAQ) since the 18th century when Lavoisier suggested that CO2 build-up rather than oxygen depletion was responsible for “bad air” indoors.[1]. The fields of human metabolism and exercise physiology have studied human activity for many decades, including rates of energy expenditures, oxygen consumption, and CO2 generation, as well as the individual factors that affect these rates. These factors include sex, age, height, weight, and body composition, with fitness level and diet composition affecting energy expenditure and the ratio of O2 consumed to CO2 produced
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