Abstract
The aim of this study is to investigate whether children’s bioeffluent generation rate is proportional to their carbon dioxide (CO2) generation rate. Consequently, to assess if there is a need to differentiate the CO2- setpoint for different user groups, focusing on children. Perceived air quality (PAQ) and odour intensity (OI) were assessed in three classrooms in Oslo, Norway. Two second-grade classes (7-8 years old) were compared with one eighth-grade class (13-14 years old). An untrained test panel consisting of 16 people visited each classroom twice and were asked to evaluate PAQ and OI upon entering the classrooms. The CO2 levels in the classrooms were kept constant at either 600 ppm or 1100 ppm during each visitation. The results showed that average PAQ-score was significantly worse in the second-grade classrooms compared to the eighth-grade classroom. For perceived odour intensity, the average score indicated that the odour was stronger in the second-grade classrooms compared to the eighth-grade classroom, however, this difference in score was not significant. Our results indicate a need for differentiation of setpoints for CO2-DCV based on user groups, especially for children.
Highlights
The increased focus on climate and energy use has resulted in demand-controlled ventilation (DCV) emerging as the dominating ventilation strategy in non-residential buildings in Norway
The current use of CO2-DCV is based on the assumption that the CO2 generation rate by people is proportional to their bioeffluent generation rate [2]
The actual number of people in the classrooms deviated from the estimated number, especially for the classroom with 8th graders, which when compared to the 2nd graders, resulted in higher CO2 concentrations at low CO2 level, and lower concentrations at high CO2 level
Summary
The increased focus on climate and energy use has resulted in demand-controlled ventilation (DCV) emerging as the dominating ventilation strategy in non-residential buildings in Norway. The current use of CO2-DCV is based on the assumption that the CO2 generation rate by people is proportional to their bioeffluent generation rate [2]. This allows the CO2 level in a room to be used as an indication of the level of human contamination affecting the indoor air quality, which is further used to determine the required ventilation rates. The majority of the research which this assumption is based upon was carried out in the 80’s using adult female or male students [3,4]. To the best of our knowledge, there is currently insufficient evidence to suggest that this relationship is valid for other user groups than adults
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