Development and application of an indoor air quality audit to an air-conditioned tertiary institutional building in the tropics

Abstract

Good indoor air quality (IAQ) in schools and tertiary institutions provides a comfortable and healthy environment for the students and staff to learn and work in, respectively. Hence, it is important to ascertain the IAQ status in the learning environment. This paper presents the development and application of an IAQ audit methodology for the tertiary institutional buildings. A staff room and a typical lecture theatre in a tertiary institution were selected for this study to present the IAQ status in premises with different occupancy pattern and internal loads. The IAQ audit consists of monitoring of thermal comfort parameters, microbial counts, dust particles and the concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO 2), carbon monoxide (CO), formaldehyde (HCHO) and total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs). Air exchange rate, ventilation effectiveness and age of air were also investigated. In addition, questionnaires were completed by the staff and students in order to provide a subjective assessment of the indoor air quality. The IAQ results collated in this study will be used to develop an IAQ database for institutional buildings in Singapore. This will be beneficial to the development of guidelines for good indoor air quality in institutional buildings.