Abstract
Exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) has been an indoor environmental quality (IEQ) concern in schools and other buildings for many years. Newer designs, construction practices and building materials for “green” buildings and the use of “environmentally friendly” products have the promise of lowering chemical exposure. This study examines VOCs and IEQ parameters in 144 classrooms in 37 conventional and high performance elementary schools in the U.S. with the objectives of providing a comprehensive analysis and updating the literature. Tested schools were built or renovated in the past 15 years, and included comparable numbers of conventional, Energy Star, and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified buildings. Indoor and outdoor VOC samples were collected and analyzed by thermal desorption, gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy for 94 compounds. Aromatics, alkanes and terpenes were the major compound groups detected. Most VOCs had mean concentrations below 5 µg/m3, and most indoor/outdoor concentration ratios ranged from one to 10. For 16 VOCs, the within-school variance of concentrations exceeded that between schools and, overall, no major differences in VOC concentrations were found between conventional and high performance buildings. While VOC concentrations have declined from levels measured in earlier decades, opportunities remain to improve indoor air quality (IAQ) by limiting emissions from building-related sources and by increasing ventilation rates.
Highlights
Indoor air quality (IAQ) and, more broadly, indoor environmental quality (IEQ) have received considerable attention from the public as well as from practitioners and researchers
This paper reports on indoor and outdoor volatile organic compounds (VOCs) measurements in 144 classrooms at 37 recently constructed or renovated schools in the U.S Midwest
EffectIndoor of Indoor concentrations were positively correlated with several indoor parameters, including relative humidity (RH; especially formaldehyde; r = 0.50), average CO2 levels, and Indoor VOC concentrations were positively correlated with several indoor parameters, including classroom occupancy
Summary
Indoor air quality (IAQ) and, more broadly, indoor environmental quality (IEQ) have received considerable attention from the public as well as from practitioners and researchers. School environments are often deficient, which may adversely affect student performance and attendance [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Even low levels of pollutants such as carbon dioxide (CO2 ), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10 ) have been associated with the development of respiratory and other adverse health outcomes in children [7,8]. VOCs encompass a very wide range of chemicals, and many may cause acute or chronic health effects. These chemicals arise from both indoor and outdoor sources; indoor and outdoor VOC concentrations are often correlated and sometimes vary seasonally [9,10,11]. Several studies have focused on characterizing selected IAQ parameters and evaluating the impacts of pollutant exposure
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