Assessing Human Exposure to SVOCs in Materials, Products, and Articles: A Modular Mechanistic Framework.

A critical review of the current state of knowledge of chemical emissions from indoor sources, partitioning among indoor compartments, and the ensuing indoor exposure leads to a proposal for a modular mechanistic framework for predicting human exposure to semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs). Mechanistically consistent source emission categories include solid, soft, frequent contact, applied, sprayed, and high temperature sources. Environmental compartments are the gas phase, airborne particles, settled dust, indoor surfaces, and clothing. Identified research needs are the development of dynamic emission models for several of the source emission categories and of estimation strategies for critical model parameters. The modular structure of the framework facilitates subsequent inclusion of new knowledge, other chemical classes of indoor pollutants, and additional mechanistic processes relevant to human exposure indoors. The framework may serve as the foundation for developing an open-source community model to better support collaborative research and improve access for application by stakeholders. Combining exposure estimates derived using this framework with toxicity data for different end points and toxicokinetic mechanisms will accelerate chemical risk prioritization, advance effective chemical management decisions, and protect public health.

Indoor air pollutant health prioritization in office buildings.

This work presents an original method to identify priority indoor air pollutants in office buildings. It uses both a chronic risk assessment approach by calculating a hazard quotient, and a hazard classification method based on carcinogenic, mutagenic, reprotoxic, and endocrine disruptive effects. A graphical representation of the results provides a comprehensive and concise visualization of all of the information, including the number of buildings where each substance was measured, an indicator of exposure data robustness. Seventy-one out of 342 substances (20%) for which indoor air concentrations have already been measured in office buildings were identified as priority pollutants. The results were compared to previous prioritization studies in various types of indoor environments to assess the reliability of the method and highlight its advantages. Sensitivity analyses were performed to reduce the geographical scope (OECD countries only), time scope (after 2010 only), and measurement duration (working hours only) and showed little influence on the results. Finally, 123 additional substances that could be present in office indoor air but could not be assessed due to the lack of measurement data are proposed for future monitoring surveys to update the prioritization of indoor air pollutants in offices.

A methodology to empower citizens towards a low-carbon economy. The potential of schools and sustainability indicators.

Environmental empowering to control resource consumption and environmental impacts is critical to engage citizens to adopt more sustainable habits. This study demonstrates the potential benefits of innovative approaches based on sustainability indicators towards a low-carbon economy. A methodology to measure and promote sustainability in schools has been proposed and evaluated, aiming at showing the environmental performance and informing of potential environmental savings. The methodology, titled ClimACT, has two main purposes: measuring the environmental performance of schools through a school sustainability index based on measurable indicators in the areas of transport, procurement, green spaces, indoor air quality, energy, water and waste; and encouraging students, teachers and families towards an energy-efficient and low-carbon pathway through a structural procedure based on roles, activities and progress evaluation. The approach, applied to 39 pilot schools from Portugal, Spain, France and Gibraltar, achieved promising and encouraging results. All schools deployed the methodology successfully, achieving measurable environmental benefits in 95% of cases, with an average improvement of 10% in the global performance of schools after one year. Moreover, the 5112 surveys applied to school communities, before and after the methodology implementation, highlighted how the sustainable indicators had a significant influence on the daily lives of families, leading to improvements of their behaviour, with an average increase of 20% in indicators regarding good practices in transport, energy, water, waste and citizenship. The environmental empowering through measurable indicators is a step forward a low-carbon economy. This methodology is open and adaptable to all sectors and requirements.

Impact of Climate Change on Indoor Air Quality: A Review.

Climate change can affect the indoor environment due to heat and mass transfers between indoor and outdoor environments. To mitigate climate change impacts and adapt buildings to the changing environment, changes in building characteristics and occupants' behavior may occur. To characterize the effects of climate change on indoor air quality (IAQ), the present review focused on four aspects: (1) experimental and modeling studies that relate IAQ to future environmental conditions, (2) evolution of indoor and outdoor air concentrations in the coming years with regard to temperature rise, (3) climate change mitigation and adaptation actions in the building sector, and (4) evolution of human behavior in the context of climate change. In the indoor environment, experimental and modeling studies on indoor air pollutants highlighted a combined effect of temperature and relative humidity on pollutant emissions from indoor sources. Five IAQ models developed for future climate data were identified in the literature. In the outdoor environment, the increasing ambient temperature may lead directly or indirectly to changes in ozone, particle, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compound concentrations in some regions of the world depending on the assumptions made about temperature evolution, anthropogenic emissions, and regional regulation. Infiltration into buildings of outdoor air pollutants is governed by many factors, including temperature difference between indoors and outdoors, and might increase in the years to come during summer and decrease during other seasons. On the other hand, building codes in some countries require a higher airtightness for new and retrofitted buildings. The building adaptation actions include the reinforcement of insulation, implementation of new materials and smart building technologies, and a more systematic and possibly longer use of air conditioning systems in summer compared to nowadays. Moreover, warmer winters, springs, and autumns may induce an increasing duration of open windows in these seasons, while the use of air conditioning in summer may reduce the duration of open windows.

Data on comparison between FLEC and CLIMPAQ methods used for fast sorption measurements of VOCs on building materials.

A test emission chamber called CLIMPAQ has been coupled to a chromatography analyzer GC to measure volatile organic compounds (VOC) concentration during a sorption experiments (Fast sorption measurements of VOCs on building materials: Part 2 - Comparison between FLEC and CLIMPAQ methods, (Rizk et al., In press) [1]). The equations used to calculate the mass transfer coefficient and the thickness of the boundary layer developed on the surface of a material are presented. In addition, the experimental profiles obtained using the CLIMPAQ chamber is also presented in the presence and the absence of a building material. Finally, the impact of chamber size on the obtained concentration profile using different chambers is shown using 3 types of chambers having different volumes, 1 m(3), 30 m(3) and a micro chamber of 40 mL.