Analysis of the indoor environment of agricultural constructions in the context of sustainability.

This research paper focuses on agricultural constructions, a special type of constructions with an important role in industry and agriculture. Food production is an important social factor that is vital to human survival, so its qualitative aspect is a key determinant of living standards and is also important in terms of sustainability. The need to create a suitable environment (welfare) for animals, as a factor in terms of health and productivity, is drawing increasing attention. The environment continuously and directly affects animals, so it is quickly reflected in their productivity and medical condition. The objective of this research paper is to present an analysis of the interactions between agricultural constructions' outdoor and indoor environment by monitoring an actual operational construction designed for animal rearing, from the point of view of animal welfare and sustainability, taking into account thermal protection and indoor climate.

Selected aspects of integrated environmental management.

Current trends in environmental care are characterised by the principles of comprehensiveness, integration, interdisciplinarity and transregionality. It is in this spirit that the methodological, legislative and economic instruments develop, and this whole trend is referred to using the term 'environmental management'. Environmental management constitutes a set of technical instruments and methods for managing the environment, based upon an identification of the environmental aspects of products, activities and services of any type of organisation, with the aim to adopt and implement effective proactive measures to reduce their negative impact on the environment. These measures, along with their level, relate to an organisation's possibilities, the market's pressure on it, and primarily with the organisation's management's awareness, maturity and ability to anticipate the introduction of stricter requirements. Environmental management, in the industrial production and service sectors, is one of the the most effective instruments for achieving the priority goal, which is to minimise the negative impact of production activities on the individual elements of the environment as part of the global trend of reducing the negative impact of human activity on the environment. The objective of this article is to indicate possibilities to improve the environment through the basic principles and techniques of integrated environmental management.

Assessment and biomonitoring indoor environment of buildings.

Ensuring hygiene and health protection is one of the basic construction requirements. Such requirements are examined when commissioning new constructions and examining defects in constructions already in use. One substantial defect is biocorrosion which represents a synergistic process with a complex variety of factors. It is caused by biochemical manifestations of various micro-organisms (micromycetes). Micromycetes producing mycotoxins therefore play an important role regarding the so-called 'Sick Building Syndrome' that has become a global problem nowadays. The case study presented here aims to demonstrate the effectiveness of the diagnostic methods used in assessing the presence of micromycetes in a building's internal atmosphere and on the internal surfaces of a construction built using traditional construction methods. The methodology of comparing methods is based on their effectiveness, taking into account the identification of type and intensity of micromycetes presence in the air and on the material surfaces in the monitored areas.