Untitled

Abstract

A funded research project was conducted during the period July 1992 through November 1994. The project was designed to evaluate indoor and ambient air quality in and around buildings of different types and uses in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. Thirty intercity buildings and two outercity (background) sites were carefully selected and monitored for air quality. Ten air pollutants, together with relevant meteorological parameters, were monitored indoor and outdoor at each site continuously and simultaneously for a period of two weeks covering summer and winter seasons. This article discusses the results obtained for sulfur dioxide (SO2), ammonia (NH3) and formaldehyde (HCHO). Results of this investigation revealed that most sites had on the average exceeded the recommended standards for SO2 and NH3 both indoor and outdoor, with indoor levels being worse than outdoor during winter time. Several sites also showed high levels of HCHO, with outdoor levels being consistently higher than indoor. Statistical and frequency analyses were performed on the collected data, showing seasonal and sector by sector variability, and outdoor-indoor correlations.

Indoor Air Pollutants and Health in the United Arab Emirates

“…Little is known about the indoor health risk transition in the Middle East region and the Arab Gulf countries, many of which are in accelerated transition and development. Ambient air pollution in the Arabian Peninsula is characterized by dust storms, high levels of desert particulate matter (PM), transportation- and industry-related emissions, and meteorology-linked smog formation (Al-Rehaili 2002; Bu-Olayan and Thomas 2012; Engelbrecht et al 2009). Ambient air pollutants may infiltrate and contribute to indoor air pollution that may also result from indoor combustion sources such as gas stoves and tobacco smoke, as well as traditional sources such as incense burning.…”

Indoor Air Quality Assessments in Educational Facilities in Saudi Arabia: A Systematic Review

“…In the Arab countries, where the climatic and cultural conditions may differ, IAQ assessments are rare. This was found to be also true to national stage in Kingdome of Saudi Arabia (KSA), where climate is characterized to be hot-arid (average temperature range of 37 to 45 °C), with scarce precipitation (Alrashed & Asif, 2015) and high level of dust and seasonal sandstorms (Al-Rehaili, 2002). This kind of harsh climatic characteristic led to complete reliance on mechanical ventilation and AC (El-Sharkawy, 2014) and smaller envelope openings.…”

“…Almost half of the studies focused on school settings, while the other half were conducted in facilities for higher education (universities/colleges). Most of the studies conducted assessment of IAQ (Hassan and Abdallal, 2011;Alsubaie, 2014;Al-Sulaihi et al, 2015;Al-Mijalli, 2016;Ahmed et al, 2017;Alzahrani, 2018;Alghamdi et al, 2019;Alghamdi et al, 2020, Al-Hebshi et al, 2020Al-Khatri et al, 2020), while few investigated the indoor and outdoor measures to compare findings and relationships between the ambient measures and indoor environmental values Al-Rehaili, 2002;Alghamdi, 2013;El-Sharkawy, 2014;Al-Khateeb et al, 2017;Sebiany et al, 2018).…”

“…Al-Rehaili's study is one of the earliest in KSA addressing IAQ in buildings (Amoatey et al, 2018). The evaluation included 32 buildings in Riyadh city between 1992 and 1994 of different types, and included one educational facility (Al-Rehaili, 2002). A total of ten air pollutants and other environmental parameters were monitored and measured for four days during summer, and four days during winter season.…”

“…Windows would be designed for daylight transmittance over ventilation (Al-Khateeb et al, 2017). Making assessments for such context is well needed to identify areas of risks and potential improvements, and particularly important as existing assessments are limited in number and level of details (Al-Khatri, 2020;Alzahrani, 2018;El-Sharkawy, 2014;Al-Rehaili, 2002).…”