The Approach of Including TVOCs Concentration in the Indoor Environmental Quality Model (IEQ)—Case Studies of BREEAM Certified Office Buildings

Abstract

The article analyzes the impact of measured concentrations of Total Volatile Organic Compounds (TVOC) emissions determined for four BREEAM certified buildings on the Indoor Air Quality Index (IAQindex) and the overall Indoor Environment Quality index (IEQindex). The IEQindex indicates the percentage of building users who are satisfied from the indoor environment. In existing IEQ models, currently the concentration of CO2 is mostly used to evaluate the IAQindex sub-component. Authors point out that it is recommended to use TVOC instead CO2 at pre-occupant stage where building is mainly polluted by emission from finishing products. The research provides the approach where the component related to the emission of TVOCs is implemented to IEQ model. The first stage of assessment was a test of the volatile organic compounds concentrations in case study buildings. Secondly, the analysis results were assigned into the number of dissatisfied users (PD(IAQ)) from the theoretical function given by Jokl-Fanger resulting from the Weber-Fechner equation. Finally, the overall IEQindex was calculated. The IEQ approach proposed in this paper is mainly based on a consideration of EN 15251 and scientifically accepted models.

Air Enthalpy as an IAQ Indicator in Hot and Humid Environment—Experimental Evaluation

“…The VOCs were identified by the mass spectral database. The mean of total VOCs concentration (TVOC) was 120 µg/m 3 ± 18%, which corresponds to a neutral percentage of dissatisfaction (PD TVOC < 5%) in accordance to Reference [47].…”

Practical Implementation of the Indoor Environmental Quality Model for the Assessment of Nearly Zero Energy Single-Family Building

“…Sub-component models were developed and presented in the literature [5,22] based on sensory studies in panel groups. This included research by the author [23,24]. For a physical parameter (e.g., light intensity or volatile organic compound concentration in indoor air), the corresponding satisfaction index was calculated by formulas (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10) provided in this section.…”

“…The simplified scheme of the assessment model developed during the period 2016-2019 is presented in Figure 1. The previous version of Figure 1 was published by the authors of [23].…”

“…The simplified scheme of the assessment model developed during the period 2016-2019 is presented in Figure 1. The previous version of Figure 1 was published by the authors of [23]. In simplified terms, measurements of the indoor environment based on existing standards were carried out on the building first.…”

“…Where the main air pollution impact may come from is construction products, PD = f(C TVOC ) is also used for IAQ assessment. The Weber-Fechner theory was a starting point for model development based on large-scale experiments and the author of [23] proposed an equation for percentage of dissatisfaction with TVOC concentration, as shown in Equation (6):…”