Effect of Occupant Activity on Indoor Particle Concentrations in Korean Residential Buildings

Due to the recent industrial development and COVID-19 pandemic, people are spending more time indoors. Therefore, indoor air quality is becoming more important for the health of occupants. Indoor fine particles are increased by outdoor air pollution and indoor occupant activities. In particular, smo...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hyungkeun Kim, Kyungmo Kang, Taeyeon Kim
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2020-11-01
Series:Sustainability
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/21/9201
Description
Summary:Due to the recent industrial development and COVID-19 pandemic, people are spending more time indoors. Therefore, indoor air quality is becoming more important for the health of occupants. Indoor fine particles are increased by outdoor air pollution and indoor occupant activities. In particular, smoking, cooking, cleaning, and ventilation are occupant activities that have the largest impact on indoor particle concentrations. In this study, indoor and outdoor particle concentrations were measured in ten apartment houses in South Korea for 24 h. Indoor particle concentrations were measured in the kitchen and living room to evaluate the impact of cooking, one of the most important sources of indoor particles. An occupant survey was also conducted to analyze the influence of occupant activities. It was found that the impact of outdoor particles on indoor particle concentrations in winter was not significant. The largest particle source was cooking. In particular, a large amount of particles was generated by broiling and frying. In addition, cooking-generated particles are rapidly dispersed to the living room, and this was more obvious for small particles. It is expected that this result will be statistically generalized if the particle concentration of more houses is analyzed in the future.
ISSN:2071-1050