The Indoor Environment of Green versus Non-Green Buildings
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK
2015
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1447070716 |
| id |
ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-ucin1447070716 |
|---|---|
| record_format |
oai_dc |
| spelling |
ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-ucin14470707162021-08-03T06:33:43Z The Indoor Environment of Green versus Non-Green Buildings Coombs, Kanistha C. Environmental Health Microbiome Illumina Green Housing Green Building Materials Next-Generation Sequencing An increasing number of homes and office buildings are using green renovation principles to become energy-efficient. Green buildings use different strategies such as building materials that have low emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). This is expected to reduce the levels of environmental contaminants as compared to those in non-green buildings. However, the tightness of green buildings could lead to lower air exchange rates and higher humidity levels indoors, if mechanical ventilation is deficient. Humidity is the key variable that governs the type and extent of fungal colonization in an indoor environment. Additionally, green building materials have a higher presence of organic and recycled matter as compared to traditional building materials, which could potentially cause changes in the diversity of indoor fungi. This could also lead to the proliferation of a higher burden of microorganisms in green building materials compared to traditional building materials. Green buildings are designed and constructed to have a minimal negative impact on the environment; however, the indoor environmental quality including the microbial diversity within these buildings has not been attested. The overarching aim of this dissertation is to provide a better understanding of the extent to which green-building features affect the indoor air quality and fungal community structure and burden when compared to non-green building features.Indoor air quality (IAQ) assessments were conducted in 28 green and 14 non-green homes, by measuring concentrations of PM2.5, black carbon, sulfur, ultrafine particles and VOCs. This study revealed that black carbon concentrations decreased and formaldehyde concentrations increased immediately after green renovation. Both of these trends appeared to be attributable to opening of windows that decreased after renovation. Overall, the results indicated that occupants’ activities appeared to affect the indoor air quality more than the renovation status. The fungal community structure, from air and house dust (collected from bed and floor), was also studied from the same housing community. This study revealed statistically significant differences between green and non-green homes only at twelve-month assessments, suggesting the need for longer follow-ups. Additionally, the fungal growth on green and non-green building materials was investigated using next generation sequencing and quantitative PCR. Both methods revealed that the fungal community structure is different between green and non-green building materials. In conclusion, this research indicates that to reduce potential indoor air quality (IAQ) problems and potentially improve health, careful selection of indoor building materials (taking into account their life cycle emissions) and modeling of the impact of reduced air exchange rates on IAQ are important for green building designs. Further, to provide a better assessment and comparison of the indoor air quality alongside the fungal diversity and richness, in green vs. non-green homes, a larger sample size and longer follow-up is recommended. 2015 English text University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1447070716 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1447070716 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws. |
| collection |
NDLTD |
| language |
English |
| sources |
NDLTD |
| topic |
Environmental Health Microbiome Illumina Green Housing Green Building Materials Next-Generation Sequencing |
| spellingShingle |
Environmental Health Microbiome Illumina Green Housing Green Building Materials Next-Generation Sequencing Coombs, Kanistha C. The Indoor Environment of Green versus Non-Green Buildings |
| author |
Coombs, Kanistha C. |
| author_facet |
Coombs, Kanistha C. |
| author_sort |
Coombs, Kanistha C. |
| title |
The Indoor Environment of Green versus Non-Green Buildings |
| title_short |
The Indoor Environment of Green versus Non-Green Buildings |
| title_full |
The Indoor Environment of Green versus Non-Green Buildings |
| title_fullStr |
The Indoor Environment of Green versus Non-Green Buildings |
| title_full_unstemmed |
The Indoor Environment of Green versus Non-Green Buildings |
| title_sort |
indoor environment of green versus non-green buildings |
| publisher |
University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK |
| publishDate |
2015 |
| url |
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1447070716 |
| work_keys_str_mv |
AT coombskanisthac theindoorenvironmentofgreenversusnongreenbuildings AT coombskanisthac indoorenvironmentofgreenversusnongreenbuildings |
| _version_ |
1719439162451427328 |