AAAR 34th Annual Conference
October 12 - October 16, 2015
Hyatt Regency
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Abstract View
Assessment of Biological and Non-biological Aerosol Concentrations in Two Green Multi-unit Residential Buildings in the Northeastern US
NIRMALA THOMAS, Leonardo Calderón, Mengyang Guo, Brian Pavilonis, Prarthana Raja, MaryAnn Sorensen-Allacci, Deborah Plotnik, Jennifer Senick, Jie Gong, Clinton J. Andrews, Gediminas Mainelis, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Abstract Number: 705 Working Group: Indoor Aerosols
Abstract Green buildings are developed with the notion of environmental conservation in terms of energy and resources. Since green buildings often have lower air exchange rate than regular buildings, it may have an impact on their indoor air quality. Here, a case study was conducted in one Energy-star certified (C) and one non-certified (N) green buildings to compare the aerosol and bioaerosol concentrations .The following Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) parameters were measured: (1) various particulate matter (PM) size fractions, (2) concentrations of airborne culturable bacteria, mold and total mold, and (3) endotoxins and allergen levels in the settled dust. In addition, the residents were administered a questionnaire about cooking, smoking, cleaning products and other potential IAQ factors. In the N building, PM$_(2.5) ranged from 2 to 123 µg/m$^3; PM$_(10) from 2 to 126 µg/m$^3; total mold from 480 to 53,000 #/m$^3; culturable bacteria from 60 to 710 #/m$^3; and endotoxins from 850 to 270,000 EU/gram . In the C building, PM$_(2.5) ranged from 6 to 666 µg/m$^3; PM$_(10) from 10 to 670 µg/m$^3; total mold from 60 to 2600 #/m$^3; culturable bacteria from 60 to 630 #/m$^3; and endotoxins from 460 to 2,300,000 EU/gram. The median PM$_(2.5), PM$_(10) and PM$_(total) were not significantly different in buildings C and N (p=0.06). The allergen concentrations were lower in C compared to the N type (p=0.04). The average value of total indoor mold concentration (#/m$^3) in building N was higher by a factor of 25 than in building C. Initial correlation of IAQ data, building operating parameters and questionnaire data indicate that building operating parameters and residents’ behavior (e.g., cooking, cleaning habits) are at least partially responsible for the IAQ difference in the two buildings.