Indoor air pollution is a serious threat to human health, causing thousands of deaths each year. A plethora of pollutants can result in indoor air pollution and therefore, it is very important to identify their main sources and concentrations and to devise strategies for the control and enhancement of indoor air quality (IAQ). Indoor environment conditions contribute greatly to human wellbeing, as most people spend around 90% of their time indoors, mainly at home or in the workplace. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), indoor air pollution (IAP) is responsible for the deaths of 3.8 million people annually.
While outdoor air quality is being controlled systematically, however, clean indoor air becomes more imperative in the era of global pandemic. The exposure to indoor air pollutants in long term can cause serious damage to health. Due to the unprecedented urbanization with many new residential projects with poor choices of material and ventilation. This social phenomenon is leading to Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) faster in many countries. WatchNET IAQ Monitoring
The reasons for indoor air pollution are very complex pollutant sources from both inside and outside, clearly affecting the health of indoor occupants. To mitigate these problems, we need to adopt the progressive decarbonisation of energy system, and the transition from traditional fuels to renewable sources for electricity generation. According to recent research, indoor air pollutants include total suspended particles (TSP), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), and carbon dioxide (CO2) from smoking and combustion gases. As a natural radioactive material, radon gas, which is present in construction materials such as soil, cement, concrete, marble, sand, mud, brick, and gypsum board, is released into the air and causes lung cancer when inhaled. WatchNET Property Monitoring
Three main factors have been linked to IAQ, including:
- PHYSICAL-ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS
As for the physical-environmental factors, BRI can be influenced by the temperature, humidity, lighting, air movement, and dust concentration.
- CHEMICAL FACTORS
The chemical factors, meanwhile, include various pollutants released from human activities and products, such as carpets, paint, new furniture, smoking, cosmetics, asbestos, drapes, and insecticides.
- BIOLOGICAL FACTORS
Major biological factors associated with IAQ are pollutants in indoor environments include biological allergens (e.g., animal dander and cat saliva, house dust, cockroaches, mites, and pollen) and microorganisms (viruses, fungi, and bacteria)
Current strategies and trends to monitor Internal Air Quality
There have been various techniques invented and introduced for real-time monitoring. Among them, however, wireless sensor network (WSN) and Internet of Things (IoT)-based systems are the most popular technologies developed for IAQ monitoring due to their rising scope in the Industry 4.0 revolution. It is obvious that the combination of long-term exposure and anthropogenic indoor activities can cause degradation of IAQ and significant risks to human health, even at low air pollutant concentrations.
Proper Emissions Check
Emissions inventories are databases of pollution sources located within a specific geographical area, along with their estimated or actual emissions. Emissions inventories may include data on specific emissions generated throughout the country, a province, or a region. The pollutants included in inventories generally include pollutants such as PM (PM2.5 and PM10), VOCs, CO and ozone. Data on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions or toxics, including heavy metals, may also be included in inventories, although they are developed with different estimation methods. Emissions inventories can provide useful information on important sources within an air shed by capturing data on both the specific pollutants released, as well as emissions into the air. Data collected in emissions inventories can be used to understand emissions trends over time, as well as highlight sources that require targeted emission reduction interventions. By highlighting important current and future sources of pollution we are able to target important sources to improve regional and local air quality. Emissions trends can highlight specific pollutants or sources that lead to deteriorated air quality and detrimental health impacts.
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IoT-based IAQ-monitoring devices
By the introduction of IoT-based wireless IAQ monitoring sensors; air quality can be easily monitored and controlled in real time. These smart devices and system can be applied for high performance monitoring of the indoor environment’s quality in smart buildings, smart homes, or even smart cities in the present and future. Smart-Air devices can be installed to collect reliable and accurate data for IAQ monitoring. The Smart- Air Quality Sensors includes three components: A pollutant detection sensor array, a microcontroller, and an LTE modem. The sensors in the Smart-Air device include a VOC sensor, a laser PM sensor, a CO2 sensor, a CO sensor, and a temperature/humidity sensor. The Smart-Air platform additionally relies on cloud computing technology and IoT technology to monitor and control IAQ anytime and anywhere. Additionally, the system allows for observation and management via a mobile app. WatchNET Air Quality Sensors
Wireless Sensor Network (WSN)-Based Systems.
In the recent years, the wireless sensor network (WSN) has gained great attention in many different monitoring situations. Generally, WSN is composed of tiny devices or nodes having an important role in collecting information by sensors from the environment as well as wirelessly communicating with other nodes in the system. In practical applications, WSN systems usually include a distributed sensor network connected to a cloud system. ZigBee-based sensor nodes transmit field measurement data to the cloud system through a gateway. The optimized cloud computing systems have often been utilized to monitor, store, process, and visualize the obtained data from the sensor network. Additionally, the obtained data is processed and analysed by artificial intelligence techniques for optimization of the air pollutant detection. It has been found that the WSN systems are usually applied for the monitoring and detection of numerous common VOCs, and a variety of environmental parameters like temperature, relative humidity, CO, CO2, and luminosity. WatchNET Smart Building Solutions
HVAC Solutions that impact sick syndrome.
The investigation of novel technologies to filter and purify indoor air pollutants has attracted great attention over the last decade. Adsorption technologies using carbon-based filter media have been known as the leading technologies for removing gas pollutants. There are numerous residential and commercial HVAC filters that have been developed and used in various buildings, i.e., household, shopping mall, school, and office building. It was reported that adsorptive HVAC filters may effectively remove several noxious pollutants, including O3, aerosols, VOCs, and PMs. WatchNET HVAC Solutions
Smart Homes for Reduced IAQ
In recent years, home automation generally and the “smart home” particularly have attracted great interest. Now, the smart home, controllable via smartphone applications and IoT-based wearable devices, is a vital element of smart cities.
The future development of smart home technology is likely to proceed in two general directions:
- The control of ventilation and appliances for a reduction of energy costs and enhancement of health, safety, and comfort
- The assistance of elderly and disabled people by utilization of robotic machines and smart sensor technologies. WatchNET Elderly Care Monitoring
However, the smart home also offers opportunities to reduce the negative impacts of IAP on human health. Certainly, as smart home technology is increasingly applied in buildings, IAQ and air hygiene will be taken more seriously. Normally, a smart building system consists of three main components
- User gateway media,
User gateway media is a combination of a smartphone application and a supervisory control and data acquisition using Wi-Fi or a wireless module
- Power supply media,
Power supply media is a novel system that optimizes energy efficiency by using renewable energy sources
- Controller and devices controller and devices provide automatic control of the fan speed, temperature, and air pollutant concentrations
In conclusion, pollutants in the indoor air environment are significant contributing causes of human diseases. There are numerous indoor air pollutants, including PM, VOCs, CO, CO2, ozone, radon, heavy metals, pesticides, biological allergens and microorganisms, all of which can lead to diminished IAQ and thereby harmful effects on human health. To reduce internal air pollution’s impacts, many strategies and approaches for the control and reduction of pollutant concentrations have been taken. It is expected that the development of advanced materials for sensors, IAQ-monitoring systems, the smart home will prove to be effective for the control and enhancement of IAQ into the future.
