Modelling of Indoor Air Quality of Greek Apartments Using CONTAM(W)Software

Abstract

Indoor air quality (IAQ) is an active field of research due to the health impacts that the air pollutants impose to humans. To investigate the situation for Greece, this study modelled with CONTAM(W) the distribution of concentrations of certain air pollutants that are present in Greek dwellings. For the simulations, typical Greek dwellings were described in CONTAM(W) and certain air pollutants were added to modelling scenarios. The investigated pollutants were the carbon monoxide (CO), the nitrogen dioxide (NO2), the particulate matter (PM2.5), radon (222Rn) and formaldehyde (CH2O). To specialize for Greece, several parameters were properly adjusted in CONTAM(W) libraries and other variables were set accordingly. CONTAM(W) runs generated several concentration profiles for all the studied air pollutants. The corresponding health effects were addressed through the virtual concentration distribution inhaled by potential occupants of the modelled dwellings. The distribution profiles and the corresponding health effects were found to depend on (a) the amount of time which an exposed person would spend in a zone with a source of pollution, (b) the operation duration of the cuisine and the heater, (c) the weather parameters, (d) the indoor design of the dwelling, (e) the location of the source of pollution and the (f) size of the openings of the dwelling. The results indicated that the alteration of the baseline levels of the CONTAM(W) parameters affects the distributions and the modelled health effects.