B078 Office IAQ energy

Energy assessment for the reduction of formaldehyde exposure risk in air-conditioned offices

Brief:

Formaldehyde, emitted from a wide range of building materials and furnishings, is one of the major carcinogenic volatile organic pollutants that enter the human body via inhalation. To reduce exposure to formaldehyde in an air-conditioned space, increased ventilations is one essential factor. However, treatment of fresh air in a ventilation system for air-conditioning not only affects the indoor air quality (IAQ) but also consumes a considerable amount of energy. This study investigates the thermal energy consumption for ventilation systems with relation to indoor formaldehyde exposure concentration based on some regional surveys of typical offices in Hong Kong. Taking the ‘Good’ environment being maintained in air-conditioned offices of Hong Kong (i.e. CO₂ exposure concentration of 1000 ppmv) as an example, it is estimated that a unit increment of acceptable formaldehyde exposure limit of 1 hour (loss of life expectancy = 0.0417 day) could result in annual thermal energy savings of 280 MJ m^-2 while a unit decrement would consume an additional annual thermal energy of 480 MJ m^-2. The study is a useful source of reference for researchers to evaluate the energy performance of ventilation strategies in air-conditioned offices in terms of quantified formaldehyde exposure risk.

Further Information:

Wong LT, Mui KW, 2009. Energy assessment for the reduction of formaldehyde exposure risk in air-conditioned offices, The 11^th International Conference on air distribution in rooms (ROOMVENT 2009), 24-27 May, Busan, Korea, pp. 1917-1924