Curious about the effects of indoor air on human health and well-being?
UC Berkeley’s Center for the Built Environment will host a guest talk by Professor Benjamin Jones from the University of Nottingham on July 31 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm PT. The event will take place in Bauer Wurster Hall, Room 290, and will also be accessible via Zoom.
How Harmful Is Indoor Air?
Talk 1: Harm From Indoor Air Contaminants
This talk presents a study on a health-centered approach to quantify and compare the chronic harm caused by indoor air contaminants using the Disability-Adjusted Life-Year (DALY). Epidemiological and toxicological evidence is used to determine Harm Intensities, a new metric of chronic harm per unit of contaminant concentration. Uncertainty in concentrations of 45 indoor air contaminants in dwellings is evaluated. The most harmful contaminants are PM2.5, PM10, NO2, formaldehyde, radon, and ozone, accounting for over 99% of the total median harm of 2,200 DALYS/105 people/year. The chronic harm caused by airborne contaminants in dwellings accounts for ~7% of the total global disease burden.
Talk 2: Infection Risk Modeling
This talk outlines the risk assessment modeling approach used to inform airflow rate requirements in ASHRAE Standard 241 (2023) for controlling indoor airborne disease transmission. The standard establishes minimum equivalent clean airflow rates per person (ECAi) to reduce long-range airborne transmission risk during high infection periods across various building types. The modeling used a Wells-Riley infection risk model, considering uncertainties like viral load variability. ECAi values are designed to achieve a 0.1% hourly infection probability 96% of the time, resulting in 10-45L/s per person rates. While uncertainties exist, the approach provides a rational method for setting minimum requirements to reduce airborne infection risk. I will also cover the validation of the emission rate model using clinical data.
Speaker
Benjamin Jones is an Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham. The focus of his work is on measurement and modeling approaches to the indoor environment that can inform policies to create low-carbon and healthy building stocks. He is particularly interested in the energy-efficient ventilation of buildings and its relationship with indoor air quality and occupant health. Ben supported the pandemic responses of the UK and Chilean governments and worked on ASHRAE Standard 241 which aims to Control Infectious Aerosols in buildings.