Grantee Research Project Results
2017 Progress Report: Integrated Measurements and Modeling Using U.S. Smart Homes to Assess Climate Change Impacts on Indoor Air Quality
EPA Grant Number: R835756Title: Integrated Measurements and Modeling Using U.S. Smart Homes to Assess Climate Change Impacts on Indoor Air Quality
Investigators: Lamb, Brian , Kirk, W. Max , Pressley, Shelley N. , Walden, Von P. , Jobson, B. Thomas , Cook, Diane
Current Investigators: Lamb, Brian , Pressley, Shelley N. , Jobson, B. Thomas , Cook, Diane , Kirk, W. Max , Walden, Von P.
Institution: Washington State University
EPA Project Officer: Keating, Terry
Project Period: November 1, 2014 through October 31, 2017 (Extended to December 31, 2018)
Project Period Covered by this Report: November 1, 2016 through October 31,2017
Project Amount: $996,588
RFA: Indoor Air and Climate Change (2014) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Air Quality and Air Toxics , Climate Change , Air
Objective:
The overall goal is to improve our understanding of the complex intersection between indoor air quality and climate change. Our objectives are to address three specific science questions: 1) How do local climate conditions, including extremes in the range of weather conditions, affect indoor air quality factors including energy consumption, ventilation rates, occupant behavior, and indoor pollution levels and are there generalizations that occur across the ensemble of buildings and locations? 2) How well does the CONTAM indoor air quality model perform for the range of conditions and buildings in our Smart Home ensemble? 3) For future climate conditions what are the projected indoor air quality levels in a set of buildings representative of US housing stocks, and how sensitive are these levels to plausible changes in building properties and human behavior?
Progress Summary:
Our research program involves automated ventilation rate and indoor/outdoor air quality measurements in selected houses to yield a data base for assessment of the effects of climate variability, including extreme weather events, on occupant behavior, and corresponding indoor air quality. To date we have sampled 9 houses during winter and summer periods. This report briefly summarizes initial results from these measurements. The results include periods for two houses with extensive outdoor smoke from wildland fires. Overall, results show typical, low penetration rates for PM2.5 and ozone in the range of 5 to 20% and elevated VOC levels indoors due to a variety of indoor sources. We have identified a very strong exponential increase in indoor VOC levels (formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, methanol, and acetone) with increasing indoor air temperatures covering winter and summer test periods. We have made substantial progress in acquiring and setting up the weather and air pollution datasets needed for the current and future climate simulations using CONTAM. CONTAM is now running on our high performance computing cluster and we have the scripts in place for automated batch processing of a matrix of simulations for the current and future global change analyses. Results from this work have been presented at a number of technical meetings during the past year and two manuscripts have been published in peer-reviewed journals.
Future Activities:
The emphasis in the fourth year is on completion of the measurements in the last set of homes for summer and winter and analysis of all of the measurement results. Several papers are envisioned based on the measurement data set. We will also complete CONTAM modeling of the test houses and evaluation of the model performance. The matrix of current and future climate simulations will be conducted to assess the effects of global change on indoor air quality in the United States.
Journal Articles on this Report : 3 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
Other project views: | All 15 publications | 5 publications in selected types | All 5 journal articles |
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Cook DJ, Duncan G, Sprint G, Fritz R. Using smart city technology to make healthcare smarter. Proceedings of the IEEE. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 2018;106(4):708-722. |
R835756 (2017) |
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Kirk WM, Fuchs M, Huangfu Y, Lima N, O'Keeffe P, Lin B, Jobson T, Pressley S, Walden V, Cook D, Lamb BK. Indoor air quality and wildfire smoke impacts in the Pacific Northwest. Science and Technology for the Built Environment 2018;24(2):149-159. |
R835756 (2017) R835756 (2018) R835756 (Final) |
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Lin B, Huangfu Y, Lima N, Jobson B, Kirk M, O'Keeffe P, Pressley SN, Walden V, Lamb B, Cook DJ. Analyzing the relationship between human behavior and indoor air quality. Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks 2017;6(3):13 (18 pp.). |
R835756 (2017) R835756 (2018) R835756 (Final) |
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Supplemental Keywords:
indoor air quality, formaldehyde, ozone, PM2.5, air exchange rateProgress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.