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Applied Sciences
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Indoor Air Quality in a Changing World
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Indoor Air Quality in a Changing World

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2023) | Viewed by 4180

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Dikaia E. Saraga

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Atmospheric Chemistry & Innovative Technologies Laboratory, Institute of Nuclear & Radiological Sciences & Technology, Energy & Safety, National Centre for Scientific Research “Demokritos”, 15310 Agia Paraskevi, Greece
Interests: indoor air quality; air pollution; source apportionment; particulate matter physics and chemistry; ventilation; exposure
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Indoor air quality (IAQ) is known to significantly affect human health and comfort. Over the last few decades, scientific research has focused on identifying the factors that determine indoor environment quality and examining the hallmarks of occupants’ exposure, charting the pathways through which these factors affect health and wellbeing.

However, the new environmental, public health and living conditions, along with scientific and technological achievements, have redefined the research challenges for indoor air quality.  For instance, climate change, a major environmental crisis of our times, is expected to impact the concentrations of airborne pollutants and alter the comfort conditions inside buildings in both direct and indirect ways, which may lead to serious implications for human exposure. Besides, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new major challenge has risen: the investigation of viral transmission in the indoor environment, in which modern people spend the majority of their time. On the other hand, the development of new technological solutions for monitoring, as well as a revolution in big data and Internet of Things, offer a new prospect for investigating the multifaceted field of indoor environment quality on human health and comfort.

This Special Issue (which comprises the third volume of the successful ‘Indoor Air Quality’ and ‘New Challenges for Indoor Air Quality’ Special Issues in Applied Sciences) invites manuscripts relating (but not limited) to the following challenging research questions.

  • Indoor Air Quality and viruses’ transmission: what do we need to know?
  • What will be the future of IAQ in relation to climate change and energy conservation?
  • What are the advantages and limitations of air-monitoring sensor networks for estimating IAQ?
  • IAQ, Internet of Things, and machine learning: how can we methodically explore and leverage the opportunity that lies in this triptych? Are there any existing paradigms that can be used to confront this, or does the scientific community need to build a new framework that will allow coordinated exploration of this new frontier?
  • Indoor Air Chemistry: Are the chemical transformations, aging, and formation of secondary pollutants in indoor air adequately studied? Which are the key gas and particle-phase species that determine IAQ? How important are the short-lived, highly reactive species?
  • Indoor air pollutants real-time monitoring and source apportionment: How feasible is it?
  • How can a holistic understanding of the characteristics of sources, their interactions and pathways of human exposure be achieved?

Dr. Dikaia E. Saraga
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • indoor air pollution
  • air-quality sensors
  • Internet of Things
  • smart home
  • indoor air monitoring and modeling
  • occupant exposure
  • viruses transmission

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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21 pages, 1336 KiB  
Article
Quantitative Assessment of Natural Ventilation in an Elementary School Classroom in the Context of COVID-19 and Its Impact in Airborne Transmission
by Andrés Vignolo, Ana Paula Gómez, Martín Draper and Mariana Mendina
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(18), 9261; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12189261 - 15 Sep 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1790
Abstract
The importance of Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) has been highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly due to the possibility of long-distance airborne transmission. Consequently, assessment of ventilation rates and estimation of infection risk has become a matter of the utmost importance. In this [...] Read more.
The importance of Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) has been highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly due to the possibility of long-distance airborne transmission. Consequently, assessment of ventilation rates and estimation of infection risk has become a matter of the utmost importance. In this paper, a naturally ventilated elementary school classroom is studied, where carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations were measured during five months. Ventilation rates are calculated via a fully-mixed box model and the airborne risk of infection for SARS-CoV-2 is assessed. Risk results are found to steadily decline from winter to spring. Furthermore, analytical simulations for different scenarios are conducted. It is shown that periodic ventilation significantly reduces the transmission risk, even if it occurs only during very reduced time spans. The results show that periodic ventilation is a useful strategy for reducing the risk of any airborne transmitted disease. It is particularly well-suited for naturally ventilated environments in cold weathers, as it allows for a compromise between IAQ and thermal comfort, and does not require any modification to existing buildings. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Indoor Air Quality in a Changing World)
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Review

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15 pages, 689 KiB  
Review
The Interplay between Air Quality and Energy Efficiency in Museums, a Review
by Georgios Dabanlis, Glykeria Loupa, Georgios Archimidis Tsalidis, Evangelia Kostenidou and Spyridon Rapsomanikis
Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(9), 5535; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13095535 - 29 Apr 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1648
Abstract
Energy efficiency in museums and buildings that house works of art or cultural heritage appears to be a difficult achievement if indoor air quality has to be kept at appropriate levels for artefacts’ long-term sustainability. There is a gap in our scientific literature [...] Read more.
Energy efficiency in museums and buildings that house works of art or cultural heritage appears to be a difficult achievement if indoor air quality has to be kept at appropriate levels for artefacts’ long-term sustainability. There is a gap in our scientific literature on the relationship between indoor air quality and energy efficiency, meaning that there are no numerical data that examine both of them simultaneously, although this is a theme that is broadly discussed by museum managers, curators, and scientists. It is certain that the two parameters, indoor air quality (IAQ) and energy efficiency (EEF) are conflicting and difficult to reconcile. Furthermore, IAQ is not only the determination of temperature, relative humidity, and CO2, as is usually presented. Using green or renewable energy does not make a building “energy efficient”. Hence, in the manuscript we review the literature on IAQ of museums and exhibition buildings, in conjunction with the consideration of their EEF. Hopefully, reviewing the literature for this problem may lead to carefully designed monitoring experiments. The selection, application, and testing of appropriate technological measures can lead to a new balance between the two conflicting parameters. Not only must solutions be found, but these solutions are necessary in the mitigation battle against climate change. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Indoor Air Quality in a Changing World)
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