Short paper: Indoor air quality assessments of diverse buildings in an energy conservation district from a life cycle assessment lens

Abstract

The historic reliance on fossil fuels as a primary energy source has made combating climate change one of the leading environmental challenges facing society today. Buildings account for 72%, 39%, 38%, and 14% of electricity consumption, energy use, carbon dioxide emissions, and water consumption, respectively [1-2]. Twelve cities have joined the Architecture 2030 District Challenge to aim to achieve 50% reductions in water use, energy consumption, and carbon emissions by the year 2030 [3]. Unique to the Pittsburgh's 2030 District is the inclusion of evaluating and improving indoor air quality (IAQ). Using life cycle assessment (LCA) based models and real-time pollutant monitoring, we aim to quantify the longitudinal impact energy conservation districts (ECD) have on ambient air quality and IAQ. Indoor parameters included within our research study include ozone, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, temperature, relative humidity, volatile organic compounds, black carbon, and particulate matter. IAQ assessments have been completed in six representative commercial buildings ranging from LEED Platinum certified to older, building stock, vintage 1900s. Preliminary results suggest significant difference in pollutant concentrations across ventilation functionality, showing a dominant effect on pollutant dilution related to newer buildings having continuous forced air, filtered and then supplied to the workspace through fans and ducts. Older buildings rely on operable windows and window air conditioners for ventilation, which provide minimum filtration and limited manual control of outdoor air intake influenced by plumes of ambient air pollution which vary temporally and spatially, attributable to industrial and traffic sources [4].