Indoor environmental conditions in urban and rural homes with older people during heating season: A case in cold region, China

• Published in: Energy and buildings 2018-05, Vol.167, p.334-346
• Main Authors: Fan, Guangtao, Xie, Jingchao, Yoshino, Hiroshi, Yanagi, U., Hasegawa, Kenichi, Kagi, Naoki, Goto, Tomonobu, Zhang, Qingyuan, Wang, Chunyu, Liu, Jiaping
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acetaldehyde; Aging; Aging (natural); Aldehydes; Carbon dioxide; Cold regions; Elderly people; Environmental conditions; Environmental quality; Ethylbenzene; Fuel combustion; Fungi; Heating; Heating period; House; Houses; Indoor environmental quality; Indoor environments; Older people; Particulate matter; Relative humidity; Residential areas; Rural areas; Rural housing; Toluene; VOCs
• ISSN: 0378-7788; 1872-6178
• DOI: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2018.01.064

•Indoor environmental conditions in homes with older people aged 65+ were surveyed.•Indoor physical parameters, chemical and biological pollutants were examined.•Older people in urban house experienced a warmer and steadier thermal environment.•Indoor coal combustion in rural areas can contribute to a high PM2.5 and CO level.•The most frequent fungi was Cladosporium, followed by Penicillium and Aspergillus. China's aging population is growing rapidly. To date, there have been few literatures concerning indoor environment of private houses with older people. This study fully investigated indoor environment in 10 houses (5 urban and 5 rural houses) with older people during heating season in Beijing, China. Each house was assessed for temperature, relative humidity, CO2, PM2.5, CO, NOx, formaldehydes, acetaldehyde, VOCs, SVOCs and fungi. Results indicated older people in urban houses experienced a steadier and warmer thermal environment than those in rural houses, due to the difference of heating devices between urban and rural houses. Indoor CO2 levels mainly increased up to 1000 ppm in the bedroom during sleeping time. For rural houses, indoor fuel combustion contributed to an extremely high PM2.5 and CO level. Formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes levels in most houses were lower than the limit values. However, the integrated influence of these compounds was unnegligible. TVOC concentrations in four measured houses exceeded the reference value of 600 µg/m3. The most frequent fungi was Cladosporium spp. (90%), followed by Penicillium spp. (70%) and Aspergillus spp. (60%). The fungal levels in rural houses were higher than urban houses. These results will be beneficial to improve housing environmental quality for older people in China.