Human Perception, Sbs Symptoms and Performance of Office Work: Exposure to Air Polluted by Building Materials and Personal Computers

The present work draws the attention of both professionals and non-professionals about the importance of Indoor Air Quality and Ventilation in Buildings by describing the impact of polluted air from floor covering materials and personal computers on human perception, Sick Building Syndrome symptoms and performance of office work. These effects have been studied in a series of short and long term experiments involving more than a hundred of people exposed to air mixed with the offgassing from these typical indoor sources that are commonly found in the majority of both home and work environments worldwide. The results of these studies emphasize the importance of source control for improving the quality of the indoor air rather than trying to eliminate the indoor contaminants from building materials by means of increased ventilation over the recommended levels. A special emphasis was given to the effects of IAQ on the CO2 emission rate of people. A hypothesis was postulated suggesting that the CO2 production rate of people may be directly related to inadequate IAQ that may alter people's breathing pattern.