Strategies for reducing indoor concentrations of Nitrogen Dioxide in buildings

Of 40,000 annual UK deaths associated with air pollution, 23,500 were associated with NO2 , with costs to the NHS estimated to equal £230m by 2035 . Filtration of some pollutants (e.g. particulates) has been shown to be effective and widely adopted within the building industry. However, strategies for reducing indoor NO2 concentrations are not currently well understood. Existing ventilation strategies aimed at removing indoor pollutants may in fact lead to higher penetration rates of NO2 from outdoors, whilst recent developments in sensor technologies mean there is potential for NO2 based ventilation control.
The study aims to:
- Assess impact of filtration, removal and NO2 ventilation control
- Identify changes to energy consumption of ventilation systems
- Measure further pollutants to examine co-variates and unintended consequences
Initial stages of the research should include a detailed literature review to define the subject matter and determine the extent of the gaps in knowledge on ventilation systems and indoor air quality.
At present strategies for reducing indoor NO2 concentrations are not well understood, and as increased levels of NO2 can increase or exacerbate respiratory problems, this is an area of concern for health and wellbeing of people living and working in buildings. Many building occupants are becoming more interested in this topic, and therefore building managers and system operatives are keen to understand this further.
In addition, the impacts of air pollution have been shown to exacerbate Covid-19 vulnerability and risk , and therefore as we move into recovery from lockdown, I think we should do more to mitigate the risk. This piece of research will add to the understanding of ventilation system efficiency and support mitigation strategies.
I envisage that the overall approach is more empirical in nature. Primary research will be carried out on the impact on the ventilation system, energy consumption and on indoor air quality.
For indoor air quality there are a number of different monitoring devices which could be used to determine pollutant concentrations. I propose that research is carried out into different monitors to determine their suitability. It may be that inexpensive options (such as alphasense) could be an excellent choice for measurements, as they would afford good spatial and temporal results, however this would need to be determined through research into their precision and accuracy.