Investigation of Indoor Air Quality inside Houses From UAE

Abstract

The maintenance of a good indoor air quality (IAQ) has been revealed highly required for ensuring comfort and respectable health conditions for home’s residents. Nowadays, the main causes of the homes air quality degradation have been stated to be originated from both indoor and outdoor sources such as gases and/or particles, where their health impacts have been showed to be more hazardous under inadequate ventilation, high temperatures, and high humidity. In the light of the above, investigation of IAQ inside homes seems to be highly recommended. Accordingly, the current research has been aimed to investigate the IAQ in 12 houses located in different parts from Abu Dhabi in United Arab Emirates (UAE) through a regular monitoring of total suspended particles (TSPs), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), formaldehyde (CH2O), and volatile organic compound (VOC) concentrations and some meteorological parameters such as humidity and temperature in side door, kitchen, and bathroom of each selected house. Compared with international standards and with other measured concentrations exhibited in diverse studies around the world, recorded concentrations in different compartments of selected houses have been lower than detection limits and standard values in the case of VOCs and in the case of CO, respectively, indicating that no health risk originates from such pollutants, especially for residents without sensitive problems. On the contrary, registered CH2O and CO2 concentration levels have largely exceeded standard values alerting residents about the potential impact of cooking, fuel combustion, hot water boilers, air conditioning systems, smoking and may be using electronic cigarettes (vaping) while keeping windows and doors closed, causing a bad aeration. In the case of TSP, recorded concentrations have never exceeded 100 µg/m3 in all compartments of 40% of selected houses. However, in the case of houses “3” and “5,” recorded concentrations have been higher than those recorded in houses from Slovakia, indicating the significant impact of outdoor activities in UAE around these houses and to the non-negligible effect of dust event originating from Saharan advection.