下午5:36
Green office environments linked with higher cognitive function scores
下午5:36A recent study conducted at Harvard University shows that buildings with better air quality significantly improves people’s productiv...
A recent study conducted at Harvard University shows that buildings with better air quality significantly improves people’s productivity.
Green office environments linked with higher cognitive function scores
For immediate release: October
26, 2015
Boston, MA – People who work in well-ventilated offices with
below-average levels of indoor pollutants and carbon dioxide (CO2) have significantly higher cognitive functioning
scores—in crucial areas such as responding to a crisis or developing
strategy—than those who work in offices with typical levels, according to a new
study from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Center for Health and the Global Environment, SUNY Upstate Medical University,
and Syracuse University.
The researchers looked at
people’s experiences in “green” vs. “non-green” buildings in a double-blind
study, in which both the participants and the analysts were blinded to test
conditions to avoid biased results. The findings suggest that the indoor
environments in which many people work daily could be adversely affecting
cognitive function—and that, conversely, improved air quality could greatly
increase the cognitive function performance of workers.
The study was published October 26, 2015 in Environmental Health Perspectives.
“We have been ignoring the 90%.
We spend 90% of our time indoors and 90% of the cost of a building are the
occupants, yet indoor environmental quality and its impact on health and
productivity are often an afterthought,” said Joseph Allen, assistant professor
of exposure assessment science, director of the Healthy Buildings Program at
the Harvard Center for Health and the Global Environment, and lead author of
the study. “These results suggest that even modest improvements to indoor
environmental quality may have a profound impact on the decision-making
performance of workers.”
Researchers wanted to look at
the impact of ventilation, chemicals, and carbon dioxide on workers’ cognitive
function because, as buildings have become more energy efficient, they have
also become more airtight, increasing the potential for poor indoor
environmental quality. Building-related illnesses and “sick building syndrome”
were first reported in the 1980s as ventilation rates decreased. In response,
there has been an emphasis on sustainable design—“green” buildings that are
energy efficient and are also designed to enhance indoor environmental quality.
The researchers designed this study to identify the specific attributes of
green building design that influence cognitive function, an objective measure
of productivity.
In the new study, researchers
utilized a double-blinded, repeated measures design to look at the
decision-making performance of 24 participants—including architects, designers,
programmers, engineers, creative marketing professionals, and managers—while
they worked in a controlled office environment at the Total Indoor
Environmental Quality (TIEQ) Laboratory at the Syracuse Center of Excellence in
Environmental and Energy Systems.
For six days in November 2014, while
the participants performed their normal work, the researchers exposed them to
various simulated building conditions: conventional conditions with relatively
high concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as those emitted
from common materials in offices; green conditions with low VOC concentrations;
green conditions with enhanced ventilation (dubbed “green+”); and conditions
with artificially elevated levels of CO2, independent of ventilation. At the end of each day, they conducted cognitive
testing on the participants.
They found that cognitive
performance scores for the participants who worked in the green+ environments
were, on average, double those of participants who worked in conventional
environments; scores for those working in green environments were 61% higher.
Measuring nine cognitive function domains, researchers found that the largest
improvements occurred in the areas of:
- crisis response (97% higher scores in green
conditions and 131% higher in green+)
- strategy (183% and 288% higher)
- information usage (172% and 299% higher)
In addition, when researchers
looked at the effect of CO2—not normally thought of as a
direct indoor pollutant—they found that, for seven of the nine cognitive
functions tested, average scores decreased as CO2 levels increased to levels commonly observed in many indoor
environments.
Other Harvard Chan School authors
of the study included John D. Spengler,
Akira Yamaguchi Professor of Health and Human Habitation, doctoral student
Piers MacNaughton, SM ’14, and project engineer Jose Vallarino. Suresh Santanam,
associate professor at Syracuse University and associate director of the
Syracuse University Center of Excellence, also was an author.
Funding for the study came from
United Technologies Corp. and from NIEHS environmental epidemiology training
grant 5T32ES007069-35 to MacNaughton.
“Associations of Cognitive
Function Scores with Carbon Dioxide, Ventilation, and Volatile Organic Compound
Exposures in Office Workers: A Controlled Exposure Study of Green and
Conventional Office Environments,” Joseph G. Allen, Piers MacNaughton, Usha
Satish, Suresh Santanam, Jose Vallarino, John D. Spengler, Environmental Health Perspectives, October 26, 2015,
doi: 10.1289/ehp.1510037
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下午6:25
下午6:25
"Children living in areas with high level of air pollution have an increased risk of disease such as asthma and bronchitis, and the...
"Children living in areas with high level of air pollution have an increased risk of disease such as asthma and bronchitis, and the prospect of a permanent reduction in lung capacity"
Air pollution stunting children's lungs, study finds
A six-year study finds children living in highly polluted parts of cities have up to 10 per cent less lung capacity than normal, with warnings the damage could be permanent
By Laura Donnelly, Health Editor
11:00AM GMT 25 Oct 2015
High levels of air pollution are stunting the growth of children’s lungs, a major study has found.
Eight and nine-year-olds living in cities with high levels of fumes from diesel cars have up to 10 per cent les lung capacity than normal, the research suggests.
Over six years, researchers examined the lung function of 2,400 children at 25 schools across east London, and found a direct correlation between air pollutant exposure and reduced lung growth.
Such children have an increased risk of disease such as asthma and bronchitis and, and the prospect of a permanent reduction in lung capacity.
The tests checked the volume of air each child could breathe, as well as levels of inflammation in their lungs, with urine tests to check for heavy metals, which are produced by vehicles.
Overall, those living in areas with high levels of particulates and nitrogen dioxide had up to 10 per cent reduced lung capacity the study led by Prof Chris Griffiths, principal investigator at the Medical Research Council and Asthma UK Centre in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma.
“The data shows that traffic pollution stops children’s lungs growing properly,” Ian Mudway, a respiratory toxicologist at King’s College London told the Sunday Times.
“The evidence suggests that by 8-9 years old, children from the most polluted areas have 5 to 10 per cent less lung capacity and they may never get that back.”
The study was designed to assess the impact of London’s Low Emission Zone (LEZ) which since 2008 has discouraged larger diesel vehicles such as lorries from entering the capital.
The research found the measure had made no difference.
“It is very disappointing that the LEZ, which was specifically designed as a major public health intervention, has so far brought about no change,” said Prof Griffiths.
“This raises questions over the government’s current consultation on air quality, which is based around the idea of creating similar low emission zones in up to 30 other polluted urban areas. There appears to be no evidence that these low emission zones can reduce pollution or improve health.”
Other studies have shown diesel pollutants causing lung inflammation, researchers said, with tests showing black carbon from diesel exhaust emissions inside children’s lung cells.
Earlier this year research suggested that air pollution could increase the risk of brain damage and small strokes which are linked to dementia.
Environmental groups say diesel cars could be phased out as part of Government efforts to address pollution.
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#airpollutio #asthma #bronchitis #thetelegraph #uk #particulatematter
晚上7:56
Plastic track removed at local kindergarten after students developed allergic symptoms
晚上7:56Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) appear in everywhere near us. Children are especially vulnerable and easily affected by the VOCs. ...
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) appear in everywhere near us. Children are especially vulnerable and easily affected by the VOCs.
Plastic track removed at local kindergarten after students developed allergic symptoms
By Yang Meiping | October 21, 2015, Wednesday | ONLINE EDITION
THE newly laid plastic track in a kindergarten in Songjiang District was removed last night after parents complained that it had pungent odor and might have caused nosebleed, skin rash and cough among kids.
The city education commission also said last night that it has launched a citywide inspection in all new plastic tracks laid this year and other facilities related to students' health in all schools after two local kindergartens were reported for similar health problems.
Infrastructure management center of the Songjiang education bureau asked Shanghai Longgu decoration company, who laid the track in the New Ideal campus of the involved Huating No.2 Kindergarten during the summer vacation, to explain the construction process and rectify the track on Monday, while the company proposed to eradicate the plastic track.
The district education bureau said it approved its rectification plan in concern of students' health though tests by local environment protection department confirmed air on the site as safe.
Parents of students at the Pujiang Town No. 1 Kindergarten's Jade Campus also said their children had similar symptoms with those in Songjiang and suspected the newly paved plastic track as the culprit.
Students have been shifted to another campus and tests on samples of the track is underway.
The city's education commission has also launched tests with construction management, health and environmental protection departments on plastic tracks in the two kindergartens and will release their findings to the public.
Problems must be rectified and illegal deeds would be treated seriously if any were found, said the commission in a statement.
http://goo.gl/EbmmiS
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凌晨2:59
Indonesia indicates it will accept Singapore’s offer to help fight haze
凌晨2:59As the ongoing haze in Indonesia is getting worse, it will affect more and more people in neaby countries, such as Singapore and Malays...
As the ongoing haze in Indonesia is getting worse, it will affect more and more people in neaby countries, such as Singapore and Malaysia.
Indonesia indicates it will accept Singapore’s offer to help fight haze
PUBLISHED: 9:45 PM, OCTOBER 7, 2015 www.todayonline.com
Jakarta had declined Singapore’s assistance package several times since the smog descended last month, saying it has the resources to manage.
But Dr Balakrishnan wrote last night that his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi has now indicated Jakarta will take up the offer following a “good discussion” the pair had this evening. “Good for our countries to work together to resolve this as soon as possible,” he added.
Singapore’s assistance package includes assets and personnel, such as a C-130 aircraft for cloud-seeding operations, a Chinook helicopter with a water bucket for aerial fire-fighting, and up to two C-130 aircraft to ferry the Singapore Civil Defence Force fire-fighting assistance team. In addition, Singapore also offered to provide high-resolution satellite pictures and hotspot coordinates.
Earlier in the day, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said in a statement that the Indonesian government had yet to turn over the names of errant companies suspected of playing a part in causing the haze that has plagued Singapore since last month.
A formal request for the names of these companies was sent to the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Singapore, the ministry added.
“This was in response to the request by the Indonesian Environment and Forestry Minister, Ms Siti Nurbaya Bakar, who had previously said that if Singapore wanted the names of these companies to be officially sent to it, then this had to be done through the Government-to-Government channel,” an MFA spokesperson said.
“We look forward to an early response from the Government of the Republic of Indonesia on our requests so that we can take the necessary action against those who are responsible for the haze.” In its note to the Indonesia embassy, Singapore also reiterated its haze assistance.
Air quality and visibility improved significantly today, thanks to rain in the early morning. As at 7pm, the 24-hour Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) reading was 86 to 108, the three-hour PSI was 70 and the one-hour PM2.5 concentration was 22 to 41 microgrammes per cubic metre.
The NEA said prevailing winds are forecast to be weak and to blow from the east or southeast tomorrow, and the 24-hour PSI is expected to improve to the moderate range.
Eight hotspots were detected in Sumatra today, and the NEA attributed the low hotspot count to partial satellite pass, when the orbiting satellite’s field of view covers just part of a region of interest. The agency added that widespread haze continues to persist in parts of Sumatra, and some haze spreading westward from Kalimantan was observed over the sea at the far south of Singapore.
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清晨6:17
EPA Sets Stricter Standard for Ozone
清晨6:17"The Environmental Protection Agency set a limit of 70 parts per billion for ground-level ozone." Need to know- Sources of NO...
"The Environmental Protection Agency set a limit of 70 parts per billion for ground-level ozone."
Need to know-Sources of NOx and VOCs can be easily found in your house. For instance, gasoline vapors and chemical solvents.
EPA Sets Stricter Standard for Ozone
New limit on pollutant linked to smog draws criticism from industry groups, environmentalists
By AMY HARDER Updated Oct. 1, 2015 3:47 p.m. ET Wall Street Journal
WASHINGTON—Environmental regulators significantly lowered a national limit for a smog-causing pollutant Thursday, in an attempted compromise that left some businesses relieved and environmental and health leaders upset the initiative wasn’t stronger.
The Environmental Protection Agency set a limit of 70 parts per billion for ground-level ozone, which is created by emissions released into the air by manufacturing plants, utilities and vehicles, down from the current level of 75 parts per billion. In a draft released in 2014, the agency proposed a standard between 65 and 70 parts per billion.
“I am relieved they didn’t go as far as they could have,” said Steve Staub, owner of Staub Manufacturing, a small company in Dayton, Ohio, that makes industrial products from raw metal. Mr. Staub, who founded his company 18 years ago and has 26 employees today, said a standard of 65 parts per billion would have been “unattainable for anyone in the manufacturing industry.”
Still, the move prompted criticism from business executives who didn’t want the EPA to change the limit at all, and from environmental and health groups that said it wasn’t tough enough.
Ozone is created by emissions such as nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds. The ozone standard, mandated under the Clean Air Act, isn’t a direct regulation of business. But states must comply by curbing emissions from utilities, factories, refineries and other businesses and municipalities, often by requiring new pollution-control gear.“The level chosen…simply does not reflect what the science shows is necessary to truly protect public health,” said Harold Wimmer, chief executive of the American Lung Association, one of the groups that sued the EPA to issue the standard by Oct. 1. But he added that the new limit “offers significantly greater protection than the previous, outdated standard.”
Exposure to ground-level ozone can exacerbate respiratory problems, including asthma, and is particularly harmful to children and older people, health experts say.
The lower ozone limit is the latest action by the administration near the end of President Barack Obama’s time in the White House to address environmental and energy issues. Earlier this week, the EPA announced final rules setting first-ever national limits on toxic discharge from power plants and updated regulations on air emissions, including benzene, from oil refineries.
At the top of this agenda are climate regulations, which the EPA unveiled in August at a White House event with the president. Those rules aim to cut carbon emissions from power plants.
The ozone standard, though less high profile than Mr. Obama’s climate rules, is nonetheless controversial.
The EPA said the ozone limit will have a compliance cost of $1.4 billion a year by 2025, not including California, which has more time to comply due to its decadeslong air-pollution issues.
The agency said the standard would have annual public-health benefits valued between $2.9 billion and $5.9 billion. States have a range of time to comply, with many requested to do so by 2025.
Current law prohibits the EPA from considering costs of its actions, instead requiring the agency to look strictly at the latest science. Mr. Obama told business leaders last month he would ensure the public-health benefits outweighed the cost.
“We don’t issue a regulation where the costs are not lower than the benefits,” Mr. Obama said at a Sept. 16 meeting with the trade group Business Roundtable.
Mr. Obama, citing economic concerns, in 2011 rejected an earlier EPA proposal that would have set the ozone standard lower than the EPA did Thursday, at the time estimating compliance costs between $19 billion and $90 billion a year.
The EPA said an array of earlier air-pollution standards on factories, power plants and cars will help states meet the new ozone level. For instance, the 2007 air-emissions standard—in the news in regard to emission-rigging in Volkswagen’s diesel cars—was implemented in large part to help states meet a tougher ozone limit.
The EPA is issuing the final ozone standard by an Oct. 1 court deadline, compelled by a lawsuit brought by environmental and public-health groups, and after nearly a year of taking public comment on the issue.
Environmental and public-health groups have lobbied for a lower limit of 60 parts per billion.
Industry groups, including the National Association of Manufacturers and U.S. Chamber of Commerce, urged the administration not to change the limit set in the George W. Bushadministration.
“A more stringent regulation will negatively impact economic development over a much larger portion of the country, without delivering meaningful additional health benefits,” said Nick Akins,CEO of American Electric Power, one of the country’s largest utilities.
The EPA defended the move. “This strengthened standard will improve public health protection across the country and provide the adequate margin of safety that is required by law and that the science supports,” EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said.
Some areas of the country still aren’t complying with the 2008 standard, which business groups point to as a reason the EPA should hold off on a tougher limit. More than 90% of counties with ozone monitors are meeting a 75-parts-per-billion limit, according to an EPA spokeswoman.
The spokeswoman said the agency’s approximately 1,300 ozone monitors are placed in regions with large populations and economic development where smog forms the most.
Excluding California, the EPA said 14 counties out of the more than 3,000 in the U.S.—or less than 0.5%—won’t meet the new standard by 2025.
If a state isn’t meeting the standard it could face penalties, including loss of transportation funding, a point the Chamber of Commerce and other trade groups have argued could hurt the economy.
EPA officials say states don’t face that threat so long as they show they are trying to meet the limit. In the past 35 years, the agency has restricted the use of highway funds 11 times, according to EPA.
Write to Amy Harder at amy.harder@wsj.com
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#epa #wsj #airquality #ozone #voc
晚上8:08
晚上8:08
"People with long-term health conditions and three groups who spend a lot of time indoors – young mothers, children and older pe...
"People with long-term health conditions and three groups who spend a lot of time indoors – young mothers, children and older people – will be particularly at risk, the report says."
An 80% rise in the 5.4 million people already suffering from asthma, do you want to risk your children to these indoor pollutants?
Asthma could be worsened by energy-efficient homes, warns study
Published by The Guardian - Denis CampbellSeptember 22, 2015
The report predicts there may be an 80% rise in the number of people suffering from asthma by 2050.
Lack of ventilation caused by better insulation could create spike in indoor pollutants, research warns.
The number of Britons with asthma could almost double by 2050 because the air inside homes is becoming more polluted as they become more energy-efficient, a new report warns.
The trend towards airtight houses could also worsen allergies as well as breathing problems, and even exacerbate lung cancer and heart problems, according to a leading expert in indoor air quality.
Airborne pollutants created by cooking, cleaning and using aerosols such as hairsprays will increasingly stay indoors and affect people’s health as homes are made ever more leak-proof to help meet carbon reduction targets, a report by Professor Hazim Awbi claims. Small amounts of chemicals found in detergents can stay on the fibres of washed clothes, be emitted into the air and combine with particulate matter from logs burned in a real fire, for example.
“Poor indoor air quality is connected with a range of undesirable health effects, such as allergic and asthma symptoms, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, airborne respiratory infections and cardiovascular disease,” says the report written by Awbi, who is professor of the built environment at Reading University’s school of construction management and engineering. “With the expected increase in airtightness for UK dwellings, it is anticipated that indoor air quality will generally become poorer, resulting in an increase in the number of cases of health symptoms related to poorer indoor environment quality.”
People with long-term health conditions and three groups who spend a lot of time indoors – young mothers, children and older people – will be particularly at risk, the report says.
It predicts that by 2050 – the date by which Britain is supposed to have achieved an 80% cut in carbon emissions – declining indoor air quality could have led to:
■ An 80% rise in the 5.4 million people already suffering from asthma.
■ Concentrations of volatile organic compounds – chemicals linked to the use of aerosols – being 60% above World Health Organisation 24-hour limits.
■ Nitrogen dioxide levels rising to 30% above the WHO’s limits.
The report’s findings reflect growing concern that indoor pollutants, not just fumes and other chemicals in the outdoor environment, can damage health. The WHO has already identified indoor air quality as a health hazard. And Public Health England, an agency funded by the Department of Health, is finalising a report on “climate change and the domestic indoor environment”, which it will publish before Christmas.
Lack of proper ventilation in both newly built homes and those that have been refurbished to reduce their consumption of gas or electricity is storing up future health problems, Awbi said.
“Many people spend 70-80% of their time at home, or even as much as 90% indoors if you include workplaces. Given that the average person takes in 500 litres of air an hour, if the air you are breathing in is polluted, you can imagine how much of this pollution is going to be absorbed,” he added.
He fears that increasingly airtight houses in which too little fresh air gets in are causing indoor air quality to deteriorate and preventing pollutants from being dispersed quickly. Humidity caused by poor ventilation also helps the proliferation of mould and house dust mites, which can cause asthma and other allergic conditions, according to Professor Peter Howarth, a professor of allergy and respiratory diseases at Southampton University.
Formaldehyde, a toxic gas emitted by wooden furniture, can also be problematic, added Howarth, who said he believed Awbi’s estimates were a realistic assessment of the harm to human health if building regulations are not overhauled to improve ventilation and ensure “air exchange”.
Simply opening windows to let in fresh air is not enough, and some form of mechanical ventilation is needed, according to Awbi.
“Poor indoor air quality can have a negative effect on people’s health, including aggravating asthma,” said Dr Sotiris Vardoulakis, Public Health England’s’s head of environmental change. “While energy-efficient houses will help address climate change, it is important to ensure that adequate ventilation levels are maintained and indoor air pollution sources minimised to protect public health.”
Awbi’s report was funded by Beama, a body which represents the UK’s electro-technical industry, which includes firms that install ventilation systems.
Andrew Proctor, director of advice and support at Asthma UK, said: “We know that indoor exposure to allergens can be a real problem for some people with asthma, but it is difficult to avoid them.” The one in 11 Britons with asthma should always seek help promptly when they have symptoms suggesting an attack, he said.
The Department for Energy and Climate Change said simply that government was committed to ensuring energy efficiency improvements in homes met the highest standards of installation.
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#pollutant #air #asthma #heartattack #London #pm10 #IAQ #indoorair
