Friday 29 Mar 2024
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This article first appeared in City & Country, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on July 11, 2022 - July 17, 2022

You may be aware that Covid-19 spreads via airborne particles and droplets, and that the virus can remain suspended in the air for minutes to hours. However, did you know that a healthy adult consumes 18kg of air a day on average, while a child consumes and requires twice that amount? Did you also know that we spend up to 90% of our time, or 22 hours a day indoors and that indoor air contains two to five times more pollutants and germs than the fresh air outdoors?

With growing evidence on the importance of indoor air quality (IAQ), it has morphed from a “good to have” to a “must have” to ensure the safety, health and wellness of building occupants, visitors and staff.

“Our sense of smell is not a sufficient barometer to assess the quality of the air we are breathing in as there are countless microparticle pollutants in the built environment. Thus, diluting, filtering and removing viruses, bacteria and other pollutants is a primary concern when designing or setting up the indoor environment to ensure good ventilation, which has a direct correlation with better indoor air quality,” GreenRE Sdn Bhd chief operating officer Ashwin Thurairajah tells City & Country.

He adds that some of the short-term effects of poor IAQ include irritation of the eyes, nose and throat, headaches, dizziness, fatigue, allergies and asthma. Long-term health effects that may show up after years of exposure to poor IAQ include respiratory diseases, heart disease, lung cancer, carbon monoxide poisoning and legionnaires’ disease. Generally, it can lead to discomfort, ill health, absenteeism and lower productivity.

Panasonic Malaysia senior manager for strategic B2B development Adrian Heong cites a 2021 World Health Organization report that points to air pollution as a silent killer and a major cause of death globally.

“It is estimated that 4.2 million deaths per year are attributed to ambient air pollution, [leading] to stroke, lung disease, lung cancer and acute and chronic respiratory illnesses. Many people are very careful about what they eat or drink but attention to air quality is somewhat neglected, probably due to the fact that it is not visible,” he says.

Ashwin: Diluting, filtering and removing viruses, bacteria and other pollutants is a primary concern when designing or setting up the indoor environment to ensure good ventilation (Photo by GreenRE)

The question is, how do we measure and ensure the quality of air?

Malaysia has adopted the PM2.5 parameter to measure air quality. PM2.5 refers to atmospheric particulate matter (PM) that has a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometres, which is about 3% of the diameter of a strand of human hair and can only be seen with a microscope.

Under this parameter, PM2.5 at or below 12 g/m3 is considered healthy with little to no risk from exposure. If the level increases to or above 35 g/m3 during a 24-hour period, the air is considered unhealthy.

“Generally, the parameters to measure clean and safe indoor air are low levels of PM2.5, zero hazardous substances and free of bacteria, virus, moulds, allergens and pollens, with low levels of CO,” Heong explains.

Air conditioners do not produce fresh air

Despite an increasing awareness of air quality in the past two years, Architect Centre director, architect, building inspector and trainer Anthony Lee Tee says there are still many misconceptions about IAQ.

For example, it is incorrect to assume that a split air-conditioning unit provides “good” IAQ, says Lee. “This is perhaps the biggest myth or fallacy that exists today, even among property developers, designers and building owners.

Heong: Many people are very careful about what they eat or drink but attention to air quality is somewhat neglected, probably due to the fact that it is not visible (Photo by Panasonic Malaysia)

“It is not uncommon to find a gymnasium, office, restaurant or home fitted with split air-con units without any window openings. Or if they have windows, they are hardly ever used. Many wrongly assume ‘cool air’ is healthy air when in fact, occupants have become acclimated to their own space and desensitised to the existence of pollutants, odours and germs.”

He adds that without any openings, there is no opportunity for the indoor air to be replaced with fresh outdoor air. Over time, the oxygen level will decrease while the level of CO and other contaminants, pollutants and germs will increase, thus reducing IAQ.

“However, I must say that awareness of personal hygiene and ventilation has increased significantly due to the pandemic. With all the precautionary steps that we have taken to stop the spread of Covid-19 in the past two years, such as wearing a mask, opening windows to allow natural ventilation, maintaining social distancing and staying at home when feeling sick, we do not fall sick as often now because we have lowered the chances of all virus transmissions, not only Covid-19.

“But people are getting lazy, especially since we are now transitioning to the endemic phase. We tend to ignore the importance of IAQ even though people are going back to the office and students have gone back to school. I think the government and property builders play a very important role in promoting the importance of IAQ.”

The government can begin by walking the talk — that is, starting with its own buildings and setting an example for the property industry, he continues. “It is a known fact that many government buildings frequently fail to meet even the basic IAQ and ventilation regulations that affect the safety, health and wellness of occupants, visitors and staff.”

Lee highlights that it is also important to ensure the quality of outdoor air. “We all know that natural ventilation is important, but what if the outdoor air quality is worse than that indoors and is highly polluted?”

Lee: We tend to ignore the importance of IAQ even though people are going back to the office and students have gone back to school (Photo by Low Yen Yeing /The Edge)

Advice and tips

On tips to improve IAQ besides natural ventilation, Lee suggests using an air purifier and wearing a mask or avoiding sharing a confined space when feeling unwell.

Panasonic’s Heong concurs, suggesting the use of a standalone air purifier that comes with nanoe X technology as well as Hepa and carbon filters to help purify indoor air.

Developed by Panasonic, a nanoe X device generates nano-sized atomised water particles. It has electrostatic atomisation technology that collects invisible moisture in the air and applies high voltage to produce hydroxyl radicals contained in water. The technology has been scientifically proven to have inhibitory effects against four novel coronavirus variants (SARS-CoV-1), namely Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta. It also improves indoor air quality.

“IAQ is the optimum air quality for the human body indoors. We cannot control the quality of outside air but we can regulate the air quality indoors,” says Heong.

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