A STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF POOR INDOOR AIR QUALITY (IAQ) TOWARDS

THE STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE (TASK FULFILLMENT) IN RESIDENTIAL

COLLEGE 3.

CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Indoor Air Quality

A study (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2008) indicated that the term indoor air

quality (IAQ), interpreted broadly, refers to the environmental characteristics inside buildings

that may affect human health, comfort, or work performance. IAQ characteristics include the

concentrations of (amounts of) pollutants in indoor air, as well as air temperature and

humidity. Concentrations of pollutants on indoor surfaces that may be contacted by people,

and indoor lighting and acoustic (noise) conditions are also often considered aspects of IAQ.

Sometimes, the rate of outdoor air supply to a building, for example the ventilation rate, is

treated as an IAQ condition because of the ventilation rate has a strong influence on the

concentration of many indoor air pollutants.

Moreover, IAQ can affect people's comfort, health, and work and schoolwork performance.

Aspects of comfort affected by IAQ include thermal comfort and olfactory or sensory

comfort, where the latter is often indicated by the level of acceptability of indoor air. A broad

range of health effects may result from indoor pollutant exposures. Some pollutants increase

the risk of cancers or other very serious health effects. Some indoor pollutants can infect

people and cause infectious disease such as the common cold or influenza. Allergy or asthma

symptoms may result from indoor pollutant exposures. Also, indoor pollutants may

contribute to eye, nose or throat irritation, skin irritation, cough, wheeze, headache, and
fatigue symptoms which are often called sick building syndrome (SBS) symptoms or building

related illnesses (BRI).

The report stressed that IAQ conditions depend upon the design, construction, maintenance,

and operation of a building and on the outdoor environmental conditions. People and their

activities also affect IAQ conditions. Indoor pollutant concentrations depend primarily on

outdoor concentrations, on the rates of pollutant emissions from various indoor sources, and

on the rates at which pollutants are removed from indoors by ventilation with outdoor air,

filtration, and natural processes such as pollutant deposition from air onto surfaces. Examples

of indoor pollutant sources include building materials, furnishings, equipment, cleaning and

pest control products, pets, molds, bacteria, and people and their activities such as tobacco

smoking and cooking. The main factors affecting indoor thermal comfort are indoor air

temperatures, the temperatures of exterior walls and windows, humidity, and the amount of

indoor air motion. Thermal comfort is also affected by the activity level and by clothing of

the occupants. Individual thermal comfort preferences vary. The design of the building's

envelope, the design and operation of the building's heating and air conditioning systems, and

the outdoor temperature and humidity are key determinants of thermal comfort. Indoor

lighting and acoustic conditions similarly depend on multiple features of the building and on

occupant activities.
2.2 Temperature and students’ performance

A report (Qi et al, 2009) showed that in many commercial buildings, thermal conditions are

not well-controlled due to insufficient cooling or heating capacity, high internal or external

loads, large thermal zones, improper control system design or operation, and other factors.

Thermal conditions inside buildings vary considerably with time, e.g., as outdoor conditions

change, and spatially within buildings.

William J.(2006, p.10) stated that “…the effects of temperature on comfort are broadly

recognized, the effects on worker productivity have received much less attention. For this

linkage, we assembled existing information on how temperature affects performance so that

these effects could be incorporated in cost benefit calculations related to building design and

operation”.

From the previous research, its shows that the temperature could influence the

productivity and performance indirectly through its impact on SBS symptom and also

satisfaction with air quality. The experimental and feasible study should be conducted to

prove linkage between the temperature and performance.

2.3 Lighting and students’ performance.

For the lighting that considered in affecting the students’ performance, the luminance factor

in a building could have significant effect on human comfort, although it is not as easily

sensed by the occupants as compared to thermal conditions. Referring to field survey

performed by (Chun C., 2004), visual comfort may have certain level of influence towards

general comfort of students and amount of daylight as a possible influence upon behaviour

was notified.

2.4 Ventilation and students’ performance.

According to (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2008), it is defined as ventilation is

the supply of outdoor air to a building. Ventilation rates vary considerably from building to

building and over time within individual buildings. Throughout the normal range of

ventilation rates encountered in buildings, increased ventilation rates are, on average,

associated, with fewer adverse health effects and with superior work and school performance.

There is also some limited evidence that occupants of buildings with higher ventilation rates

have lower rates of absence from work or school.

Ventilation dilutes indoor-generated air pollutants and flushes those pollutants out of

a building. Ventilation also brings outdoor air pollutants into a building, although outdoor air

typically has lower pollutant levels than indoor air and some of these outdoor pollutants may

be removed from the ventilation air using filters. The quantity of ventilation air can impact

the size of a building's HVAC equipment, and heating and cooling energy costs.