Fine particulate matter exposure and health impacts from indoor activities

Rachna Bhoonah (1) , Alice Maury-Micolier (2) , Olivier Jolliet (3) , Peter Fantke (3)

1 CES - Centre Efficacité Énergétique des Systèmes
2 Octopus Lab
3 DTU - Danmarks Tekniske Universitet = Technical University of Denmark

Exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is an important contributor to global human disease burden, particularly indoors where people spend the majority of their time and exposure is highest. We propose a framework linking indoor PM2.5 emissions from human activities to exposure and health impacts, expressed in Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALY). Derived dynamic indoor PM2.5 concentrations-capturing temporal variations through different window opening scenarios and air renewal rates-are used to estimate uncertainty for a parametric model (up to a factor 114). Intake fractions (fraction of emitted substance taken in, µgintake/µgemitted), effect factors (µDALY/µgintake), related impact characterisation factors (health impact per unit mass emitted, µDALY/µgemitted) and impact scores (health impact per hour activity, µDALY/hactivity) are provided for 19 one-hour indoor activities, and can be flexibly scaled to real activity durations. Indoor concentrations exceeded recommended World Health Organization (WHO) limits for all activities at low ventilation rates. Per person, 98 to 119 µDALY/hactivity (52 to 63 minuteslost/hactivity) were associated with traditional fuel cook stoves, with high air renewal rates (3 and 14 h-1). The burning of candles, at low air renewal rates of 0.2 to 0.6 h-1 , results in 7 to 11 µDALY/hactivity (4 to 11 minuteslost/hactivity). Derived impact scores and characterisation factors serve as a starting point for integrating indoor PM2.5 emissions and exposure into life cycle impact and public health assessments.

Mots clés: indoor air quality life cycle assessment air pollution PM2.5 cook stove; indoor air quality; life cycle assessment; air pollution; PM2.5; cook stove

Domaines: Ingénierie de l'environnement

Rachna Bhoonah, Alice Maury-Micolier, Olivier Jolliet, Peter Fantke. Fine particulate matter exposure and health impacts from indoor activities. Indoor Air, 2023, ⟨10.1155/2023/8857446⟩. ⟨hal-04266664⟩