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Quality of the Indoor Environment in Elderly Care Centers in Two Cities in Central Portugal: Viseu and Covilhã
Assessments of Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ) present a very significant challenge when analyses are undertaken mainly in buildings that include a particularly sensitive and vulnerable population, such as elderly people. In order to maintain an indoor environment that is adequate for occupants, it...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2019
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6843510/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31601042 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16203801 |
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author | Pinto, Manuel Lanzinha, João Viegas, João Infante, Catarina Freire, Tiago |
author_facet | Pinto, Manuel Lanzinha, João Viegas, João Infante, Catarina Freire, Tiago |
author_sort | Pinto, Manuel |
collection | PubMed |
description | Assessments of Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ) present a very significant challenge when analyses are undertaken mainly in buildings that include a particularly sensitive and vulnerable population, such as elderly people. In order to maintain an indoor environment that is adequate for occupants, it is necessary to comply with a set of requirements (for TVOC, the Portuguese threshold values) regarding concentrations of airborne pollutants and hygrothermal comfort conditions. This paper studies IEQ in compartments in 3 buildings in two cities in central Portugal, Viseu and Covilhã, which hold elderly care centers. The following environmental parameters were continuously recorded: air temperature, relative humidity, concentration of carbon dioxide, formaldehyde, and total volatile organic compounds and ventilation rates. An analysis of the obtained results was performed, taking recommended guidelines and threshold values into account, thus making it possible to evaluate the IEQ conditions and hygrothermal comfort in the selected indoor spaces. On the basis of the conclusions reached and the observed problems of hygrothermal comfort and indoor pollutants in the indoor spaces, a number of recommendations are proposed, specifically in terms of climate control, ventilation, and maintenance, in order to obtain an overall improvement of IEQ. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-6843510 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2019 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-68435102019-11-25 Quality of the Indoor Environment in Elderly Care Centers in Two Cities in Central Portugal: Viseu and Covilhã Pinto, Manuel Lanzinha, João Viegas, João Infante, Catarina Freire, Tiago Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Assessments of Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ) present a very significant challenge when analyses are undertaken mainly in buildings that include a particularly sensitive and vulnerable population, such as elderly people. In order to maintain an indoor environment that is adequate for occupants, it is necessary to comply with a set of requirements (for TVOC, the Portuguese threshold values) regarding concentrations of airborne pollutants and hygrothermal comfort conditions. This paper studies IEQ in compartments in 3 buildings in two cities in central Portugal, Viseu and Covilhã, which hold elderly care centers. The following environmental parameters were continuously recorded: air temperature, relative humidity, concentration of carbon dioxide, formaldehyde, and total volatile organic compounds and ventilation rates. An analysis of the obtained results was performed, taking recommended guidelines and threshold values into account, thus making it possible to evaluate the IEQ conditions and hygrothermal comfort in the selected indoor spaces. On the basis of the conclusions reached and the observed problems of hygrothermal comfort and indoor pollutants in the indoor spaces, a number of recommendations are proposed, specifically in terms of climate control, ventilation, and maintenance, in order to obtain an overall improvement of IEQ. MDPI 2019-10-09 2019-10 /pmc/articles/PMC6843510/ /pubmed/31601042 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16203801 Text en © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Pinto, Manuel Lanzinha, João Viegas, João Infante, Catarina Freire, Tiago Quality of the Indoor Environment in Elderly Care Centers in Two Cities in Central Portugal: Viseu and Covilhã |
title | Quality of the Indoor Environment in Elderly Care Centers in Two Cities in Central Portugal: Viseu and Covilhã |
title_full | Quality of the Indoor Environment in Elderly Care Centers in Two Cities in Central Portugal: Viseu and Covilhã |
title_fullStr | Quality of the Indoor Environment in Elderly Care Centers in Two Cities in Central Portugal: Viseu and Covilhã |
title_full_unstemmed | Quality of the Indoor Environment in Elderly Care Centers in Two Cities in Central Portugal: Viseu and Covilhã |
title_short | Quality of the Indoor Environment in Elderly Care Centers in Two Cities in Central Portugal: Viseu and Covilhã |
title_sort | quality of the indoor environment in elderly care centers in two cities in central portugal: viseu and covilhã |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6843510/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31601042 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16203801 |
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