Birmingham team gets measure of indoor air quality in schools

The researchers installed air pollution sensors in three classrooms at a Cardiff high school to measure particulate matter (PM), which is the most important pollutant for human health. The sensors allowed researchers to pinpoint the sources of air pollution within the classrooms and whether they came from inside or outside the room.

Sensor data showed that 93-98 per cent of PM1 pollutants originated outside the building. This contribution decreased as particle size increased, with outdoor sources accounting for 74-89 per cent of PM2.5 and 19-40 per cent of larger PM10 particles respectively.

In addition to outdoor sources, they discovered that differences in classroom PM concentration related to differences in lesson activities and frequency, whether the room was carpeted or hard floored, and the classroom’s location within the school.

Published in Indoor Air this is the first paper published by McCall MacBain Clean Air Fellows studying on the master’s degree in Air Pollution Management and Control at Birmingham University.