Most of us spend most of our time at the office, therefore maintaining adequate indoor air quality at the workplace is essential. In this article, I am going to share with you how carbon dioxide affects indoor air quality.
How does Carbon Dioxide affect indoor air quality?
There is a direct relationship between the amount of carbon dioxide in the environment and the air quality.
Carbon Dioxide (CO2) builds up in the atmosphere and causes Earth’s temperature to rise, much like a blanket traps heat. This extra trapped heat disrupts many of the interconnected systems in our environment.
In other words, if you want to improve indoor air quality, you need to make sure you control the amount of CO2 in the environment.
What Carbon Dioxide does to the body
Exposure to carbon dioxide can produce various health effects. These include headaches, dizziness, restlessness, difficulty breathing, sweating, and asphyxia among others.
Where does carbon dioxide come from?
Carbon dioxide is a natural component of air. The amount of carbon dioxide in a given air sample is between 250 to 400 ppm (Parts Per Million).
Indoor concentrations can go higher than that because human beings inhale Oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, if the ventilation system is not well designed it may cause an increase in the amount of carbon dioxide indoors.
How much carbon dioxide is too much?
The occupational safety standard for an industrial workplace requires a maximum level of 5000 ppm of carbon dioxide.
While the level of carbon dioxide below 5000 ppm is considered safe, some studies have shown that high levels of carbon dioxide are the direct result of drowsiness, lethargy, and reduced productivity.
What are the safe levels of Carbon dioxide in rooms?
250-400 ppm
This is a normal background concentration in outdoor ambient air.
400-1000 ppm
This is the level of concentration typical of occupied indoor spaces with good air exchange. This is the value of concentration you should be aiming for.
1000-2000 ppm
When the level of carbon dioxide reaches this level you should evacuate the building as soon as possible, at this point, most people will start to complain about drowsiness and poor air.
2000-5000 ppm
Stale and stuffy air, poor concentration, loss of attention, increased heart rate, and slight nausea may be present.
5000 ppm
This is the workplace exposure limit in most countries, the exposure limit is calculated as 8- an hours time-weighted average (TWA).
Above 40,000 ppm
At this point, the exposure may lead to serious Oxygen deprivation resulting in permanent brain damage, coma, and even death. You should make sure that it never gets to this point.
What to do?
My recommendation would be to monitor the air quality at your office, you can do this by having an air quality monitor at your office, and when you see the air quality starts to drop you can take the appropriate measures. I use Airthings 2930 Wave Plus.
Conclusion
This is how carbon dioxide affects indoor air quality, my recommendation is to maintain it below 1000 ppm, you can do this by improving how the air circulates in your office.
Also, I recommend using an indoor air quality monitor, to monitor the quality of air in your office, most of these monitors can be connected to the internet or an app so that they can warn you when the quality of air is getting worse.
Keep working hard and stay safe, thank you for reading.
