Lack of Ventilation – Intoxication: Studying Carbon Dioxide Levels in a Student’s Apartment

Presenter: Shannon Ladner, Gina Realmuto, Ayla-Mae Vedder, Architecture

As building technology increases, buildings are being sealed tighter to reduce heating and cooling costs. With this increase in energy efficiency comes a decrease in quality. Air quality, specifically, has become a major concern as people spend more time indoors. In a student’s small apartment near the University of Oregon, ventilation has become a pressing problem. Our team set out to test the build-up of the highly known chemical compound carbon dioxide in a four-hundred square foot apartment. The American Society
of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers has set the ventilation standard at a maximum of one-thousand parts per million of carbon dioxide. After testing the apartment with carbon dioxide meters, we found the average amount of carbon dioxide to be one thousand six-hundred and fifty parts per million. Determined to find a solution to this ventilation problem, we decided to test the effectiveness of a common remedy: opening a window. Our hypothesis was that an open window would bring in enough fresh air to reduce the apartment’s carbon dioxide level to one thousand parts per million within four hours. The results were a success and in fact only took an average of forty-five minutes. However, it being winter, this method of ventilation sacrificed the residents’ thermal comfort. This research jump-started our interest in finding more convenient and passive ways to ventilate spaces as an alternative to mechanical ventilation systems.