Air Quality

About this subteam:

Overview

The Kendeda Building and its founders have made it their mission to provide its occupants and visitors with the highest standards of environmental health, yet little is known about the indoor and outdoor air quality. How the air quality index (AQI) surrounding and inside of the Kendeda Building compared to other spaces around campus is a vital in our research project. Particulate matter is a mixture of solid particles suspended in the air that consists of dust, smoke, and other organic and inorganic compounds. In order to understand the impact high levels of particulate matter has on people inside and outside the building, we need to have an idea of the current levels and future levels. Therefore, our research team aims to address indoor and outdoor air quality levels on Georgia Tech’s campus, specifically at the Kendeda Building and Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons.

The Living Building Standard

The Living Building Challenge for sustainable design requires that Kendeda meet requirements of seven performance areas or Petals: (1) Place, (2) Water, (3) Energy, (4) Health and Happiness, (5) Materials, (6) Equity, and (7) Beauty. The Energy, Health and Happiness, and Materials Petals address different efforts towards clean air in Kendeda's urban setting.

Energy Petal

The building is designed to reduce air infiltration and has operable windows that can be opened or closed depending on the outdoor temperature, humidity, and pollen count.

Health and Happiness Petal

The standard requires a Health Indoor Environment Plan which focuses on preventing and minimizing indoor pollutants. Some of its requirements include compliance with EPA's Safer Choice standard, materials that emit low levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), etc. It also utilizes a Dedicated Outdoor Air System (DOAS) which allows for a large amount of outdoor air to circulate through the building to occupants.

Air Quality Project

Objective

Research Question: How does indoor and outdoor air quality differ between the Kendeda Building and Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons as a result of particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5)?

Hypothesis: Indoor and outdoor air quality is more contaminated at the Kendeda Building than the Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons.

Methods

We employed two kinds of sensors to collect particulate matter counts at various locations. We used two portable Flow sensors from Plume Labs to collect PM counts around campus. This included trolley rides, in dorms, and other areas on campus. For long-term collection of indoor and outdoor PM data at the Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons (CULC) and Kendeda Building, we employed four total PurpleAir sensors. The Kendeda and CULC each have an indoor and outdoor PurpleAir sensor installed. PurpleAir sensors primarily gather PM data, while the Flow sensors have the ability to gather data on PMs, VOCs, and nitrous oxides.

For data analysis, we ran the PurpleAir data from April 5-April 17 through an Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test along with Turkey-Kramer test.​

Findings

Overall, there was a significant difference in indoor and outdoor PM 2.5 levels at Kendeda and Clough. The ANOVA and Turkey-Kramer tests showed that there was a significant difference between each location. A p-value of approximately 0 was calculated for the indoor measurements at both locations while a p-value of 2.51*10^-19 was calculated for the outdoor measurements. These p-values indicate strong statistical significance and differences in the data sets. It was also observed that PM 2.5 levels spiked around April 5- April 8 and declined significantly after April 9 where levels stayed in the single digits. This can be seen in Figures 1 and 2.​

Figure 1. This graph shows the difference in trends and levels for indoor PM2.5 between the CULC and Kendeda. It illustrates the statistical significance that was found in the stats analysis. Kendeda's indoor PM 2.5 levels are consistently higher than that of the CULC.

Figure 2. This graph illustrates that the trend in outdoor PM 2.5 levels appear to be relatively similar between the two locations. However, Kendeda's outdoor levels tend to be consistently greater despite similar trends in spikes and drops. It can also be observed towards the end of the graph where there's a significant drop in the average PM 2.5.

Team Members

Name	Major	Years Active
Nicole Romer	Environmental Engineering	2019-Present
Teisha Griffin	Biology	2019-Present
Caroline Miley	Environmental Engineering	2019-Present
Ella Stewart	Earth and Atmospheric Sciences	2019-Present