Association of carbon dioxyde with indoor air pollutants and exceedance of health guideline values

This paper focuses on the correlations between concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) and pollutants in two large-scale measurement campaigns, namely formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acrolein, benzene and particulate matter. In both campaigns, the relation between CO2 and pollutant weekly average concentrations was studied. With high concentration of CO2 in dwellings and schools, the probability to exceed the pollutant health guideline values for long term exposure increased. However, dealing with CO2 is not enough to prevent exceedances to occur. CO2 as a tracer of some pollution sources cannot be considered as a unique indoor air quality indicator. CO2 is also often considered as a surrogate of ventilation rate. Hence, this study confirms that even with good ventilation conditions (i.e. low CO2 level), the reduction of pollutant sources remains necessary to achieve a satisfactory indoor air quality.