Indoor vs outdoor air: the former can be lethal

By Varun Pahwa, executive VP, DRI

What used to be a dreadful shopping exercise earlier, has now become a pleasant experience, thanks to the retail boom in India. By saying dreadful shopping exercise, the reference is to shoppers who used to spend hours on a hot summer day, struggling with carry bags as they hopped from one shop to another. However, with the advent of malls, shopping has become an indulgence as these malls offer almost everything under one roof, in a soothing and comforting ambience.

Rising bourgeoisie class and disposable income have led to a spiraling growth of shopping malls in India during the last five years. The number of malls is expected to reach 600 by 2009-end. But in concurrence to this the high profile growth, there also exists a coverted monster – bad indoor air quality (IAQ). Unlike the popular perception that an enclosed air conditioned zone is free of all pollutants and dirt, it has been discovered that indoor air is more polluted than the outdoor air and is amongst the top five environmental risks as listed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

These malls do not offer the occupants any control over their environment, ie they cannot open windows if the store feels stuffy and unaired. The only option us turn on the exhaust fans, or leave the room, if the space is filled with dust, tobacco smoke, fine carbon dust from copying machines, etc. Also these malls have a particular need to ensure that their premises are kept clean so as to allow a soothing ambiance to shoppers. At times, these cleaning and sterilisation practices can also become potential source of indoor air pollutants. Due to all these factors, the indoor air in a conditioned space can be up to 10 times more polluted than outdoor air and may pose a health risk due to their high concentration. Therefore, IAQ assumes importance in conditioned places where we shop.

Poor IAQ has caused severe diseases amongst the people across the world. These problems are associated with symptoms that are particularly brought about by contamination of the indoor environment, by the growth bacteria, fungi, mold, viruses and mildew (collectively termed micro-organisms) spread through the circulation of air exhaled, as well as from food material, etc. These pollutants may result in health problems like irritation of eyes, blocked nose and throat, headaches, dizziness, lethargy, fatigue etc. According to World Health Organization (WHO), indoor air pollution causes 14 times more deaths than outdoor air pollution.

Considering that on an average a customer spends more than three hours in a day in a mall and each mall witnesses an average footfall of 10,000 every day excluding employees, good IAQ is imperative to make these buildings a truly pleasant.

ASHRAE (the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers) Standard 62.1, ‘Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality’ defines the minimum ventilation levels that are mandatory for different types of retail formats. Thus ventilation system must be designed, operated, and maintained to provide adequate fresh-air intake and prevent mold growth from unwanted moisture accumulation.

To improve IAQ in retail stores and enclosed shopping malls, proper ventilation to dilute contaminants, filtration of air, and elimination of contaminants at the source are the most effective methods to achieve high IAQ. The EcoFresh range of Fresh Air Treatment viz the ERVs (Energy Recovery Ventilators), TFAs (Treated Fresh Air Units) and HRWs (Heat Recovery Ventilators) provide the perfect solution to the designing engineers of such retail outlets. They allow designers to design systems with more ventilation while keeping energy costs low.

Few malls and supermarkets with DRI fresh air solutions are:
• Rashid Mall, UAE
• Beijing Zhongguancun Culture Plaza, China
• Shanghai hongyi plaza, China
• Al-Rashid Mall, UAE
• Dalian Ikea Supermarket, China
• Al-Ain Shopping Center – Al-Ain, UAE
• Sharjah Mega Mall – Sharjah
• Dubai Festival City, Dubai
• Green Community Phase 1A, Mall, Dubai
• Burj Dubai Mall Hotel, Dubai
• Deira City Centre, UAE
• Adarsh Shopping Center, Bengaluru
• Ansal Plaza, Greater Noida
• Mani Square, Kolkata EcoFresh recovers waste energy from exhaust air and uses the same to precondition the fresh air thereby saving energy and enhancing IAQ

These equipment lead to increase in profitability as operating costs fall, which directly result in the profitability of a retail operation. They also help in boosting sales as improved in-vironment creates an appealing ambience and therefore attracts and retain more customers

With growing concerns over global warming and other environmental issues, using energy recovery products enhances the public image amongst customers.

Varun Pahwa is executive vice president at DRI. Views expressed are personal. Detailed Profile