Elsevier

Science of The Total Environment

Volume 409, Issue 24, 15 November 2011, Pages 5243-5252
Science of The Total Environment

Analysis of indoor PM2.5 exposure in Asian countries using time use survey

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2011.08.041Get rights and content

Abstract

Most household fuels used in Asian countries are solid fuels such as coal and biomass (firewood, crop residue and animal dung). The particulate matter (PM), CO, NOx and SOx produced through the combustion of these fuels inside the residence for cooking and heating has an adverse impact on people's health. PM 2.5 in particular, consisting of particles with an aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 μm or less, penetrates deep into the lungs and causes respiratory system and circulatory system diseases and so on. As a result, the World Health Organization (WHO) established guideline values for this type of particulate matter in 2005. In this study, the authors focused on PM 2.5 and estimated indoor exposure concentrations for PM 2.5 in 15 Asian countries. For each environment used for cooking, eating, heating and illumination in which people are present temporarily (microenvironment), exposure concentrations were estimated for individual cohorts categorized according to sex, age and occupation status. To establish the residence time in each microenvironment for each of the cohorts, data from time use surveys conducted in individual countries were used. China had the highest estimate for average exposure concentration in microenvironment used for cooking at 427.5 μg/m3 , followed by Nepal, Laos and India at 285.2 μg/m3, 266.3 μg/m3 and 205.7 μg/m3 , respectively. The study found that, in each country, the PM2.5 exposure concentration was highest for children and unemployed women between the ages of 35 and 64. The study also found that the exposure concentration for individual cohorts in each country was greatly affected by people's use of time indoors. Because differences in individual daily life activities were reflected in the use of time and linked to an assessment of exposure to indoor air-polluting substances, the study enabled detailed assessment of the impact of exposure.

Highlights

► We analyzed Indoor PM 2.5 exposure for individual cohorts in 15 Asian countries. ► Time use surveys conducted in individual countries were used for our study. ► China has the highest estimate for average exposure concentration. ► Children and unemployed women between the ages of 35 and 64 are most highly exposed. ► Exposure concentration is greatly affected by people's use of time indoors.

Introduction

In developing countries in Asia and other parts of the world, most energy sources used in the home are solid fuels such as coal and biomass (firewood, crop residue and animal dung). The particulate matter (PM), CO, NOx and SOx produced through the combustion of these fuels inside the residence for cooking and heating has an adverse impact on people's health. The exposure to these pollutants affects mainly women while cooking, and infants and young children who are usually with their mothers near the cooking area. According to the UNDP/WHO 2009 report (UNDP and WHO, 2009), 56% of the people in developing countries still rely on solid fuels for cooking and 2 million deaths annually are associated with the indoor burning of solid fuels in unventilated kitchens, 44% of these deaths are children and 60% of adult deaths are women. Fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) in particular, consisting of particles with an aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 μm or less, penetrates deep into the lungs and causes respiratory system and circulatory system diseases and so on. As a result, the World Health Organization (WHO) revised its atmospheric pollution guidelines in 2005 and set the guideline values for PM 2.5 at an average of 10 μg/m3 annually and 25 μg/m3 daily (WHO, 2006). This study focused on PM 2.5 and estimated exposure concentrations for the PM 2.5 emitted through the consumption of fuel inside residences in individual countries in Asia, in order to assess the health risks from the combustion of these fuels.

Section snippets

Exposure models for PM 2.5 in indoor environments

Duan (1982) defined a space that has a uniform concentration of pollutants and in which people are present temporarily as a “microenvironment.” He further saw the interior space of the residence as being made up of a finite number of microenvironments, and proposed a method of using the pollutant concentrations and the period of time in which people are present in each microenvironment to assess exposure to indoor air-polluting substances, as shown in the following equation.E¯a=mCmTmawhere

    E¯a

Discussion

Measurement data in existing references were gathered and compared with the estimates in this study. Measurements could be obtained for China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Malaysia. When the measurements in existing references were for PM 10 and TSP, we converted the measurements using the ratio of PM 10 to PM 2.5 concentrations: PM 10 / PM 2.5 = 0.5 and the ratio of TSP to PM10 concentrations : TSP/PM10 = 0.7, respectively. The ratio of PM10 to PM2.5 concentration was used as a value suggested

Conclusion

This study has proposed a method of statistical analysis in which time use data are cross-tabulated from the data in existing time use surveys for (a) cohorts that reflect the diversity of the individuals who make up society and (b) daily life activity categories that reflect the consumption of energy in the home and the configuration of environmental load emissions. This method was used to estimate the exposure to indoor PM2.5 produced by the consumption of fuel in homes in the Asian region.

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Sciences (JSPS) Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research21510052.

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