BCIT

Building Science Graduate Program

Sustainability + Innovation

IAQ vs. OAQ: when to open the windows…

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From Rosa for the Indoor Air Quality course:

This is not about INDOOR air quality but keeps showing up in international news.
Also, the index of focus PM2.5  is the worst and most invasive kind of particles because they can infiltrate deep into the lungs and bloodstream.

Here are some links (all are very short and easy! especially the video) that can be shared with class:

Video on Bloomberg.tv  http://bloom.bg/XkY0z7  includes interviews with doctors expats and foreigners who live in Beijing
CBC http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2013/01/12/beijing-pollution.html  indoors is people’s last reservoir for clean air.
Short blurb on Business Insider: http://www.businessinsider.com/beijing-pollution-pm-25-worse-than-airport-smoking-lounge-2013-1
Article on The Economist http://www.economist.com/blogs/analects/2013/01/beijings-air-pollution << have to cut and paste URL for some reason.

Some environmentalist lobby group may oversimplify the problem and say “it’s easy, they just have to switch from coal to electric or wind power and change to electric cars”.

To me, that sounds like Marie Antoinette saying, “No bread? Let them eat cake!”
– because electricity and wind power are still expensive and also electric cars; furthermore, these are not the most efficient systems and are still pending development.  No easy solution.  Or is there??

Climate change and the built environment

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The building sector contributes up to 30% of global annual greenhouse gas emissions and consumes up to 40% of all energy [1]. Accordingly, the building sector has the greatest potential for climate change mitigation [2]. The development of mitigation and adaptation strategies has become a major challenge for the building industry. These strategies are, of course, local climate and environment dependent.

Prime mitigation strategies are: 1) improving energy efficiency of new and existing buildings, 2) integrating renewable energy technologies, and 3) using earth-friendly materials. Adaptation involves making buildings more resilient and responsive to extreme events and weather fluctuations. Any thoughts on adaptation strategies and the role of building science?

[1] UNEP-SBCI. Buildings and Climate Change – Summary for Decision-Makers. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Sustainable Buildings and Climate Initiative (SBCI) 2009.

[2] IPCC. Climate Change 2007 – Mitigation of Climate Change. Working Group III Contribution to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2007.

5 Orders of Ignorance in Building Science

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by Rodrigo Mora, PhD

Are you building science meta ignorant?

  1. Zero-order ignorance (0OI) is lack of ignorance. Answers and skills are available. A deep level of cause-effect, theoretical and practical knowledge and skills are available. Every subtlety associated with aspects such as requirements, interdependencies, goals, and contextual information is appreciated.
  2. First-order ignorance (1OI) is lack of knowledge. This shortfall is exactly quantifiable, tasks required to overcome it are known and skills exist to complete the tasks. Lack of problem-specific knowledge is overcome with fundamental knowledge and skills to make the problem tractable and arrive at reasonable solutions.
  3. Second-order ignorance (2OI) is lack of process. When it is not known how to go about finding out what is not known. Fundamental knowledge is weak. Time and effort are needed to acquire the knowledge and skills to be able to arrive at solutions systematically. How do I know if the air in my house is fresh?
  4. Third-order ignorance (3OI) is lack of awareness. When it is not known what is not known. What is the big deal with the building envelope? What is the connection with indoor air quality and mould? What is the distinction between indoor air quality (IAQ) and ventilation?
  5. Fourth-order ignorance (4OI) is meta ignorance. 4OI occurs when one is unaware of the other four orders of ignorance. If you read this you are not meta-ignorant anymore.

(Adapted from: The Five Orders of Ignorance, Armour PG 2000)

What is the best way to overcome your ignorance? Tell us in the comment section below!