Abstract
Indoor air quality tends to be the dominant contributor to personal exposure because most people spend over 90% of their time indoors. For some contaminants, exposure to indoor air poses a potentially greater health threat than outdoor air exposures. Indoor nitrogen dioxide ($NO_2$) levels are mainly affected gas range, flue gas spillage, kerosene heaters, wood-burning appliances and cigarette smoke. In addition, indoor $NO_2$ levels are influenced by such house characterization as surface reaction and air exchange rate. In this study, the measurements of indoor and outdoor $NO_2$ concentrations were taken using identical protocols, and information was collected on housing characteristics using identical questionnaires in 14 houses out of 15 houses for daily 30 daily 30 days in Brisbane, Australia.The usage of gas range was the most contributing factor in indoor $NO_2$ concentration in relation to house characteristics. Average indoor and outdoor ratios of NO2 concentration in electronic and gas cooking houses were $0.6{\pm}0.1$ and $0.9{\pm}0.2$, respectively. The frequency distributions of $NO_2$ concentration in each house were approximately log-normal Geometric mean of indoor $NO_2$ concentrations of electronic and gas cooking houses for daily 30 days ranged from 2.5 ppm to 11.5 ppm with a mean 6.8 and from 4.7 ppm to 28.6 ppm with a mean 15.6 ppm, respectively. The $NO_2$ concentrations between electronic and gas cooking houses were significantly different (p<0.05). Since each house has different life-style and house characteristics, sampling interval to measure the $NO_2$ levels was recommended above 7 days.
