Improving IAQ with Reduced Energy Cost in the Aeronautical Facilities

Indoor air quality (IAQ) plays a vital role in creating a healthy and productive environment, and this importance extends to aeronautical facilities as well. The COVID-19 has affected millions of people across the world and has raised awareness of the importance of good indoor air quality (IAQ) in Aeronautical facilities together with other all types of residential and commercial buildings. It highlights the factors contributing to poor IAQ in aeronautical buildings, the potential health and productivity implications, and the benefits of improved IAQ. Poor air quality increased the rate of infection spread in indoor spaces. This concern spread due to meteorological factors has raised the need to improve indoor air quality. Humans spend around 80%–90% of their time indoors and studies reveal that the air indoors may be 70 times more polluted than the air outside. Indoor air quality is a key factor of individual and population health. The buildings must provide the best indoor air quality to minimize the indoor transmission of contaminants, such as excess moisture, volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide and the virus like COVID-19. The HVAC system plays a vital role in improving this indoor air quality that can be achieved through decrease in concentration of contaminants by dilution and/or by source removal. This work discusses the requirement of fresh air inside the building to improve the IAQ to control any virus spread, other indoor contaminants and energy saving/reducing energy cost. It highlights the importance of IAQ and the various strategies that can be employed to improve it. The research concludes around 60% energy can be saved by sustainable and optimized design of fresh air requirements in aeronautical facilities, reducing carbon footprint and maintaining the Air Quality Index (AQI) 50 or below to represents good air quality in buildings.