Geographical, spatial, and temporal distributions of multiple indoor air pollutants in four Chinese provinces
- and others; Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing (China). National Institute for Environmental Health and Related Product Safety
Exposure to indoor air pollution from household energy use depends on fuel, stove, housing characteristics, and stove use behavior. Three important indoor air pollutants - respirable particles (RPM), carbon monoxide (CO), and sulfur dioxide (SO{sub 2}) were monitored for a total of 457 household-days in four poor provinces in China (Gansu, 129 household-days; Guizhou, 127 household-days; Inner Mongolia, 65 household-days; and Shaanxi, 136 household-days), in two time intervals during the heating season to investigate spatial and temporal patterns of pollution. The two provinces where biomass is the primary fuel (Inner Mongolia and Gansu) had the highest RPM concentrations (719 {mu}g/m{sup 3} in the single cooking/living/bedroom in Inner Mongolia in December and 351-661 {mu}g/m{sup 3} in different rooms and months in Gansu); lower RPM concentration were observed in the primarily coal-burning provinces of Guizhou and Shaanxi (202-352 {mu}g/m{sup 3} and 187-361 {mu}g/m{sup 3} in different rooms and months in Guizhou and Shaanxi, respectively). Inner Mongolia and Gansu also had higher CO concentrations. Among the two primarily coal-burning provinces, Guizhou had lower concentrations of CO than Shaanxi. In the two coal-burning provinces, SO{sub 2} concentrations were substantially higher in Shaanxi than in Guizhou. Relative concentrations in different rooms and provinces indicate that in the northern provinces heating is an important source of exposure to indoor pollutants from energy use. Day-to-day variability of concentrations within individual households, although substantial, was smaller than variation across households. The implications of the findings for designing environmental health interventions in each province are discussed. 21 refs., 3 figs., 6 tabs.
- OSTI ID:
- 20700936
- Journal Information:
- Environmental Science and Technology, Vol. 39, Issue 24; Other Information: mezzati@hsph.harvard.edu; ISSN 0013-936X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
09 BIOMASS FUELS
CHINA
INDOOR AIR POLLUTION
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE
HOUSEHOLDS
PARTICULATES
CARBON MONOXIDE
SULFUR DIOXIDE
TIME DEPENDENCE
BIOMASS
COAL
SPACE HEATING
COAL BURNING APPLIANCES
DAILY VARIATIONS
AIR POLLUTION
REGIONAL ANALYSIS
WOOD FUELS
ORGANIC WASTES
HOUSES
STOVES