WELL, LEED, and BREEAM are three prominent certification systems that focus on sustainability and environmental performance in the built environment. Each of these systems has its unique approach and criteria, but they share a common goal of promoting more sustainable and healthier buildings.
The New Year’s celebrations are now behind us again and after two years of fireworks ban, this event was celebrated with lots of fireworks all over The Netherlands. We have …
On Friday evening (2022-12-16), particulate matter concentrations went up sharply from 17:00 in the evening (in Amstelveen). Interestingly, the VOC and CO2 concentrations also rose at the same time. After …
The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (of the Netherlands) has published the 2021 large-scale concentration and deposition maps Concentration maps show airborne pollutants such as #nitrogen dioxide, …
People spend most of their time indoors. Studies show that it can make up for 90% each day! Beside being at home or in the office, also travelling and commuting …
The health effects of particulate matter depend on the size of the particles. The smaller the particle size, the more often adverse health effects on the entire organ system are observed.
We are in the middle of January 2021 and New Year’s Eve is again a few days behind us. Time to look at the impact of the fireworks ban on …
At the moment virtually everyone is affected by the Corona Pandemic. If it gets really bad, we know infected people in our social environment. We would like to take this …
On New Year’s Eve, 31/12/2019, and New Year’s Day, 01/01/2020, we set up a fine dust sensor to monitor air quality at Keizer Karelpark Oost in the centre of Amstelveen, the Netherlands, to measure the effects of fireworks on local air quality. At the same time, air quality was also monitored in our offices in an industrial estate in the south-west of Amstelveen.
Besides temperature and humidity, PM1, PM2.5, PM10 and TSP (total particulate matter) were measured.
PM concentrations in the office air reached their first small peak around 21:00 and their second, clear peak at 03:30 in the morning with almost 120 μg/m³.
Conclusion: fireworks activities at the turn of the year affect the air quality in the office drastically.
On New Year’ s Eve 2019-12-31 and New Year 2020-01-01 we set up a particulate matter sensor to monitor air quality in in the ‘Keizer Karelpark Oost’ district in the centre of Amstelveen, The Netherlands to measure the effect of fireworks to the local air quality. Beside temperature and humidity we measured PM2.5 as well as the particle fractions >0.3μm, >0.5μm, >1.0μm, >2.5μm, 5.0μm and >10μm. PM2.5 in the air peaked around 0:40 am with a concentration of 290μm/m³. That is almost 12 times higher than the annual mean of 25 μg/m³ listed in the EU Directive 2008/50/EC, as well as the daily mean of 25 μg/m³ as recommended by the WHO.
