Why the effect of carbon dioxide concentration on humans is studied and how is it done?
Carbon Dioxide or
CO2 is one of the four gases altogether amounting more than 99% of Earth
atmosphere by volume. Moreover, CO2 is a greenhouse gas which balances radiant
energy within the thermal infrared range. It allows keeping temperature and
humidity on our planet on levels enabling the existence of life as such.
However, relative to the pre-industrial period the atmospheric concentration of
CO2 has increased in 1,5 times due to anthropogenic factors related to
intensive industrial development and overpopulation.
As a consequence,
scientists and researchers all over the world have become actively
investigating the impact of CO2 with regard to its concentration. The indoor
environment is the most relevant for studying the human’s response as the CO2
level increases well above outdoor levels in limited occupied space.
Effect to Humans
The effect of high
CO2 level indoors can be explored based on physiological and neurophysiological
measurements. During experiments conducted by Snow S. et al. the measurements
were obtained from the group of independent participants influenced by CO2
concentration up to 2700 ppm that is more than 6 times higher current normal
atmospheric level but common for indoors. The results of this study published
in 2019 in Building and Environment had shown the visible reduction of
respiration rate and simultaneous increase of heart rate and skin temperature
of the participants.
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However, even
without any specific measurements, we can feel the impact of poor indoor air on
our physiological performance detecting the symptoms like a sensation of dry
skin, headache, eye, nose and throat irritation, wheezing, tight chest, itching
nausea and dizziness. These symptoms are classified as a sick building syndrome
which frequently annoys office occupants and affects long-term health.
Another
significant parameter of human performance is cognitive functions enabling us
to learn, think, make and execute decisions. To determine the effect of CO2
concentration on mental abilities the ventilation rate is lowered or CO2 is
artificially raised by direct injection in the study room. In the research
performed by Snow S. et.al. a set of computerised cognitive performance test
was used to assess executive function, complex, simple and sustained attention,
reaction time, working memory and cognitive flexibility of the participants.
Based on the obtained experimental data the significant reduction of all
studied domains of cognitive performance was concluded during the exposure to
the high CO2 levels.
To sum up, CO2 has
a crucial role in maintaining life on our planet, but in high concentrations
existing today indoors, it harms the physiological, neurophysiological and
cognitive performance of humans. Furthermore, according to the current rate of
atmospheric CO2 growth, we could reach hazardous outdoor levels of CO2 already
in this century.
Ensuring optimum
CO2 levels
To prevent a lack of physiological and mental abilities due to high indoor CO2 concentration, we offer Carbon MinusTM. Our product keeps CO2 concentration indoors on the safe level by capturing it from atmospheric air incoming the building ventilation system. The captured CO2 is further transformed into various energy carriers like synthetic natural gas. Carbon MinusTM represents carbon-negative technology which ensures human health and productivity indoors today and creates a base for future generation well-being on the Earth in a long-run.
