Effect of wall construction materials over indoor air quality in humid and hot climate

In the present research work, a mix of 15 modern and old office buildings were sampled and classified in accordance with their building construction materials, along with the indoor ambience conditions. From this hourly study, it was found that the season was not the more important parameter, despite there being a tendency towards a similar kind of ambience during the rainy season. On the other hand, it showed a clear difference between modern and old buildings with plaster coating, during the period of occupation. Specifically, a better indoor ambience prevailed in the old buildings. At the same time, when marble and plaster coatings were analysed in the old buildings, a clear difference in indoor ambience was felt at the time of opening the office. This shows that a better indoor ambience prevailed during the dry period in the old buildings when marble coatings were used. Finally, the same effect, but not as pronounced, seen in the indoor ambience during the opening of the office, was obtained in new buildings that had marble coating. Finally, the procedure obtained could be the much sought-after solution to the problem stated by researchers in the past and future research works relating to this new methodology could help us define the optimal improvement in real buildings to reduce energy consumption, and its related carbon dioxide emissions, at minimal economical cost. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.