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CO 2 generation rate in Chinese people
Author(s) -
Qi M. W.,
Li X. F.,
Weschler L. B.,
Sundell J.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
indoor air
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.387
H-Index - 99
eISSN - 1600-0668
pISSN - 0905-6947
DOI - 10.1111/ina.12110
Subject(s) - environmental chemistry , environmental science , chemistry
Carbon dioxide ( CO 2 ) metabolically produced by humans has been widely used as a tracer gas for determining ventilation rates in occupied rooms. Among other necessities, the method requires good estimates of human CO 2 generation rates. An empirically derived equation is widely used to calculate the CO 2 generation rate. However, there are indications that this equation is not valid for young Chinese people. In this study, we measured the CO 2 generation rate of 44 young Chinese people at two typical activity levels, quiet sitting and relaxed standing. We found that the commonly used empirical equation overpredicted CO 2 generation rates, but could be corrected with a factor of 0.75 for Chinese females and of 0.85 for Chinese males. The variance for measured CO 2 sitting was much smaller than for standing, and hence, we concluded that sitting yields more precise CO 2 generation estimates. The relative contributions of sex, height, weight, and metabolic rate were analyzed. We concluded that the error in estimating metabolic rate is responsible for most of the difference in measured generation of CO 2 from the empirical equation's predictions.