Atmospheric Aerosol Loading x Interior Design

How planetary boundaries and the creative industries relate

The planetary boundaries were introduced in 2009 by a team of 28 internationally renowned scientists, led by director Johan Rockström, to identify the nine processes that regulate the stability and resilience of the earth. One of the planetary boundaries is Atmospheric Aerosol Loading. Aerosols are small particles in the air. They can influence the climate system and they have adverse effects on human health (Rockström et al., 2009).

Atmospheric Aerosol Loading x Interior Design

How planetary boundaries and the creative industries relate

The planetary boundaries were introduced in 2009 by a team of 28 internationally renowned scientists, led by director Johan Rockström, to identify the nine processes that regulate the stability and resilience of the earth. One of the planetary boundaries is Atmospheric Aerosol Loading. Aerosols are small particles in the air. They can influence the climate system and they have adverse effects on human health (Rockström et al., 2009).

Natural aerosols:

sea-salt particles
forest fire smoke
mineral dust
volcanic dust

Anthropogenic aerosols:

aerosols from waste, biomass and fossil fuel burning
industrial dust (Tomasi et al., 2017)

What are aerosols?

Atmospheric aerosols are small particles in the air coming from natural sources such as sea-salt particles and volcano dust, or from human activities such as fossil fuel burning and industry dust. Aerosols have a direct and indirect effect on the earth. As a direct effect, aerosols can promote clouds formation and reflect incoming sunlight back into space. This means they cool down the earth (CDKN, 2017). Indirectly aerosols influence clouds and their reflectivity and persistence, and they can influence the hydrological cycle (Rockström et al., 2009). This means that aerosols can influence weather patterns and reduce rainfall. The fact that aerosols can both cool down and warm up the planet, makes it complicated to predict the effect of aerosols in the future (Cassie, 2016). Human activities have already doubled the global concentration of most aerosols since the pre-industrial era.

Atmospheric Aerosols can also influence human health because of the fine particles that are part of air pollution that end up in the respiratory system. The effects can roughly be translated to 800 000 premature deaths worldwide, mainly in developing Asian countries. The aerosols can cause adult cardiopulmonary disease, cancer and respiratory infections in children (Rockström et al., 2009). The best solution would be to reduce the amount of aerosols in the air.

What are aerosols?

Human activities have doubled the global concentration of most aerosols since the pre-industrial era. Aerosols have a direct and indirect effect on the earth. As a direct effect, aerosols can scatter incoming sunlight and reflect it back into space. Which means they cool down the earth. Indirectly aerosols influence clouds and their reflectivity and persistence, and they can influence the hydrological cycle by altering that form precipitation in clouds (Rockström et al., 2009). When aerosols form clouds they can absorb heat emitted from Earth and warm the planet. The fact that aerosols can both cool down and warm up the planet, makes it complicated to predict the effect of aerosols in the future (Cassie, 2016).

Atmospheric Aerosols can also influence human health because of the fine particles that are part of air pollution that end up in the respiratory system. The effects can roughly be translated to 800 000 premature deaths worldwide, mainly in developing Asian countries. The aerosols can cause adult cardiopulmonary disease, cancer and respiratory infections in children (Rockström et al., 2009).

Natural aerosols:

sea-salt particles
forest fire smoke
mineral dust
volcanic dust

Anthropogenic aerosols:

aerosols from waste, biomass and fossil fuel burning
industrial dust (Tomasi et al., 2017)

Interior design x atmospheric aerosol loading

There are several ways that Anthropogenic aerosol emissions arise during industrial processes related to interior design. Part of these come from the combustion of materials such as wood or coal or from the bleaching of wood for example. Another part comes from industrial dust from for example waste incineration or metallurgy (Tomasi et al., 2017). A study looking into the effect of wood aerosols and bioaerosols on the respiratory systems of wood manufacturing industry workers in Golestan Province found that occupational exposure to dust leads to acute and chronic respiratory diseases, occupational asthma and depressed lung function (Badirdast et al., 2017).

Materials can also contain aerosols. Fibrous dusts and aerosols consisting of asbestos and natural or man-made mineral vitreous fibers are toxic. Asbestos fibers have been used for many commercial and technological purposes, but there have been many concerns regarding their ability to cause decease. Since the 1990’s, in several industrialized countries, asbestos has been banned. Unfortunately, mainly in developing nations, asbestos is still heavily used (Spurny, 2017). Asbestos can still be found in many indoor environments in for example older flooring, wallcoverings, upholstery and more. Asbestos aerosols are being released during the mining and manufacturing process, as well as the deconstruction of materials containing asbestos. Asbestos is often used in vinyl, and even though the dangerous properties of the fiber is very clear, it currently is the best option when creating long lasting interiors. Which also means that less materials end in landfills.

The role of interior designers

It is important for interior designers to be aware of these implications and ask transparency from their manufacturers, use products that are made of recycled vinyl and create an end-of-life plan for when the vinyl is replaced (Yale, 2018). A material with similar toxic effects that is creating aerosol emissions is lead. Lead has been found more in the environment because for decades the environment was exposed to lead aerosols from additives in gasoline, until in 1975 the first restrictions were put in place. For the sake of societal health and welfare, cities requires terminating all remaining lead aerosols and the cleanup of lead currently in the environment (Mielke et al., 2019).

Interior designers can also introduce the help of smart devices and filter systems to reduce and filter aerosols indoors. The role of the interior can be seen as twofold as they can choose better materials and increase air quality in the homes and offices they design.

Smart homes and aerosols

“Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) refers to the air quality within and around buildings and structures, especially as it relates to the health and comfort of building occupants. Understanding and controlling common pollutants indoors can help reduce your risk of indoor health concerns.”

United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA, 2014)

Smart homes are a way to measure and influence the indoor quality and give designers the opportunity to create better indoor environments for human health and the environment.

Because of climate change it is important to look intensively at how we can create healthy living environments. As explained before, atmospheric aerosol loading can have a bad effect on the warming of the planet, as well as on human health. In particular children, older people and people with respiratory and/or cardiac conditions are at risk. Intelligently designed buildings and interiors can reduce these effects (Schieweck et al., 2018). There is an opportunity for interior designers to improve our living environment, indoors and outdoors and at the same time promote a more transparent supply chain.

Effective ventilation and filter technology could be significant factors for the planning of buildings and interiors.

Where the technology for ventilation has been focused on room temperature for a very long time, new measurement technologies are now quickly introduced and integrated in Energy Management Systems (HEMS). These systems are the foundation of smart homes, and are initially designed for effective energy use. Where the term ‘smart homes’ is often understood to automize entertainment, communication and home appliances, it can also be used to achieve good in-door air quality. As written in the article ‘Smart homes and the control of indoor air quality’: “Using modern sensor technology it is possible to measure online not only the climatic parameters but also the concentrations of air polluting substances such as carbon dioxide (CO2), sum parameters for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and particles and record them in the HEMS.” (Schieweck et al., 2018)

References

Badirdast, P., Rezazadeh Azari, M., Salehpour, S., Ghadjari, A., Khodakarim, S., Panahi, D., Fadaei, M., Rahimi, A., 2017. The Effect of Wood Aerosols and Bioaerosols on the Respiratory Systems of Wood Manufacturing Industry Workers in Golestan Province. Tanaffos 16, 53–59.

Cassie, K., 2016. What are Aerosols? – Brookhaven scientists discuss complexities of studying tiny particles that have a big impact on climate [WWW Document]. Brookhaven Natl. Lab. URL https://www.bnl.gov/newsroom/news.php?a=26257 (accessed 7.5.22).

Mielke, H.W., Gonzales, C.R., Powell, E.T., 2019. Curtailing Lead Aerosols: Effects of Primary Prevention on Declining Soil Lead and Children’s Blood Lead in Metropolitan New Orleans. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public. Health 16, 2068. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16122068

Rockström, J., Steffen, W., Noone, K., Persson, Å., Chapin, F.S.I., Lambin, E., Lenton, T., Scheffer, M., Folke, C., Schellnhuber, H.J., Nykvist, B., de Wit, C., Hughes, T., van der Leeuw, S., Rodhe, H., Sörlin, S., Snyder, P., Costanza, R., Svedin, U., Falkenmark, M., Karlberg, L., Corell, R., Fabry, V., Hansen, J., Walker, B., Liverman, D., Richardson, K., Crutzen, P., Foley, J., 2009. Planetary Boundaries: Exploring the Safe Operating Space for Humanity. Ecol. Soc. 14. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-03180-140232

Schieweck, A., Uhde, E., Salthammer, T., Salthammer, L.C., Morawska, L., Mazaheri, M., Kumar, P., 2018. Smart homes and the control of indoor air quality. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 94, 705–718. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2018.05.057

Spurny, K.R., 2017. Analytical Chemistry of Aerosols: Science and Technology. CRC Press.

Tomasi, C., Fuzzi, S., Kokhanovsky, A., 2017. Atmospheric Aerosols: Life Cycles and Effects on Air Quality and Climate. John Wiley & Sons.

US EPA, O., 2014. Introduction to Indoor Air Quality [WWW Document]. URL https://www.epa.gov/indoor-air-quality-iaq/introduction-indoor-air-quality (accessed 7.5.22).

Yale, K., 2018. Where is Asbestos Hiding in Interior Products? Des.

CDKN, 2017. Aerosols: How they affect atmospheric warming, Disaster risk management.

© Nine Parre, class of 2022/2023 of M.A. Sustainability in Fashion and Creative Industries at AMD Akademie Mode & Design

The role of interior designers

It is important for interior designers to be aware of these implications and ask transparency from their manufacturers, use products that are made of recycled vinyl and create an end-of-life plan for when the vinyl is replaced (Yale, 2018). A material with similar toxic effects that is creating aerosol emissions is lead. Lead has been found more in the environment because for decades the environment was exposed to lead aerosols from additives in gasoline, until in 1975 the first restrictions were put in place. For the sake of societal health and welfare, cities requires terminating all remaining lead aerosols and the cleanup of lead currently in the environment (Mielke et al., 2019).

Smart homes and aerosols

“Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) refers to the air quality within and around buildings and structures, especially as it relates to the health and comfort of building occupants. Understanding and controlling common pollutants indoors can help reduce your risk of indoor health concerns.”

United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA, 2014)