Preliminary Study of Urgency to Monitor Indoor Air Quality at Telkom Education Area in the Post-Pandemic

Abstract

Indoor air pollution is found to be twice more dangerous as air pollution in the environment, especially 80-90% of people when they are indoors. Children are more susceptible to diseases caused by poor indoor air quality. Typically, students spend 60-90% of their time indoors, with most of the time at school. The targeted study areas are Telkom Education Areas such as VHS, SHS, JHS, and Tourism-VHS. The assessment procedure used a standard protocol developed by the US EPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency). The measuring parameters are CO2, CO, PM2.5, RH, and T. There are four systems at potential points with a height of 1-1.5 meters above the floor surface (human breathing zone). The indoor air quality assessment results show that almost all rooms have CO2 concentrations exceeding the standard (>1000 ppm). All rooms in Tourism-VHS exceed the PM2.5 concentration standard (>35 μg/m3), and each room has open ventilation, except for room type C (kitchen). Only three rooms exceed the CO concentration standard (>9 ppm), Tourism-VHS type A to C. It is necessary to conduct further research with normal daily conditions, and the measurements also need to be conducted for approximately three days for more data.