Crosscutting of the pollutants and building ventilation systems: a literature review

Considering the time spent in enclosed environments, it is essential to study the relationship between pollutants and building ventilation systems to find whether the types and levels of pollutants and greenhouse gasses, which are expected to be exhaled through ventilation systems into the atmosphere, have been adequately evaluated. We propose the hypothesis that the exhaled air from residential buildings contains pollutants that may become another source of contamination affecting urban air quality and potentially contributing to climate drivers. Thus, the main goal of this article is to present a cross-review of the identification of pollutants expected to be exhaled through ventilation systems in residential buildings. This approach has created the concept of “exhalation of buildings” a new concept enclosed within the research project in which this article is included. We analyze the studies related to the most significant pollutants found in buildings and the studies about the relation of buildings' ventilation systems with such pollutants. Our results show that, on the one hand, the increase in the use of mechanical ventilation systems in residential buildings has been demonstrated to enhance the ventilation rate and generally improve the indoor air quality conditions. But no knowledge could be extracted about the corresponding environmental cost of this improvement, as no systematic data were found about the total mass of contaminants exhaled by those ventilation systems. At the same time, no projects were found that showed a quantitative study on exhalation from buildings, contrary to the existence of studies on pollutants in indoor air. Graphical Abstract