Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TwinAIR (Digital Twins Enabled Indoor Air Quality Management for Healthy Living)
Reporting period: 2022-09-01 to 2024-02-29
While most of the epidemiological research until now focuses on outdoor air pollution and apportionment studies provide good insight into the chemical composition of ambient air pollution and its sources, not as much is known about indoor air pollution, its composition and impact on human health. Since Europeans spend up to 90% of their days indoors, the air quality they are exposed to and how it relates to physical and mental health & well-being, becomes of utmost importance. Exposure to the microbiology of the built environment may cause significant far-reaching negative effects on human health. In response to the aforementioned challenges/needs, TwinAIR introduces a wide spectrum of innovative technological solutions to improve air quality in a variety of indoor living activities while simultaneously investigating how air pollutants in indoor spaces can affect the health of the people to support public health through community awareness and policy making.
The project aims to: 1) Establish a Health Hazard Identification evidence-based Framework for classification of sources of exposure/dispersion of chemical and biological indoor air pollution. 2) Assess parameters that affect indoor and outdoor air quality for modelling relationships between these factors. 3) Promote the adoption of modular software & hardware technologies. 4) Detect the synergistic effects of exposures to biogenic particles and chemical substances extracted from indoor environments in an ex vivo 3D human air-liquid interface lung model. 5) Evaluate body burdens resulting from multipollutant and biological indoor exposures and associated health effects. 6) Determine desirable and acceptable IAQ conditions based on the results of risk assessment studies. 7) Enable IAQ management with the development of an intelligent toolset based on the Digital Twins technology. 8) Reach consensus on the best approaches and practices applied and develop guidelines on IAQ related findings and health. 9) Contribute to the EC Open Research Data pilot by encouraging sound data management and following the ethical and security standards.
The impactful project contributions to the programme identified needs include enabling stakeholders to utilize collected to generate valuable results and increase knowledge about chemicals and biological contaminants in the air as well as antimicrobial resistant pathogens. The project will also detect airbone virus particles and inhaled particles related to health effects and will define the health impact of indoor air pollutants and their synergistic effects. Digital twin systems will be adopted and a behavioral change for a greener transition will be supported through reducing air pollution and achieving zero-pollution to zero-increase in energy. The ultrafine particles exposure will be assessed and the behavioral attributes and health impact will be correlated.
The scale and significance of the project impacts are:
Impact 1-Health burden related to IAQ: Scale (EU population), Significance (Addition of important epidemiological information)
Impact 2-Established associations between IAQ and respiratory symptoms: Scale (TwinAir cohort (N=900) but can be extrapolated to population level), Significance (Addition of important epidemiological information in the correlation of IAQ data)
Impact 3-Digital IAQ characterization of construction materials: Scale (Digitized buildings), Significance (Reduction of Sick Building Syndrome symptoms)
Impact 4-CFDs and Human DTs for indoor hot-spots identification: Scale (Residencies and hospitals), Significance (Reduce illnesses and symptoms with an identified causative agent related to exposure to poor air quality in buildings)
Impact 5-Reduction in indoor air pollutants concentrations: Scale (European population), Significance (Decrease PM2.5 resulting in a less risk of increased mortality due to COVID19, 125,000 deaths annual saving, 20-50% reduction in health risks, 30% reduction of air pollution costs for Europeans)
Impact 6-Knowledge about SARS-COV-2 presence and survival indoors: Scale (Public buildings, schools, hospitals, residencies), Significance (Identification of direct & indirect sources of viral pollutants in each pilot)
Impact 7-Increase IAQ impacts awareness: Scale (Residencies, schools and offices in high-income countries), Significance (Increase of population meeting guidelines from 44 to 85%)
Impact 8-Productivity increase: Scale (Workplaces), Significance (5525€ increase in productivity per employee/per year)
TwinAIR includes social sciences and humanities in the process to understand the citizen behaviour and use those insights in the solutions' development, considering that citizens should be engaged to promote the adoption of best air quality systems and practices. The solutions developed consider the users’ sociodemographic aspects, needs, motivations, different personal & social norms and can be replicated in different countries.
The project aims to: 1) Establish a Health Hazard Identification evidence-based Framework for classification of sources of exposure/dispersion of chemical and biological indoor air pollution. 2) Assess parameters that affect indoor and outdoor air quality for modelling relationships between these factors. 3) Promote the adoption of modular software & hardware technologies. 4) Detect the synergistic effects of exposures to biogenic particles and chemical substances extracted from indoor environments in an ex vivo 3D human air-liquid interface lung model. 5) Evaluate body burdens resulting from multipollutant and biological indoor exposures and associated health effects. 6) Determine desirable and acceptable IAQ conditions based on the results of risk assessment studies. 7) Enable IAQ management with the development of an intelligent toolset based on the Digital Twins technology. 8) Reach consensus on the best approaches and practices applied and develop guidelines on IAQ related findings and health. 9) Contribute to the EC Open Research Data pilot by encouraging sound data management and following the ethical and security standards.
The impactful project contributions to the programme identified needs include enabling stakeholders to utilize collected to generate valuable results and increase knowledge about chemicals and biological contaminants in the air as well as antimicrobial resistant pathogens. The project will also detect airbone virus particles and inhaled particles related to health effects and will define the health impact of indoor air pollutants and their synergistic effects. Digital twin systems will be adopted and a behavioral change for a greener transition will be supported through reducing air pollution and achieving zero-pollution to zero-increase in energy. The ultrafine particles exposure will be assessed and the behavioral attributes and health impact will be correlated.
The scale and significance of the project impacts are:
Impact 1-Health burden related to IAQ: Scale (EU population), Significance (Addition of important epidemiological information)
Impact 2-Established associations between IAQ and respiratory symptoms: Scale (TwinAir cohort (N=900) but can be extrapolated to population level), Significance (Addition of important epidemiological information in the correlation of IAQ data)
Impact 3-Digital IAQ characterization of construction materials: Scale (Digitized buildings), Significance (Reduction of Sick Building Syndrome symptoms)
Impact 4-CFDs and Human DTs for indoor hot-spots identification: Scale (Residencies and hospitals), Significance (Reduce illnesses and symptoms with an identified causative agent related to exposure to poor air quality in buildings)
Impact 5-Reduction in indoor air pollutants concentrations: Scale (European population), Significance (Decrease PM2.5 resulting in a less risk of increased mortality due to COVID19, 125,000 deaths annual saving, 20-50% reduction in health risks, 30% reduction of air pollution costs for Europeans)
Impact 6-Knowledge about SARS-COV-2 presence and survival indoors: Scale (Public buildings, schools, hospitals, residencies), Significance (Identification of direct & indirect sources of viral pollutants in each pilot)
Impact 7-Increase IAQ impacts awareness: Scale (Residencies, schools and offices in high-income countries), Significance (Increase of population meeting guidelines from 44 to 85%)
Impact 8-Productivity increase: Scale (Workplaces), Significance (5525€ increase in productivity per employee/per year)
TwinAIR includes social sciences and humanities in the process to understand the citizen behaviour and use those insights in the solutions' development, considering that citizens should be engaged to promote the adoption of best air quality systems and practices. The solutions developed consider the users’ sociodemographic aspects, needs, motivations, different personal & social norms and can be replicated in different countries.
The activities performed and main achievements per WP are: In WP1 the Project management handbook, the Data management plan and the Legal & ethical compliance guide were delivered. In WP2, the Citizens’ behavioral analysis, the best practice guidelines for engaging citizens in the pilots, the Cost-effectiveness assessment of IAQ improvement and the Solutions testing methodological framework were delivered. In WP3 the Building and Human CFD pollutant transport model development started. In WP4 3D ex vivo human lung model protocol was developed. WP5 deliveredthe Study initiation package, while WP6 developed the Pilot Sensor portfolio, the Wearable device and the TwinAIR Filtration systems. In WP7 the tools design is in progress. In WP8 the System architecture and Data management platform are being developed. In WP9 the Pilot design and specifications, the Evaluation-Impact Assessment framework and the Pilot testing and users training materials were delivered.
The project results include the advancement of Digital Twin Technology allowing the effective coordination of IAQ data; the Development of Proxy/Virtual low cost IAQ Sensors scalable for IAQ assessment; the Intelligent Building Control for a wider range of IAQ to improve occupant productivity, comfort and well-being; the development of an Airborne antimicrobial resistance knowledge base; the Virus stability limiting the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 and airborne transmission; the 3D in vitro and ex vivo lung models assessing health impacts; the Cost effective open-source IAQ sensor ecosystem providing data accuracy in project studies; the inert and reactive tracers to define contributions to air composition from indoor and outdoor sources; the UFP emission sources measurements towards cost-effective exposure assessment.