Effects of CO2 Exhaled and Human Metabolism on Comfort Conditions in Air-Conditioned Indoor Environment

Thermal and atmospheric conditions in an enclosed space are usually controlled to ensure the health and comfort of the occupants, and proper functioning of sensitive electronic equipment such as computers, etc. The former is referred as comfort conditioning and the latter is called process air conditioning. The conditions required for optimum operation of machinery may not coincide with those conductive to human comfort. Process air-conditioning requirements are highly specific to the equipment or operation. Once the necessary condition for process or machinery is established, attention must be paid to the acceptable human comfort. Although human beings can be considered very versatile machines having the capacity to adapt the wide variations in the working environment, their productivity depends on the immediate environment. This paper discusses about the CO2 generation of the human beings based on their working environment, activity, metabolism and its effects inside the indoor environment. The indoor pollutants created by the human beings and the rate of ventilation required to dilute the pollutant levels to meet ASHRAE standards is also discussed.