Version 1
: Received: 8 June 2024 / Approved: 10 June 2024 / Online: 10 June 2024 (09:58:14 CEST)
How to cite:
Sankhyan, S.; Hollo, A. K.; Gonzalez-Beltran, D.; Clements, N.; Miller, S. L. Long-Term Monitoring of Indoor CO Levels in Disproportionately Impacted Communities in the North Denver Metropolitan Area. Preprints2024, 2024060553. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202406.0553.v1
Sankhyan, S.; Hollo, A. K.; Gonzalez-Beltran, D.; Clements, N.; Miller, S. L. Long-Term Monitoring of Indoor CO Levels in Disproportionately Impacted Communities in the North Denver Metropolitan Area. Preprints 2024, 2024060553. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202406.0553.v1
Sankhyan, S.; Hollo, A. K.; Gonzalez-Beltran, D.; Clements, N.; Miller, S. L. Long-Term Monitoring of Indoor CO Levels in Disproportionately Impacted Communities in the North Denver Metropolitan Area. Preprints2024, 2024060553. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202406.0553.v1
APA Style
Sankhyan, S., Hollo, A. K., Gonzalez-Beltran, D., Clements, N., & Miller, S. L. (2024). Long-Term Monitoring of Indoor CO Levels in Disproportionately Impacted Communities in the North Denver Metropolitan Area. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202406.0553.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Sankhyan, S., Nicholas Clements and Shelly L. Miller. 2024 "Long-Term Monitoring of Indoor CO Levels in Disproportionately Impacted Communities in the North Denver Metropolitan Area" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202406.0553.v1
Abstract
Carbon monoxide (CO) is a colorless, odorless gas emitted from carbon fuel combustion. In this study we monitored indoor carbon monoxide (CO) levels for 120 homes over three seasons in the North Denver metropolitan region as part of an environmental justice initiative to quantify health and social well-being impacts from a major freeway construction upgrade nearby. Urban outdoor CO levels are typically very low (less than 1 ppm in Denver) due to air pollution control strategies and technologies implemented over the past several decades. However, people can still be exposed to higher than outdoor levels of CO in their homes due to the operation of indoor appliances that use carbon fuels such as natural gas. Our data show that ~10% of the homes had consistent daily average levels of CO above 3.5 ppm and 24-57% of the homes showed peaks greater than 9 ppm. While much higher levels can result in CO poisoning and fatalities, these lower levels of CO have been associated with adverse health impacts, especially pregnant women, and sensitive populations. Our results highlight the need for increasing awareness regarding CO exposures in homes with gas appliances and motivate the transition from non-electrified homes toward electrification.
Keywords
gas appliance emissions; indoor air quality; electrification in homes; adverse health effects; carbon monoxide
Subject
Environmental and Earth Sciences, Environmental Science
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
