By Cade Lucas
While air pollution is a long standing problem in the inner-west, much of the focus has been on the effects noticed outdoors.
But now thanks to a PhD student at RMIT, indoor air quality (IAQ) in homes in the inner-west is about to get a lot more attention.
Indian born mechanical engineer Muthukumar Maragathamayil is conducting a study which aims to measure the IAQ in detached homes in Yarraville, Brooklyn and Altona North.
The study will be conducted in two phases – summer and winter – and involves participants being interviewed, their daily activities being monitored and and the temperature, humidity and pollution levels inside their homes being recorded.
“This intends to understand how the leakiness of the home from outdoor air pollutants, and the types of appliances that could impact indoor air quality,” said Mr Maragathamayil of the purpose of the study which he said was inspired by the Maribyrnong council’s Air Quality Improvement Plan and the 2020 report by the Inner West Air Quality Community Reference Group (IWAQCRG) titled “Air Pollution in Melbourne’s inner west”.
“These reports highlight how the inner west suburbs of Yarraville and Brooklyn experiences poor air quality, disproportionately compared to the rest of Melbourne.
“Yarraville and Brooklyn were ranked seventh and eighth in Australia for air pollution concentrations, leading them to be known as ‘hot spots’ for air pollution in Victoria.”
Describing himself as “passionate about energy efficiency in buildings”, Mr Maragathamayil has experience working on construction projects in the Middles East and has a masters in building services engineering from Brunel University London.
He said he wants to use his expertise in mechanical buildings services to improve energy efficiency and air quality indoors.
However, Mr Maragathamayil said his study was also about finding out whether inner-west’s air pollution problems follows people indoors.
The research will be conducted over a one week period in February and July.
