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How much more ETS in cars than houses? Neil, I have previously downloaded your pilot study of real time monitoring of outdoor ETS and found it very absorbing and useful. Your committment to open source knowledge and putting this work on line was appreciated. At the moment I am interested in comparisons of ETS in typical homes and cars. Some very useful data about this is in the California Air Resources Board assessment of ETS. And I am sure there will be more in Simsmoke when I start using it. I am trying to come up with a number or numbers that would broadly summarise to an untrained person how high the levels of ETS would be in a typical car compared to a typical house. There are lots of variables to deal with in trying to construct a sentence or two, that summarises the situation rather than two paragraphs. Do you have any suggestions, before I try simsmoke? thanks
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Cars and Homes
Thanks. SimSmoke is just getting started. The simulations are pretty basic now, but I hope to add more accurate and sophisticated parameter inputs based on our current SHS research into cars, outdoor exposure, and residential exposure. I also want to allow the user to choose from different activity scenarios so that their individual 24-h average SHS exposure can be estimated. Eventually, things will be more user-friendly too.
Regarding empirical data on cars vs. homes, what we have found is pretty straightforward:
If one smokes with the car windows closed, the levels are astronomical (3000 ug/m3). Even with the windows open a bit, the levels during active smoking can be substantially elevated (> 100 ug/m3) -- although it depends on the speed of the car, opening width, air conditioning, etc. In a home, a single cigarette can raise levels to a peak of more than 200 ug/m3.
I'm not sure of the best way to communicate levels to the public. Maybe someting like: "Smoking in a closed car can lead to secondhand smoke levels as much as 10 times larger than those resulting from smoking in a house. Even when you open the car window or use the ventilation, the levels during or just after smoking can be quite high and comparable to those in a home."
The same basic story holds true for outdoor SHS. While cigarettes are active, SHS levels in close proximity to a smoker can be comparable to indoor levels (either peak levels or those occurring after the smoke has mixed in the room).
We are currently working on publishing our work on SHS levels in cars. The outdoor paper is also nearly on its way :)
--Neil
PS: Thanks for your interest! If you have any comments or suggestions or additions, please don't hesitate to send them. To send things privately: When logged in, hit the "contact" tab on my profile.