Identifying air pollutants that pose potential adverse health exposures in retail stores will facilitate exposure mitigation. Assessing the role of ventilation in mitigating this exposure is important to understand the energy implications of maintaining acceptable indoor air quality. In this work, we summarize results from 28 papers that report ventilation rates and/or pollutant concentrations in retail stores. These results were compared to available standards as well as data collected in non-retail environments. The findings of this review are: (1) half of the stores tested met/exceeded ASHRAE Standard 62.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010a; or California Code of Regulations Title 24-2010) for ventilation; (2) PM_2.5, acrolein, formaldehyde, and acetaldehyde exceeded their established, most conservative limits/reference exposures for a few of the stores tested in the United States, and outside the United States, researchers reported PM₁₀, benzene, and trichloroethylene as additional pollutants found at concentrations that exceeded their limits; (3) alternative control methods would be more effective, and possibly more economical, than ventilation; (4) meeting or exceeding the ventilation requirements does not necessarily negate the presence of pollutants above their suggested limits; and (5) using disability-adjusted-life-year (DALY) as a metric of disease burden, two pollutants were identified as priority hazards in retail stores: PM_2.5 and acrolein. Control strategies should focus on decreasing exposure of retail employees to these pollutants generated indoors or infiltrated from outdoors.

The concept of a zero energy building is a significant sustainable strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The challenges of zero energy building (ZEB) achievement in Thailand are that the design approach to reach ZEB in office buildings is unclear and inconsistent. In addition, its implementation requires a relatively high investment cost. This study proposes a guideline for cost-optimal design to achieve the ZEB for three representative six-story office buildings in hot and humid Thailand. The energy simulations of envelope designs incorporating high-efficiency systems are carried out using eQuest and daylighting simulation using DIALux evo. The final energy consumptions meet the national ZEB target but are higher than the rooftop PV generation. To reduce such an energy gap, the ratios of building height to width are proposed. The cost-benefit of investment in ZEB projects provides IRRs ranging from 10.73 to 13.85%, with payback periods of 7.2 to 8.5 years. The energy savings from the proposed designs account for 79.2 to 81.6% of the on-site energy use. The investment of high-performance glazed-windows in the small office buildings is unprofitable (NPVs = −14.77–−46.01). These research results could help architects and engineers identify the influential parameters and significant considerations for the ZEB design. Strategies and technical support to improve energy performance in large and mid-rise buildings towards ZEB goals associated with the high investment cost need future investigations.

Walking through street markets is the most popular outdoor activity in Thailand, promoting local economies and tourism. In the year-round hot and humid conditions, living outdoors with long heat exposure throughout the midday can result in heat-related illness. Artificial shade structures and tree shade canopies are typical cooling strategies to protect market sellers and pedestrians from direct sun exposure and improve outdoor human thermal comfort in the street market. This study investigates microclimate conditions and cooling benefits of typical street market shade structures with different settings—three roofing materials, two roof shapes, and surrounding trees with dense and sparse canopies. The dimension of the single artificial shade was 2 m × 2 m with heights varying 2–2.5 m. The vertical air temperature and sky view factor profiles were measured on winter and summer days. The calculated physiological equivalent temperatures (PET) and thermal comfortable hours beneath different shade structures were assessed using RayMan 1.2 software. A cluster of trees with a dense canopy provided more effective cooling (with a satisfied thermal condition of 9 h) than artificial shade structures. Thermal conditions under the galvanized steel roofing and HDPE tarpaulin plastic roofing shades were cooler than those of polycarbonate roofing shade. Meanwhile, the space beneath the sparse tree canopy had the warmest condition. The temperature reductions beneath the artificial shade structure varied throughout the day, with the maximum reduction occurring during midday and the lowest reduction found in the late morning and late afternoon. Our study demonstrates that the tree canopies and artificial shade structures had limited application for providing comfortable conditions throughout midday. To reduce such extreme heat, a combination of shade structures with other cooling techniques is suggested, which should be the focus for further studies.