VENTILATION AND LIGHTING DESIGN FOR GREEN AND ODOURLESS PUBLIC TOILETS

Ir. K.F. LAU Chief Building Services Engineer Ir. M.T. SUEN Senior Building Services Engineer Building Services Branch, Architectural Services Department Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

ABSTRACT Public toilets are generally small building structures but they could have big impact on the image of a city. Visitors and business people from overseas as well as local residents will all have the chance to use pub lic toilets. As such, the design for public toilet needs to be considered very carefully. Artificial lighting and mechanical ventilation systems are two of the main building services installations that would need to be considered. However, in order to achieve a green and odourless public toilet one cannot rely solely on the artificial lighting and mechanical ventilation systems. The overall integration of the architectural design with the lighting and ventilation systems of the toilet is indeed necessary. The Building Services Branch of the Architectural Services Department of the HKSAR Government has been involved in the design and construction of hundreds of public toilets in Hong Kong. This paper shares the experiences of the department in designing for green and odourless public toilets. Various types of environmentally friendly lighting and ventilation systems employed in public toilets will be discussed. The basic principle we employed in our designs is to utilize artificial lighting and mechanical ventilation systems only when they are absolutely necessary so as to minimize the use of energy.

INTRODUCTION Public toilets are generally small building structures but however, their importance should not be overlooked. A poorly designed and/or maintained public toilet may have very serious impact on the image of a country or a city. In an international city like Hong Kong, the users of public toilets include both local residents as well as visitors from all over the world. Every year there are more than a million visitors coming from all over the world to Hong Kong for business, sightseeing or some other purposes. These visitors have very great chance to use public toilets that are located at scenic spots, shopping areas, public transport terminus, parks and playgrounds, etc. To foreigners, the toilet culture of a place could well represent the civilization and living standards of the people of that city. Their images about a city could well be influenced by their experiences in using the public toilets in that place. In Hong Kong, there are more than 290 public toilets and 590 aqua privies located all over the territory. Due to high population density, the usage rates of public toilets in Hong Kong are often very high especially in urban areas. These public toilets are either standalone or integrated with building structures such as public transportation terminus, market complex, parks and playgrounds, etc. Most of these public toilets were designed and constructed under the supervision of the Architectural Services Department (ArchSD) of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). Besides building new toilets, the HKSAR Government has also
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launched a programme to renovate and improve all existing public toilets in the territory and the project is still ongoing. To make a public toilet successful, good design on the architectural features and layout is certainly very important. But one must not forget that ventilation and lighting are also two vital elements that contribute to the success of a public toilet. In fact, these two elements have direct and instant influences on people s feeling when they enter and use the toilet. On the one hand, sufficient artificial lighting and mechanical ventilation should be provided to achieve a good service environment inside a toilet but on the other hand it is also necessary to minimize energy usage for environmentally friendly considerations. These two different aspects seem to be contradictory to each other. However, if they are properly coordinated and balanced off, a green and odourless public toilet is by all means achievable.

VENTILATION Whilst public toilet itself is actually the source of malodour, it is practically impossible to eliminate malodour completely unless the toilet is kept away from being used which does not seem sensible at all. Having said that, however, by careful consideration on the design of both natural and mechanical ventilation system for a public toilet, it is possible to minimize the nuisance of malodour both to the users as well as to the general public in the vicinity. Ventilation requirement According to international design guidelines and standards 1,2 &3 , the recommended mechanical ventilation rate for toilet is around 6 to 10 air changes per hour. However, in Hong Kong, due to its high population density, the usage rate of public toilet is generally high. It is therefore necessary to design the ventilation rate at 15 air changes per hour. With a higher air change rate, the removal of malodour is mo re effective. Furthermore, it will also create a higher air movement inside the toilet that would help drying up wet floor more quickly as well as provide some cooling effect to the users especially during hot and humid summer days. Remove malodour at source To minimize the spread of malodour inside a toilet, controlled and effective exhaust ventilation system is vital. The most effective approach would be to remove the malodour at its source as soon as possible before there is any chance for it to spread out. In general, the two major sources of malodour in a toilet are the WC cubicles and the urinals area. Conventional toilet ventilation system normally has exhaust ventilation outlets at ceiling level. However, this arrangement is considered not appropriate as malodour is generated at low to mid level when people use the toilet. The generated malodour will have to pass around the users nose before it can be removed by the exhaust air grilles at ceiling level. Besides, when the malodour substances move along, they might also be trapped inside the slits of the building materials and become very difficult to be removed. To avoid this, therefore, exhaust ventilation outlets should be located at low to mid level and close to the source so that malodour generated could be removed instantly before causing any nuisance to the users or diffusing to other parts of the toilet. Control malodour flow path To further enhance the ventilation effectiveness and also avoid malodour being spread through the whole toilet, the push and pull design approach should be adopted. Ducted fresh air should be supplied at high level of the clean areas in the toilet (e.g. wash hand basins area, circulation areas, etc.) so that a positive pressure is created at these areas. On the other hand, the malodour generation area is maintained at negative pressure by the exhaust ventilation system. The airflow path inside the toilet will thus be under control and fresh air will flow from the clean
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areas towards the malodour generation areas and then removed by the mechanical exhaust system. Alternatively, when the supply air is discharged above the WC cubicles, laminar flow diffusers should be employed and the supply air should be kept at very low velocity. This would avoid agitating the malodour at the source due to turbulent air current. Annex I shows a typical arrangement of the mechanical ventilation system for controlling odour flow path inside a toilet. Besides, the high level fresh air supply will also enhance internal air movement, which results in better human comfort as well as help drying up wet floors more quickly. Enhanced floor drying From experience, it is found that the floor under and near to the wash hand basins area is often in wet condition. The problem is more obvious when the hand dryers are located at some distances from the basins area. It is because many toilet users do not use the hand dryers and they just shake off the water droplets from their hands onto the floor after washing. To tackle this problem, blower fans are installed under the basins and blow air directly onto the floor to help drying up the wet floor more quickly (refer Annex I). Moreover, this would also induce some evaporative cooling effect to the toilet during hot summer days. If the basins area is attaching to an external wall, air can be drawn from the outside atmosphere and this would further increase the overall ventilation air change rate for the toilet. Natural ventilation Special consideration on the design of the toilet enclosure and layout could also enhance its natural cross ventilation and thus minimize the use of mechanical ventilation. Features like lifted-up roof, roof ventilation openings, external wall undercut, high and low level external louvres, entrance gate in lieu of solid door, unobstructed air flow path with respect to entrance opening position, openings on opposite walls, etc. are measures that could increase natural cross ventilation inside a toilet and help to remove malodour more quickly and effectively. However, the outdoor wind situation changes all the time and no one can really predict precisely how the wind would blow. As such, careful investigations on the wind statistics and site surveys must be carried out if a public toilet is to rely solely on natural ventilation. Moreover, in places like Hong Kong, the city development changes day to day. The designer must also consider whether the wind situation will be affected in future due to the erection of surrounding new building structures.

LIGHTING Lighting for public toilets basically includes three main aspects namely internal lighting, external lighting and signage lighting. Internal lighting is basically required for providing a safe and effective operating environment for the toilet users and the cleaners. The external lighting could enhance the architectural features of a toilet and also to make it perceptible at night time to the people who need it. The signage lighting enables the users to identify the appropriate toilet to go to. Illumination level In general, the recommended illumination level inside a toilet is designed at 100 to 150 lux 4&5 . This illumination level is basically sufficient for general applications. However, from experiences in Hong Kong, with this illumination level users often complain that the toilet looks a bit gloomy. This might probably due to improved living standards nowadays and people get used to brighter environments. As such, a higher illumination level of say 250 to 300 lux inside the toilet is recommended. With a brighter internal environment, the toilet would look to be cleaner and people who use the toilet would tend to give more care to avoid messing up the place. Besides, a higher illumination level could also deter crimes to happen inside the toilet.
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Artificial lighting The selection of proper light fittings for use in public toilets is very important. To minimize future maintenance requirements, the fittings chosen should preferably be of waterproof and vandal-resistant type. They should also be mounted at a height that is out of reach by the general public so as to minimize vandalism. Since the operating hours of these light fittings are rather long (some of them might need to operate 24-hours round the clock), high efficacy and/or energy efficient lamp elements should be s elected. As for exterior lighting, it should be so designed that the public toilet would blend with the local environment and/or surrounding buildings but could still effectively review its functional purpose. Natural lighting The use of artificial lighting inside a public toilet could be greatly reduced especially during bright sunny days if the toilet enclosures were designed to be more transparent. This could be achieved by providing more windows, use of skylights, glass blocks, etc. that would allow more daylight to penetrate into the toilet. However, care must also be taken to avoid causing green house effect inside a toilet due to excessive glass enclosures. Provisions for escape of hot air at high level of the toilet should therefore be allowed if there were considerable glazing areas. Careful consideration on a suitable balance between artificial and natural lighting for a public toilet is therefore required at the design stage.

ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATION In general, the major electricity consuming installations in public toilets are ventilation and lighting systems. To reduce the energy consumption of the lighting system the designer has to make good use of the available daylight. Whilst for ventilation system, maximize natural ventilation can reduce the energy requirement for mechanical ventilation fans. However, when minimizing the use of artificial lighting and mechanical ventilation, we must not desert the proper performance of the toilet and a careful balance should be made. Hence, a basic principle to be applied would be to shut down the unnecessary lighting and/or ventilation fans whenever they are not required in order to minimize energy consumption. Wind sensor control If the design of a toilet enclosure has maximized its natural ve ntilation capability, the operation of mechanical ventilation fans could be minimized. Wind sensor could therefore be employed for on/off control of the toilet mechanical ventilation fans. The wind sensor should be composed of a wind speed sensor and a wind direction sensor. By careful site adjustment during testing and commissioning, the toilet ventilation fans can be switched off when outdoor prevailing wind is strong enough to effect sufficient air replacement inside the toilet. Photocell sensor control The lighting system for a public toilet often operates 24 hours a day and 365 days throughout a year. It is therefore an area of concern in terms of energy conservation aspect. At areas near window openings, skylights, external door openings, etc., photocell sensor should be used to switch off or dim down the lightings with due reference to the outdoor daylight intensity so as to save energy. There are some light fittings now available in the market that incorporate individual built- in photocell sensor and the installation of these fittings are no more difficult than an ordinary light fitting. Occupancy sensor control There are certain periods of a day, e.g. mid-night to dawn, that a public toilet may not be occupied and some of the artificial lightings can then be switched off to save energy. This can be
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achieved by the use of occupancy sensors located at strategic locations inside a toilet to control the on/off of some of the lightings. To avoid frequent switching of the lightings which would shorten the life of the lamp element as well as the fitting, time delay device should also be incorporated. The locations of the occupancy sensors should be carefully planned such that no light fitting would be switched off when there is still someone using the toilet. The designer should also bear in mind not to switch off the lightings at the toilet entrance area otherwise it may give a wrong impression to people that the toilet is out of service. Photovoltaic panel Photovoltaic (PV) panel is environmentally fiendly equipment for generation of clean r and renewable electrical power. In Hong Kong, the duration of sunny and bright days throughout a year is comparatively long. It is therefore worthy to consider the use of PV panels especially the Building Integrated PV panels (BIPV) to obtain green power from the sky. BIPV panels can be used as the roof or external cladding of a toilet building. The generated DC power can be used to operate DC light fittings and/or DC ventilation fans inside the toilet. This is particularly useful for toilets at remote sites where utility supply is not readily available. In future, when the PV technology advances to achieve even higher energy output density, free air-conditioning to public toilets might also be realized. Other design considerations Besides electrical energy, one other natural resource that needs preserving is water. To avoid unnecessary wastage of water, infrared sensor water tap could be used. This would avoid running water tap being left unattended due to absent- minded toilet users forgot to close or not closing the water taps properly. Furthermore, subject to the approval from the local water authority, rainwater collected from the roof of a toilet could be stored up and used for flushing purpose. Besides, the use of auto-flushing device with infrared sensor for urinals and WCs is also a good means to deter the spread of malodour. Foul stuff generated by the users could be automatically flushed away as soon as the user leaves the urinal or WC. By doing this, it wo uld minimize the retention time of the foul stuff inside the toilet and enhance the ventilation effectiveness.

INTEGRATED GREEN DESIGN CONCEPT To achieve an ultimate green and odourless public toilet, neither building services installation nor architectural arrangement alone can achieve the best design solution. Careful and comprehensive design co-ordination among the building services engineers and the architects is vital. An integrated green design concept must be adopted by the design team. When artificial lighting and mechanical ventilation systems are required, the building services engineer should design an effective but yet energy saving lighting and ventilation installation to be used. The energy consuming equipment should be designed to operate only when they are absolutely necessary to enable the proper functioning of the toilet. As for the architectural side, the building enclosure and layout should be designed so as to maximize the use of natural resources, i.e. natural ventilation, daylight, rainwater, etc. But at the same time the designer should also consider the necessity of incorporating artificial lighting and mechanical ventilation systems to ensure that the toilet would still function properly when there were shortfalls in the na tural resources. Besides, the choice of proper building materials is also essential. Malodour substances and/or bacteria could be trapped in building materials easily and start to grow. As time goes by, these smelly substances would become very difficult to get ride of. Building materials with smooth surfaces and minimum gaps should therefore be used.
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Above all, whichever type of lighting and ventilation system or architectural arrangement is adopted, it should not be at the expense of the effective functioning of the public toilet.

HOUSE KEEPING AND PUBLIC EDUCATION Finally, good house keeping and maintenance are also the vital elements for achieving a successful green and odourless public toilet. Frequent and proper cleaning using suitable cleaning agent is necessary. A clean and dry toilet will definitely have less malodour problem and it will also render the users a more comfortable feeling both physically and psychologically. As for public education, campaigns should be organized to advocate the general public to behave more considerately when using public toilets, i.e. to flush away the foul stuff after using the toilet, avoid wetting the toilet floor carelessly, shut off water taps properly after use, etc. With the combined effort of both the ma nagement personnel and the users, the spread and growth of malodour inside public toilets would certainly become less disturbing.

CONCLUSION Mechanical ventilation and artificial lighting are the two major building services installations that need to be considered carefully in designing for a green and odourless public toilet. From energy conservation point of view, it is necessary to minimize the use of energy consuming equipment whenever possible. But however, this should not be at the expense of the proper functioning of the public toilet. Mechanical ventilation system should be so designed that malodour generated is removed at the source as quickly as possible and will not be diffused away. The toilet enclosure and layout should be designed to maximize its breathing ability. With the aid of energy conservation devices such as wind sensors, the ventilation fans can be shut down whenever the outdoor prevailing wind condition can achieve sufficient air replacement inside the toilet. In terms of lighting design, long life and high efficacy lamp source should be used. The building enclosure should be designed for maximum utilization of natural daylight but yet to avoid causing green house effect. With the aid of energy conservation devices such as photocell sensors and occupancy sensors, unnecessary artificial lightings could be switched off when situation permits. Finally, to achieve a green and odourless public toilet, integrated green design concept must be adopted. Both the building services design engineers and the architects must work hand in hand and coordinated among themselves carefully to come up with a design that could achieve the best toilet environment with minimum electricity consumption. Last but not least, frequent cleaning, maintenance and proper usage are also the indispensable factors that contribute to a successful green and odourless public toilet.

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REFERENCES 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. The CIBSE Design Guide Book B BSRIA Rules of Thumb ASHARE Handbooks The CIBSE Code for Interior Lighting The IES Lighting Handbook