the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
| 18 Jun 2025
InAPI (v1.0): an Excel-based Indoor Air Pollution Inventory tool to visualise activity-based indoor concentrations of pollutants and their emission rates for the UK
Abstract. Indoor air quality (IAQ) has become a critical focus of research due to the substantial amount of time people spend indoors (approximately 80–90 % of their lives), where a significant proportion of air pollution exposure occurs. However, understanding how time and activity dependent sources, as well as built environment characteristics, influence pollutant emissions and distributions remains very limited. Addressing these challenges, InAPI — an Excel-based Indoor Air Pollution Inventory tool — has been developed using data synthesised from a comprehensive review of UK indoor air pollution research. For the development of the InAPI tool, we have categorised existing literature by pollutant types, indoor environments, and activities, identifying significant knowledge gaps and offering an open-access database of typical pollutant concentrations and emission rates. InAPI leverages this database, which includes estimates of emissions from multiple sources based on chemical mass balance methods, to enable users to visualise indoor pollutant levels and emission characteristics across the varied UK indoor settings. Despite the fragmented methodologies in historical IAQ research and the underrepresentation of key sources, pollutants, and environment-specific characteristics (in particular ventilation and occupant behaviour), InAPI consolidates this evidence into a practical and easy-to-use tool. This tool facilitates standardisation of IAQ measurement protocols and the creation of activity-based indoor emission inventories, bridging critical research gaps. By providing a robust platform for understanding indoor air pollutant dynamics, InAPI represents a significant step forward in advancing IAQ research in the UK and beyond given the transferability of the approach, supporting efforts to mitigate indoor air pollution and inform policy initiatives nationally and globally.
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Status: open (until 19 Aug 2025)
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CEC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2025-783', Juan Antonio Añel, 23 Jun 2025
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Dear authors,
I have checked your manuscript, and its compliance with the code and data policy of our journal. Unfortunately, I doubt that an spreadsheet based upon a proprietary software can be considered a contribution enough to be considered a geoscientific model, and therefore, in scope for our journal. I would like to bring this to the attention of the Topical Editor.
Beyond it, a main issue remains outstanding, and it is that your work depends on a proprietary software, Excel, which is an enormous limitation to its use and compliance with long-term replicability of your work. First, .xls files are not a fully compliant ISO standard, and this means that even having access to the Excel software, it is not assured that a version different to the one that you have used to create the .xls file can open it, and make possible to use it. Regarding this, you have not identified what Excel version you have used to create the file. Also, for example, I do not use Excel, but the fully compliant ISO software LibreOffice: I have tried to use the file that is your contribution in this manuscript, and it has been impossible because it does not work with LibreOffice.
Therefore, it would be good if at minimum, you can make the .xls file that you have produced, compatible with other software packages and Excel versions, beyond the one that you have used. Second, it is not clear the scientific value of your contribution, that it can be considered a model, and therefore if it merits publication in our journal.
Juan A. Añel
Geosci. Model Dev. Executive Editor
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-783-CEC1 -
AC1: 'Reply on CEC1', Zaheer Ahmad Nasar, 11 Jul 2025
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Dear Dr Añel,
Thank you for your thoughtful comments and for highlighting perceived issues regarding the code and data policy, software accessibility, and the scientific scope of our manuscript.
We appreciate your concerns and are addressing the key issues below:
Software and Format Compatibility
Regarding the use of Microsoft Excel and the implications for long-term reproducibility, we would like to clarify and respond as follows:
We acknowledge the general limitations of relying on proprietary software and the issues surrounding the .xls format. The tool we developed uses specific functions and features that are only available in the latest versions of Microsoft Excel (specifically, Excel Microsoft 365 MSO - Version 2505 Build 16.0.18827.20102 64-bit). Downgrading to earlier versions would unfortunately result in loss of core functionality and impair the operation of the tool.
However, to address accessibility concerns and ensure broader usability:
- We have tested and confirmed that the tool runs fully and correctly using the open-source office suite ONLYOFFICE (https://www.onlyoffice.com/en/download-desktop.aspx), which is freely available for Linux, Windows, and macOS platforms.
- ONLYOFFICE does not require a Microsoft Office license, offering a viable and cost-free alternative for users who do not have access to Excel.
- We will update the manuscript and the user manual to include this compatibility information, along with clear usage instructions and a note on software requirements.
Fit to journal remit
With respect to your comment on fit to GMD journal remit, we would like to point out that we have approached a GMD editor in advance and also established that GMD includes within its remit the publication specifically of “spreadsheet-based models”; the wording on the GMD scope in March 2025 also included “utility tools used to build practical modelling systems, such as coupling frameworks or other software toolboxes with a geoscientific application” which matches very well what we have submitted – it seems the wording on the GMD website has changed slightly since, but this obviously happened after our submission and it would be very unusual to change a journal’s remit for papers under review.
Relevance of tool to GMD readership
Our spreadsheet-based tool is a modelling tool highly relevant to the GMD community as we define a system of equations and formulas that let interact inputs to return outputs. We provide information of observations, ventilation and building size, we calculate the emission rates from these inputs and we produce as outputs the individual emission rates by pollutant and by activity for all the involved pollutants. This tool has attracted wide interest across the IAQ community in particular when presented at conferences in the UK, Iceland, Finland and the US and is considered a key output of the UKRI Clean Air Programme (Strategic Priorities Fund).
Yours faithfully,
Zaheer Ahmad Nasir
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-783-AC1 -
CC1: 'Reply on AC1', Christian Pfrang, 11 Jul 2025
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Please note that while the text on “model description papers” seems to have moved on the GMD website since submission, the wording still includes specifically “utility tools used to build practical modelling systems, such as coupling frameworks or other software toolboxes with a geoscientific application” which matches very well what we have submitted.
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-783-CC1
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AC1: 'Reply on CEC1', Zaheer Ahmad Nasar, 11 Jul 2025
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Data sets
Indoor Air Quality Emissions & Modelling System (IAQ-EMS) - Indoor Air pollutants database A. Mazzeo et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15630355
Model code and software
Indoor Air Pollutants Inventory (InAPI) Tool A. Mazzeo et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15630454
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