5 ms·

> Unhealthy blood CO2 concentrations have been measured from people in common office environments where reduced thinking ability and health symptoms have been o

> Unhealthy blood CO2 concentrations have been measured from people in common office environments where reduced thinking ability and health symptoms have been observed at levels of CO2 above 600 ppm for relatively short-term exposures. Oh, that's scary. How often does that happen in small offices converted into open offices?! I've often noticed people acting strangely, missing small bugs or acting confused. I have a CO2 detector at home but those are only for extreme levels. How would someone check for unhealthy but not deadly concentrations?

gwern 8y ago
I wouldn't worry about it. OP is massively cherrypicking studies. That particular citation is an unreplicated experiment which contradicts literally scores or hundreds of other experiments going back half a century or more, including dozens sponsored by the US Navy investigating cognitive performance at CO2 concentrations all the way up to 20,000 PPM and higher, finding jack squat (which is why submarines are allowed to have such high CO2 levels, which saves on scrubbers & range). Here's one book reviewing CO2 studies: https://www.nap.edu/read/11170/chapter/5#54 https://www.nap.edu/read/11170/chapter/5#54 For comparison, your bedroom will routinely get to 1-3000 PPM while you sleep for 8-10 hours daily even if you leave the door open; have you noticed any ill effects or that you are borderline retarded while in your bedroom? Probably not... And see my discussion in https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/pPZ27eZdBXtGuLqZC/what-is-up-with-carbon-dioxide-and-cognition-an-offer https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/pPZ27eZdBXtGuLqZC/what-is-up... Since you have to go to 10,000 PPM or even 60,000 PPM to start finding serious effects of CO2, it's very hard to believe that the Satish effect is real or of the staggering magnitude claimed, or that global warming will, by increasing average CO2 PPMs by at most a few hundred over a century, will have much of an effect. (Not to mention that it would be easy to offset with office plants+better ventilation even if you buy the story.)

gwern 8y ago

I wouldn't worry about it. OP is massively cherrypicking studies. That particular citation is an unreplicated experiment which contradicts literally scores or hundreds of other experiments going back half a century or more, including dozens sponsored by the US Navy investigating cognitive performance at CO2 concentrations all the way up to 20,000 PPM and higher, finding jack squat (which is why submarines are allowed to have such high CO2 levels, which saves on scrubbers & range). Here's one book reviewing CO2 studies: https://www.nap.edu/read/11170/chapter/5#54 https://www.nap.edu/read/11170/chapter/5#54 For comparison, your bedroom will routinely get to 1-3000 PPM while you sleep for 8-10 hours daily even if you leave the door open; have you noticed any ill effects or that you are borderline retarded while in your bedroom? Probably not... And see my discussion in https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/pPZ27eZdBXtGuLqZC/what-is-up-with-carbon-dioxide-and-cognition-an-offer https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/pPZ27eZdBXtGuLqZC/what-is-up... Since you have to go to 10,000 PPM or even 60,000 PPM to start finding serious effects of CO2, it's very hard to believe that the Satish effect is real or of the staggering magnitude claimed, or that global warming will, by increasing average CO2 PPMs by at most a few hundred over a century, will have much of an effect. (Not to mention that it would be easy to offset with office plants+better ventilation even if you buy the story.)