Olarte, M. R. (2022). Improving the air environmental conditions in schools and offices through indoor sustainable algaculture (Unpublished thesis). Public Management Development Program, Development Academy of the Philippines.

Public Management Development Program. Middle Managers Class. Batch 28. Capstone Paper Thesis (PMDP-MMC)--Development Academy of the Philippines.

The Department of Education (DepEd) has a primary goal of protecting the well-being of learners, teachers, and personnel while ensuring learning continuity in the time of COVID-19. With the onset of the pandemic, the health and safety of buildings, especially the air quality inside the structure, has been a key issue. The main intent of this CP is to institutionalize sustainable indoor algaculture to enhance air quality in schools and workplaces.
Algaculture, or the cultivation of algae, contributes greatly to climate action by absorbing greenhouse gases and other pollutants. In this project, algaculture was introduced to the schools and offices using both large-scale and portable photobioreactors that were used to cultivate the algae, specifically Chlorella vulgaris. During air quality testing, the Interrupted Time Series (ITS) method was used to collect data on the indoor air quality of the rooms with and without algae. Before the intervention, the carbon dioxide (CO2) level peaked to as high as 1251 ppm and ended up to its lowest recorded value of 508 ppm only after the intervention.
In non-airconditioned classroom with regular ventilation, since two-tailed P value in the unpaired t-test was equivalent to 0.0312, the difference between indoor air quality measurements before and after treatment was considered to be statistically significant. That means the algae effectively improved the quality of air in the room. However, in the air-conditioned room, the P value was equal to 0.1012; hence, the difference was not considered to be statistically significant. On the other hand, the two-tailed P value using the measurements in the air-conditioned offices equaled to 0.0373 so there was also a significant difference in the air quality before and after the intervention.
Generally, the indoor cultivation of algae in schools and workplaces had greatly improved the air quality of the pilot classroom with 40 pupils and one (1) teacher, in terms of CO2, Formaldehyde (HCHO), and Total Volatile Organic Compounds (TVOC). In terms of the given air quality parameters, indoor algaculture enhanced the quality of the indoor air in the selected two (2) classrooms of Soldiers Hills Elementary School and five (5) offices of the School Governance and Operations Division of the Schools Division Office of Muntinlupa Office. The selected respondents in the focus group discussion (FGD) generally expressed that they were very satisfied with the effects of indoor algaculture in their workplaces. The CP outputs were the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with stakeholders, prototype photobioreactors, air quality testing results, and the crafted information, education, and communication (IEC) materials and presentation on algaculture.