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Olf (unit)

The Olf is a unit used to measure the strength of a pollution source. It was introduced by Danish professor P. Ole Fanger; the name "Olf" is derived from the Latin word olfactus, meaning "sense of scent"^[1].

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One Olf is the sensory pollution strength from a standard person defined as an average adult working in an office or similar non–industrial workplace, sedentary and in thermal comfort, with a hygienic standard equivalent of 0.7 bath baths per day and whose skin has a total area of 1.8 square metres. It was defined to quantify the strength of pollution sources which can be perceived by humans.

The perceived air quality is measured in Decipol^[2].

Examples of typical scent emissions

Person/object	Scent emission
Sitting person	1 olf
Heavy smoker	25 olf
Athlete	30 olf
Marble	0.01 olf/m²
Linoleum	0.2 olf/m²
Synthetic fibre	0.4 olf/m²
Rubber gasket	0.6 olf/m²

References

^ Fanger, O. P.: Introduction of the Olf and the Decipol Units to Quantify Air Pollution Perceived by Humans Indoors. In: Energy and Buildings. 12, 1988, 1-6
^ Fanger, O. P.: Introduction of the Olf and the Decipol Units to Quantify Air Pollution Perceived by Humans Indoors. In: Energy and Buildings. 12, 1988, 1-6