Many factors affect indoor air quality. We are all individuals who react to different variables, so the cause of indoor air quality problems is rarely simple. Because the causes arise from a combination of factors, it has been understandably difficult to pinpoint the source of the symptoms. You can read more about the different factors affecting indoor air quality here.The latest technology now allows us to investigate and measure indoor air in buildings in each room without needing to disassemble any structures.
Devices report indoor air quality in near real time.
Sensors provide accurate indoor air quality data
New devices operating on radio networks (e.g. Sigfox) that can report the quality of indoor air in near real time have entered the market. They upload the measured variables to a cloud service, where the sensor data can be refined and monitored very flexibly as required. As they use a separate network, these devices do not need to use the building's network connection or even electricity, which makes them easy to both install and use.
In many problematic buildings, the pressure difference with the outdoor air is a common problem, which causes replacement air to leak through the structures or drains. Add to this the fact that the outdoor air pressure varies a lot in Finland with the seasons and different temperatures, and real-time measurement is definitely an excellent tool to address this common indoor air quality problem.
IoT technology offers an easy and economical way to monitor the results of measures based on data.
This technology can also be used to assess other indoor air quality factors, such as volatile organic compounds (VOC), particulate matter (PM2.5), carbon dioxide (CO2), humidity, and temperature. With room-specific data on these factors, we can solve a host of problems.
We can:
- react to rising values in spaces before people start showing symptoms
- narrow down the cause of a problem to a specific room or likely culprit
- verify by measurement whether the measures taken have actually solved the problem, and whether it is realistic to expect people to no longer have a problem with the indoor air quality – this is perhaps the most important aspect
- ensure that the problem will not reoccur, which is essential information for improving a building's airtightness, for example.
New IoT technology enables a preventive approach, faster response times and easy, economical and reliable data-based monitoring of the results of measures. Detailed laboratory testing will still be needed, but it can now be focused accurately on the right spaces and values. All this saves time and money, and hopefully provides us all with clean, high-quality indoor air.
See how you can get clean indoor air as a service in public buildings.
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