You’re probably breathing easy right now, but it’s still important to check the air quality where you live and work. We typically don’t realize we’ve arrived somewhere with poor air quality for long. We might get a tight chest or a little wheezy. If we stay there for any length of time, our eyes may become irritated.
Air quality is important not just in our towns and cities, but also in all types of indoor environments.
Why Is The Quality Of Air In Indoor Spaces So Important?
We spend the majority of our lives indoors, with a significant portion of that time spent at work. As a result, the quality of the air inside our workplaces is essential to our general well-being. Every year, 24,000 people die in the United Kingdom as a result of poor air quality. The financial burden associated with poor health caused by poor air quality is massive.
The Environment Act 1995, as well as the National Air Quality Strategies of 1997 and 2000, set standards and goals for a variety of key pollutants. The Air Quality Strategy is a policy framework that establishes requirements and objectives for a range of priority pollutants.
The air quality inside buildings is influenced by the air quality outside of them. While the majority of attention for government goes to environmental air quality, the air quality within structures will reflect that of its surroundings. The air quality in your facility may be much worse if it’s located near a congested road junction than if it’s next to open fields.
Poor air quality in the workplace has a negative impact on employee health, absenteeism, and productivity.
What Are The Benefits Of Ensuring That It’s As Good As It Needs To Be?
There are several reasons why the air quality in an office or workplace might be poor. While pollutants from the environment will make a difference, it isn’t the only influence on your building’s air quality. Even in congested urban areas, indoor air quality maybe ten to twenty times worse than outside.
Indoor air pollution may have a significant negative influence on the health of its residents. The impact in some situations can be so great that it causes “sick building syndrome.” This is a phrase used to describe the varied symptoms associated with indoor air pollution.
Headaches, shortness of breath, dizziness, a dry or itchy throat, eyes or skin irritation, tiredness, and attentional difficulties are among the most typical symptoms of poor indoor air quality.
CO2 can have many negative health effects, ranging from headaches and fatigue to respiratory problems and compromised immunity. CO2 emissions result in a variety of issues such as cognitive impairment that can lower productivity by 11%.
By ensuring that your workspace air quality is as clean as possible, you can remove the health hazards associated with poor air quality, allowing your employees to be productive and happy.
How Can Air Quality And Ventilation Be Tested To Ensure It’s At Its Full Potential?
It’s critical to test the air quality in a building to ensure that HVAC and other systems are working at peak efficiency. An air quality sensor allows you to examine the condition of different gases in the air.
There are a number of things that may be checked for, such as carbon dioxide (To guarantee that HVAC and other equipment are working at their maximum efficiency, it’s critical to check the quality of the air within the building. An air quality sensor allows you to analyse different gases in the air.
CO2 levels in a room are an indication of the air quality. CO2 can reduce the amount of oxygen in a space, so this is significant. Carbon monoxide, particles, germs, and organic compounds are just a few of the other air qualities that must be considered. Good ventilation is required to minimize the quantity of these types of pollutants
If the levels of these pollutants are high, it might signify that your HVAC system isn’t operating as smoothly as it should be.
A HVAC system provides healthy building conditions by exchanging stale air within the space. It maintains interior air circulation while introducing fresh outside air.
The process removes carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, pollutants, and moisture while replacing oxygen. This ventilation method prevents build-ups from forming while also eliminating noxious odours.
How Retro-Commissioning Can Help
If your HVAC system has been operational for an extended period of time, it is probable that it is operating at a lower level of efficiency than it should. Design and construction problems, as well as issues that have emerged throughout the building’s existence as equipment has aged or a building’s usage has changed, are all potential causes.
Retro-commissioning is a more comprehensive and methodical approach to enhancing the efficiency of an existing structure’s equipment and systems, as well as bringing them up to current standards. Any issues that arose throughout the design or construction process can be fixed.
Issues that may have arisen throughout the lifespan of a structure as equipment has aged, or as the building’s usage has evolved or been adjusted, are also examples. The major goal of this procedure is to improve the building’s overall performance and the comfort of its users. Air quality is an important aspect in people’s improved sense of well-being while residing
ECS Yorkshire is one of the UK’s most experienced retro-commissioning firms. We engage with customers from a variety of industries to develop energy-efficient, safe, and environmentally considerate structures.
