THE CLEAN AIR ACT

Indoor Air Quality must be important - they’ve even created a TLA for it; IAQ. Pollutants may be as much as five times higher indoors than outdoors. What is the potential for clean air support systems? Asks Paul Kasler, installer and Director at Aura Air Limited.

To quote the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding Indoor Air Quality and your Health – ‘EPA studies of human exposure to air pollutants indicate that indoor levels of pollutants may be two to five times — and occasionally more than 100 times — higher than outdoor levels’. These levels of indoor air pollutants are of particular concern, because most people spend about 90% of their time indoors. Health effects from indoor air pollutants may be experienced soon after exposure or, possibly, years later. Immediate effects may show up after a single exposure or repeated exposures. These include irritation of the eyes, nose and throat, headaches, dizziness, and fatigue. Such immediate effects are usually short-term and treatable. Sometimes the treatment is simply eliminating the person’s exposure to the source of the pollution, if it can be identified. Symptoms of some diseases, including asthma, hypersensitivity pneumonitis and humidifier fever, may also show up soon after exposure to some indoor air pollutants.

THE GOOD NEWS

At least one good thing has come out of the pandemic - people are much more aware of the impact of indoor air quality and good ventilation. Offices and schools have undergone extensive research over the past decade, confirming that excessive concentrations of CO2 and VOC (volatile gases such as car fumes) affect performance and concentration.

Air Filters, humidifiers and Ionisers have been around for years, but none of them actually tell you if it does ‘what it says on the tin’. The best you get is a red, yellow or green light on the top of the unit. Well, that is all going to change as ‘IoT meets Filtration’ - Smart Filters that automatically react to improve air quality using AI. Integrated sensors that continuously measure specific air quality parameters to assist in this instant decision making, without requiring any human intervention. Email alerts when conditions go above pre-set safety levels. And all this data is saved to the cloud in readiness for when the government actually demands that properties confirm to not just safety, but air quality standards.

Maybe your client owns a block of flats and needs to stand up in a COVID-19 litigation case, to demonstrate they not only acted above and beyond government guidelines, but also have the data to prove it! Automated alerts can also be set up for high risk scenarios and the resulting action can be recorded - again for legal protection. We have already seen property insurance companies increasing their rates - maybe in the future they will demand a monitoring and recording system to be in place as a pre-requisite to help protect occupiers against the next pandemic?

The next generation of smart filters, also have API’s, links to the IFTTT app and also realtime access to local, external air quality data. At the simplest level, this technology could be used to automatically turn down the cinema filter system when the home cinema room is occupied. At the most sophisticated level, rather than sucking in poor quality air during the morning and evening rush hour, the smart filter could instruct the HVAC system to temporarily turn itself off.

The next standard for Smart Home Control? What will your clients be asking for on their ‘Home Automation Dashboard’ in the next few months? Room temperature, humidity, lighting levels are now the norm. In the future, it will be CO2, particulate and VOC levels, advance warning of high pollen levels and automation of their HVAC & Filter systems to take pro-active action. Isn’t this the real “Smart Home”?

A genuine smart home that can help support people’s health as well as their other needs.