FEATURE
to deliver more. More can include addressing the effects of climate change by making a building more energy effi cient. More, after this pandemic, will include a critical appraisal of indoor air quality.
Around 70% of the world’s population spends an estimated 90% of its time indoors, and the World Health Organization estimates that in 2020 there were more than six million premature deaths due to air pollution much of it attributed to poor IAQ. Digitalisation has the power to evolve buildings from being fi xed passive structures into highly interactive and richly informative systems. Homes are becoming more autonomous, so that the mechanical components inside of the spaces created can ensure that occupants are safer, healthier and more comfortable.
Addressing
air pollution Air fi ltration has never been considered a hot topic, but refl ecting on what we know now, perhaps it should have been. Air quality plays an important role in our physical and mental health, and with COVID-19 good air fi ltration could mean the difference between sick and healthy, and in some cases, life and death. A fundamental requirement for energy effi cient mechanical ventilation and for effective air fi ltration is achieving a minimum level of air tightness in buildings. Air pollution is an increasing concern, as is maintaining an adequate level of oxygen within the built environment.
The air we breathe is made up of multiple gases, however for a human to function normally the air must contain enough oxygen. Under normal atmospheric pressure we normally inhale air that contains 20.9% oxygen; if this falls even by one or 2%, then functionality starts to become more laborious and the environment turns hypoxic, meaning that oxygen levels are low and could be harmful. Humans like fi res need to have a constant and assured level of oxygen, and as we consume oxygen, more must be delivered to us.
The link between pandemics and
building ventilation The design choices being programmed into buildings right
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now will be with us for years to come. This is a good thing because of the increased emphasis being placed upon, ‘Build tight, ventilate right.’ COVID-19 will not be the last pandemic disease we will suffer, but our spaces will be better prepared for when the next one strikes.
Frequent, regular and periodic testing for air tightness, air permeability, and quickly locating and quantifying air leaks in buildings, so that immediate remedial action may be taken, is now possible. Indoor air quality is a key issue in building design for homes, offi ces, hospitals, schools and factories. Our living and workplaces, be they at our homes or elsewhere, are where we need to be safe and productive.
This pandemic has shown the true value of good ventilation systems in buildings. There is a newfound respect for a hitherto poorly understood area of building engineering services. As we move on from a government rescue plan to a government recovery plan, an essential component of ‘Build back better’, should include frequent, regular, and periodic, mandatory testing for air tightness in the built environment. Thanks to Coltraco Ultrasonics and their Portascanner AIRTIGHT 520 this is now a faster, better and cheaper process.
www.coltraco.com/ TOMORROW’S FM | 57
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