How the Internet of Things helps schools improve indoor air quality? – ticatag

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How the Internet of Things helps schools improve indoor air quality?

Throughout the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the primary focus of schools has been to protect the health and safety of schoolchildren and those who educate them.

To this end, more than 10,000 classrooms in Australian public schools have received new natural ventilation systems to protect staff and students from the spread of Covid-19.

The move comes as new research shows the spread of Covid in classrooms could be reduced by up to 80% with mechanical ventilation.

The study, conducted in just over 10,000 classrooms in Italy's Marche region during an outbreak of the Delta strain, found that Covid infections were sharply lower in the 316 classrooms equipped with mechanical ventilation systems .

Brisbane, Australia-based The Gap Cubbyhouse Montessori daycare has created a safer, healthier and more productive learning environment for its students and staff using Internet of Things (IoT) technology.

The Gap Cubbyhouse, part of the Montessori brand, is a long-term family daycare for children ages six weeks to six years.

Once it reopened after pandemic closures, the challenge for center staff was that maintaining a “Covid-Safe” environment required careful monitoring of indoor air quality.

With a wealth of experience in engineering and scientific methodology, centre director Sue-Ling Lau understands the importance of providing young people with good indoor air quality. She approached Australian companies Thinxtra and Zeplin.

“All child care facilities face the same threat of virus transmission, and by knowing the CO2 levels in a room, informed decisions can be made to minimize not only the transmission of COVID-19, but all airborne diseases,” Lau said.

“It’s been quite eye-opening to see the CO2 threshold alerts come through. We didn’t realize how high CO2 levels could get even in a low-density suburb like The Gap. Initially, we were getting alerts multiple times a day, but now we need them less because of the procedures in place to increase airflow.”

Lau said the center's trigger point is 800 parts per million (ppm) — which is an acceptable level of CO2.

“Complaints of drowsiness and poor air quality begin once CO2 exceeds 1000 ppm. These levels were surprisingly common in our center when we first installed the monitors.”

Thinxtra CEO Nicholas Lambrou says, “ The reality is you can’t properly manage what you can’t measure .”

“Ventilation, purification and filtration of indoor spaces are effective ways to reduce the risk of spreading disease, but without data, this happens largely by chance or intuition,” Lambrou told The Educator.

"We assume that the windows will be opened by staff consistently and that it will be effective."

Lambrou said that while traditional CO2 sensors offer point-in-time testing in that they capture data at a specific time, they rely on people to be present to read the data when an alert occurs.

“When you consider that indoor air quality can change within minutes and varies in different parts of a room, it is clear that there are gaps in the information available to schools,” he said.

“This is where the Internet of Things (IoT) comes in. The Sigfox low-speed network, which the Garderie leverages, allows battery-powered CO2 sensors to transmit data in real time, with timely alerts to inform the right actions that can be taken to improve airflow, filtration or ventilation.

Lambrou said the reason IoT monitoring solutions are effective for schools and any other indoor space is because they are quick and easy to install, require no connectivity to the facility's internal networks, no cables to run, no plugs to install and require no maintenance for years.

"This makes them cost-effective and gives schools the reports they need to satisfy stakeholders (elected officials, administration... parents)."

Lau said he was surprised to see the number of CO2 threshold alerts go up since the technology was implemented at the center.

“Parents are now telling us they feel very reassured that we are doing everything we can to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in our childcare, with daily deep cleaning of our facilities, weekly rapid antigen testing for staff and now CO2 sensors.”

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