ASHRAE Journal - July 2024 - 62

Advertorial
5
REASONS TO MONITOR YOUR
INDOOR AIR QUALITY
According to the World Green Building Council, we spend 90 percent of our time indoors. Given that
statistic, it's clear the quality of the air we breathe in buildings can dramatically impact our health and
well-being. At Reliable Controls we believe sustainable buildings are a key component to reducing the
health and environmental impacts of indoor and outdoor air pollution.
1 Improve comfort and productivity.
Research from the US Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA), informs us that indoor air contains two to five times
more volatile organic compounds than outdoor air due to
chemicals found in buildings. This impacts human health,
from eye and throat irritation to respiratory diseases
and cancer.
And while you can't yet monitor the presence of a virus like
COVID-19 in the air, you can measure a number of factors
that affect the risk of viral transmission: temperature,
humidity, and CO2. These air-quality measures are also
linked to workplace well-being and productivity, so the
better the air in your building, the better your occupants
are likely to feel-and perform.
2 Save energy.
Excessive ventilation wastes energy. Ideally, a building's
ventilation system provides just the right amount of air.
Many ventilation systems, especially older ones, are based
on constant air volume, which means they always operate
at full capacity. By converting to a variable air volume
system, you can optimize your energy efficiency with
demand-controlled ventilation. The EPA found that a
ventilation upgrade from constant air volume to variable
air volume can achieve annual energy savings of 10 to 21
percent. Beyond that, with air-quality sensors, you have
access to real-time data that informs when and where to
efficiently deploy air filtration and temperature control.
3 Identify trends.
4
Spot problems.
Most people know IAQ sensors can warn building
managers about safety issues like smoke or carbon
monoxide. Did you know they can also tell you how
much particulate matter is in the air? Or how many
harmful volatile organic compounds are circulating in
your space? IAQ data can help you determine where to
focus cleaning, when to service equipment, when to
change filters, and when to increase or decrease
ventilation.
Integrating IAQ sensing technology into your building
automation system means you can collect building data
that helps you perform preventative maintenance and
avoid system failures. By tracking pollutant levels
continuously over time, for example, you can easily identify
where and when to address changes in air-quality
parameters. Long-term trends are almost impossible to
detect with periodic spot sampling, which provides only a
snapshot of data points at a particular time.
5 Earn building certifications.
IAQ monitoring is a key component in healthy building
certifications like LEED and WELL. To earn certification under
LEED v4.1, for example, a building must meet a minimum IAQ
requirement intended to benefit occupants, maintain
ventilation system equipment, and follow guidelines for
mechanically and naturally ventilated spaces. The WELL
Building Standard establishes requirements that promote
clean air in buildings and reduce or minimize sources of
indoor air pollution.
reliablecontrols.com/IAQ

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ASHRAE Journal - July 2024

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