16 June 2022
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On Clean Air Day 2022 (June 16), Elta Fans is urging businesses to adopt best practices when it comes to indoor air quality (IAQ) management, starting with better monitoring processes.
Air pollution is estimated to cause 36,000 deaths a year, and this year’s Clean Air Day highlights how “air pollution dirties every organ in the body”. Now, Elta Fans is urging business leaders and managers to take action and start putting sensors and monitors in buildings to help improve IAQ.
Elta is already leading by example, having received one of the UK’s first RESET certifications at its head office in the Midlands. By achieving the new accreditation, the ventilation company has decreased its peak CO₂ levels by 33%.
RESET is the world’s first sensor-based certification programme that is performance driven. Established as an accredited standard for air quality monitoring, it places emphasis on continuous results and long-term occupant health.
The certification is one part of a wider air quality and energy project at Elta Fans. The global ventilation manufacturer has also installed a new energy recovery unit at its Kingswinford premises, the PREMA 540 ventilation system, which has subsequent internal air monitoring.
Ana Cross, air handling unit product manager at Elta Fans, said: “Clean Air Day is a timely reminder that even though things are returning to normal following the pandemic, we must not rest on our laurels.
“At Elta, every day we strive to enhance life through air, and this can only be achieved if there’s better awareness of what the air quality is like around where we live, work and play. Monitoring pollutants is an intrinsic part of best practice for good IAQ and gaining RESET certification is one way to better understand the air we breathe in.”
During restrictions in April 2020, Elta used the building’s reduced occupancy as an opportunity to make improvements. It decided on installing a PREMA 540 accompanied by an electric heater to ensure ambient temperature conditions are maintained for staff comfort while also improving IAQ. Fitted with fine filters as standard (ePM1 55%), the system is well-equipped to remove any respirable particles from incoming air.
“From the moment the system was up and running, we carried out continuous live data collection in line with the RESET standard,” said Cross. “The results have been amazing. Not only has our office seen a 33% decrease in peak CO2 levels, but we also successfully achieved a pass status on all data to become RESET certified.”
Along with monitoring other parameters, for the purpose of the RESET Air certification, Elta Fans was audited against CO₂, PM2.5 (particulate matter up to 2.5 micron) and TVOCs (total volatile organic compounds). The process is carried out predominantly online and consists of a sensor deployment plan submission, a preliminary audit and a three-month long continuous data collection/audit with monthly reports to gain pass status. Once achieved, the certification is then valid for 12 months.
