Ensuring good air quality is key to our future
Not sure you can remember a world pre-Covid? One thing is certain. It is imperative that we look at our indoor environment and ensure it is as clean and free from bacteria and pollutants as possible.
We spend more than 90% of our time indoors and unless we take steps to ventilate our homes and workplaces correctly, the quality of the air we breathe can be 50 times more polluted than outdoor air, with all the associated health risks. Why is that? We only need to contemplate the number of cleaning products, hair sprays, paints, air fresheners and new furniture and carpets that we bring into our home to realise what we’re feeding our indoor air quality with. The presence of condensation and mould can also have an adverse effect on skin allergies and respiratory conditions.
And now with the arrival of COVID-19 parallels are not only being drawn between being indoors and a high transmission rate but also between air pollution and the increase in the R value of COVID-19 due to the effects of air pollution on respiratory conditions. Evidence is suggesting that people living in polluted cities are more at risk.
“The pandemic has not in any way reduced the urgency of tackling the multiple environmental crises that we were already facing – if anything, it has shown that we need to step up the pace and put the green transition at the heart of the recovery process. It has shown that we can and must do things differently,” emphasised the EEB’s Secretary General Jeremy Wates.
Ventilation is a key aspect in the green transition at the heart of this recovery process. Poor ventilation in confined indoor spaces is associated with increased transmission of respiratory infections (Evidence from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control ECDPC).
“Before there was any talk of COVID-19 A report was carried out by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) and the Royal College of Physicians on the health impact of indoor air quality on children and young people. The report explains that there is growing evidence that respiratory problems among children may be exacerbated by indoor air pollution in homes, schools and nurseries.“
Now with the pandemic very much in the spotlight, research from the ECDPC states that ‘HVAC systems may have a complementary role in decreasing transmission in indoor spaces by increasing the rate of air change, decreasing re circulation of air and increasing the use of outdoor air.
“VORTICE LIMITED has a wide range of MVHR systems in the product portfolio which continuously remove the stale air from wet rooms and supply constant fresh air at a low rate via a filtration system which ensures a clean indoor environment, with no need for further background ventilators via a filtration system which ensures a clean indoor environment“
We also offer the new Depuro Pro air purifiers which includes HEPA Filters (filters which have been discussed in the ECDPC document) which are capable of retaining 99.995% of micro particles including viruses bacteria and pollens. These units would suit many applications such as retail, hospitals and care homes.
What is apparent is that while VORTICE LIMITED has been discussing the importance of indoor air quality for years, the arrival of Covid-19 has brought this to the forefront of people’s minds. We have to work together to ensure we are thinking about how we can use ventilation to improve indoor environment.
