The people in office buildings care about the quality of the air they're breathing. Surveys from Infogrid and Ambius found "74% of U.S. employees are concerned that poor indoor air quality (IAQ) is having a negative impact on their health and half of office workers under age 35 think their companies could do more to manage their workplace's air quality."
What is the best way building managers and companies can improve the Indoor Air Quality?
We asked our Senior Product Manager, Isaac Townsend.
"Smart building technology is the most comprehensive way to monitor IAQ. It’s important to automate optimization and the ability to share out live IAQ metrics to people in your building to let them know it is important and you are monitoring it,” he said. “You can also give transparency into what the quality is at any given time for reassurance. After all, buildings should serve people’s needs and provide a healthy indoor environment, which is crucial for wellbeing and productivity."
Healthy indoor air quality (IAQ) can return up to a $6,500 increase in productivity, per employee according to a study by Harvard University and up to a 35% decrease in absenteeism due to a healthier environment according to a study by Environmental Health.
Not only does it impact the physical health of building occupants, but it also plays a significant role in their mental wellbeing. According to a recent article by PropModo, poor IAQ can lead to an increased risk of mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. Higher levels of carbon dioxide can correlate to symptoms of what is known as “sick building syndrome,” such as headaches, dizziness, and poor concentration, which leads to decreased productivity and cognitive function.
We understand the importance of IAQ, especially to creating healthy environments for anyone entering a building or workplace. A study from Honeywell found 72% of office workers around the world worry about IAQ in their buildings while only 15% reported receiving regular updates. Transparency is vital and using advanced sensors and algorithms to continuously monitor and adjust air quality in real-time has created benefits such as improving productivity, health, and confidence.
Cohesion’s IAQ monitoring and optimization program
Cohesion has the tools, knowledge and expertise to monitor indoor air quality throughout your facility. Our technology takes a holistic approach to optimize conditions using the industry’s most widely used IAQ sensors and scalable automations.
Our IAQ program monitors air quality and offers a platform to provide transparency to building occupants with real-time information. The program also creates automated IAQ optimization where when pollutants reach a designated level, the HVAC system will automatically increase airflow in areas that need it.
It can also help reduce energy consumption and lower operating costs by avoiding an indiscriminate building-wide increase in airflow, and, instead taking a more targeted approach by increasing airflow only in affected zones and spaces as needed. Sharing IAQ information to occupants through our web and mobile platform brings reassurance they are breathing healthy air in their workplace.
See how Cohesion is the most intelligent IAQ solution: https://cohesionib.com/smart-building-automated-iaq-optimization/
