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Archive for the ‘Reducing Facility Maintenance Costs’ Category
Friday, July 23rd, 2010
We recently came across a My FM Space blog post that noted 92 percent of organizations are working to make facilities more sustainable. The Global Facility Management Association’s Green Practices Study also revealed that 85 percent of facility managers have implemented energy efficient practices, and 74 percent have specifically adjusted operating hours of HVAC systems to do so. While energy is just one aspect of sustainability, 71 percent of those surveyed were wary of the cost associated with energy efficient initiatives.
One option facility managers on a budget have is to integrate an IAQ monitoring system with demand-controlled ventilation (DCV) into a building’s HVAC capabilities. The concept is simple – only ventilate a room or building when it’s needed. Specifically, an intelligent indoor air quality (iAQ) monitor can signal fans or ventilation systems when volatile organic compounds (VOCs) reach unhealthy levels. What’s the big deal about VOCs, you ask?
A room’s occupants judge the quality of the air not just by how it feels (temperature and humidity), but also by how it smells. Unfortunately, odors in offices, kitchens, gymnasiums and restrooms, for example, do not alter CO2 levels measured by most indoor air quality monitors. Plus, high levels of VOCs can cause health problems like headaches, dizziness or nausea.
In one real-life example, our iAQ module was integrated into an air handling unit. The entire system was installed in a gymnasium to monitor the quality of the facility’s air and control the speed of the air handling unit’s fan. Before the iAQ module was installed, the air handling unit was time-controlled, so the gymnasium was ventilated even when it was unoccupied. By switching to DCV, energy consumption was reduced by a whopping 60 percent. This boost in energy efficiency can help facility managers adopt sustainability practices and keep occupants happy without breaking the bank.
Tags: Demand-Controlled Ventilation (DCV), energy, energy efficiency, iAQ, VOCs
Posted in Improving Energy Efficiency, Monitoring Indoor Air Quality, Reducing Facility Maintenance Costs | No Comments »
Monday, June 28th, 2010
Have you ever asked your kids what they learned in school that day? Somehow, their initial answer tends to be, “Nothing.” Often, a little prying reveals that they did, in fact, learn something new. Perhaps they learned how to solve a difficult arithmetic problem, expanded their vocabulary or found out more about their country’s history. The truth is, children are curious and often eager to learn. Why let poor classroom air quality put a damper on their day?
Poor air quality in classrooms negatively affects academic performance and health – putting both student and teacher at risk. For many school districts, student absences lead to decreased government funding, while teacher absences lead to higher expenses. That’s pretty ironic if you ask us. We conducted a study of a typical classroom in Germany and found that the level of harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the classroom air exceeded healthy threshold limits within minutes after students arrived at 8:00 a.m. and exceeded those limits for the majority of the school day. Occupied classrooms are especially prone to high concentrations of bio-effluents (VOCs from human respiration, transpiration and metabolism). If left unchecked, VOCs can result in a variety of physical symptoms – eye irritation, headache, drowsiness or dizziness. Even though an increase in ventilation of just one-cubic-foot per minute can decrease absentee rates by up to two percent, very few classrooms have indoor air quality (IAQ) monitors. By signaling HVAC systems only when needed, the energy-efficient IAQ sensor helps maintain clean, healthy air so students can learn and teachers can teach.
Tags: children, classroom, health, iAQ, productivity, Safety, VOCs
Posted in Health and Safety, Monitoring Indoor Air Quality, Reducing Facility Maintenance Costs, Schools, Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) | No Comments »
Thursday, May 20th, 2010
Hello from the Sensor + Test show in Germany!
It’s been quite a whirlwind over these past two days, and we’ve engaged one busy booth. Not only have we had the chance to showcase our products, visitors have brought to light several new applications and potential product requests.
100 free samples of our Indoor Air Monitor were handed out, and it’s quickly becoming the coolest product at the show. Ok, so maybe that’s an exaggeration, but several people have commented on the monitor’s coolness. Not only is it ideally suited as an educational gift for HVAC companies, it’s also perfect for individual users within their own homes. Many visitors have also expressed a huge interest in Intelligent Air Quality (iAQ) products for demand-controlled ventilation (DCV) since the energy and cost saving potential is so apparent – not to mention the sheer functionality of iAQ. There is also a lot of buzz about standard H2 products like our HLS-440P and HPS-100 hydrogen sensor modules because of their critical role in fuel cell technology.
To all who attended, thank you for making us the leader in the gas sensor community.
Tags: Demand-Controlled Ventilation (DCV), Hydrogen, iAQ, Trade Show
Posted in Future Hydrogen Economy, Improving Energy Efficiency, Monitoring Indoor Air Quality, Reducing Facility Maintenance Costs, Trade Show Recaps | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 14th, 2010
Are you planning to visit Nuremburg, Germany for Sensor + Test 2010 in May? As it’s the leading forum for sensors, measuring and testing technologies worldwide, we’ll be there with new products. Be sure to stop by Stand 331 in Hall 12 where we’re unveiling our new Air Monitor and displaying our iAQ-2000 professional HVAC Air Quality Sensor. So sign up for your free ticket. Until then, here are a few product highlights to pique your interest.
The Indoor Air Monitor:
- Size of a computer memory stick
- Said to be world’s smallest IAQ sensor
- Plugs into USB port
- LED display glows green, yellow or red for good, fair or poor air quality, respectively
- Available for private labeling and distribution
- Now shipping to qualified distributors for retail sale to end users
- Includes one -year warranty
iAQ-2000:
- Sensitive, low-cost solution for detecting poor air quality
- Uses micro-machined metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) technology to detect VOCs
- Highly sensitive and fast responding
- Low power consumption
- Small size for convenient installation
If you can’t make it to Germany, don’t worry – we’ll be blogging from the show to bring you highlights and trends.
Free tickets for Sensor + Test 2010 are available at:
German: http://www.sensor‐test.de/service/sensorticket.php?Fid=50667
English: http://www.sensor‐test.de/service/sensorticket.php?Fid=50667&Spr=en
Tags: health, iAQ, VOCs
Posted in Improving Energy Efficiency, Monitoring Indoor Air Quality, Reducing Facility Maintenance Costs, Upcoming Trade Shows | No Comments »
Thursday, February 11th, 2010
We recently came across some pretty useful information on the Flagler Organics blog. Their “Cost of an Unheathy Office” post states that:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that: – medical care for major illnesses resulting from indoor air pollution cost more than $1 billion annually – lost productivity from those illnesses cost between $4.7 and $5.4 billion each year – lost productivity and increased sick leave time as a result of indoor-air-quality-related illnesses costs as high as $60 billion per year
We also found the same (uncited) information here and here. After scouring the EPA website, calling around and Googling away, we still can’t find the exact source of these EPA stats. Could you please help us out by letting us know if you’ve found the source?
Thanks in advance!
Tags: EPA, health, iAQ, productivity
Posted in Lend a Hand, Monitoring Indoor Air Quality, Reducing Facility Maintenance Costs | 1 Comment »
Friday, January 8th, 2010
Ever been to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas? It’s one of the world’s largest, with 2,700 exhibitors unveiling 20,000 new products. This year, saving energy is all the rage. New home automation products and services are everywhere. There are products to monitor your utilities and appliances remotely. Web-accessible systems to control your lights and HVAC from wherever you happen to be when you remember you didn’t shut them off. And plenty of gadgets, like monitors that plug into household outlets so you can track energy usage in every room.
Another way to reduce energy costs is to control bathroom fans so that they run only when needed. If you’ve got a just a couple of bathrooms, that might not save you much. But if you’re a facilities manager paying utility bill for fans running in hundreds of bathrooms, the savings can be quite significant. Fortunately, AppliedSensor’s VOC sensors are better at controlling bathroom fans than motion detectors or light detectors. If you’re interested in learning more about how VOC detection saves energy in homes and offices, you don’t need to fight the crowds in Vegas. Just give us a call.
Tags: VOCs
Posted in Improving Energy Efficiency, Reducing Facility Maintenance Costs, Trade Show Recaps | 1 Comment »
Monday, November 2nd, 2009
Have you ever walked into a room only to be met with an overpowering scent wafting through the air? Not only can odors affect how you perceive your surroundings, they play a role in your productivity, performance, mood and even your health. A room’s occupants judge the quality of the air not just by how it feels (temperature and humidity), but also by how it smells. Unfortunately, odors in offices, kitchens, gymnasiums and restrooms, for example, do not alter CO2 levels measured by most indoor air quality monitors.
As indoor air quality monitoring technology has become more sophisticated, it is now possible to detect the presence of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as acetone, heptane and many other metabolic products in human breath in addition to formaldehyde, cooking odors, human bio-effluents, outdoor pollutants, paints and lacquers, cleaning supplies, and toxins. Here’s a quick list of VOCs and their sources:
| Figure 1 – Examples of VOCs and Sources Substance Group |
Example |
Sources |
| Alcohols |
alcohol, mineral spirits |
cleaning supplies |
| Aldehydes |
formaldehyde |
building materials |
| Ketones |
butanone |
Paints |
| Esters |
methyl acetate |
Glues |
| Terpenes |
pinene |
Glues |
| Aromatics |
xylol |
paints and glues |
| Alkanes |
heptane |
human breath |
While today’s building owners and managers are diligent about reducing energy costs and utilizing sustainable materials, they often overlook the quality of the facility’s indoor air. Considering that contaminated air not only poses health risks to occupants, but also lowers productivity and comfort, indoor air monitors capable of detecting the presence of harmful VOCs are becoming more prevalent.
Some indoor air monitors use motion, light and heat detectors to signal the operation of ventilation systems. While those monitors may help maintain optimum temperatures, they cannot detect the odor of a tuna sandwich left in a desk drawer over the weekend, or cigarette smoke in someone’s clothes, etc. By detecting odors and other pollutants, VOC sensors optimize proper ventilation to ensure the highest air quality for occupants and reduce utility costs for building owners.
Over a period of several years, AppliedSensor monitored the performance of indoor air quality sensors installed in various locations including offices, cafeterias, schools, production facilities, apartments and homes. In one installation, an iAQ module is integrated in the air handling unit in a gymnasium to monitor the quality of the facility’s air and control the speed of the air handling unit’s fan. Want to know what happened after switching to demand-controlled ventilation? We’ll give you a hint – it affected both energy consumption and operating time. Here are the details.
Tags: CO2, iAQ, VOCs
Posted in Improving Energy Efficiency, Monitoring Indoor Air Quality, Reducing Facility Maintenance Costs | 8 Comments »
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