Air quality in aging school buildings sometimes leaves much to be desired

Several studies show that the CO₂-content in our classrooms is in some cases up to four times higher than it should be. Then, when you know that children spend about one-third of their time in school during the school year, we have to look for solutions. 

Indeed, the consequences of a poor indoor climate are serious for both students and teachers: they have trouble concentrating, one suffers from feeling drowsy, they struggle with burning, red eyes, to name a few. Ultimately, this negatively affects students' results. Moreover, it leads to absenteeism among students and teachers.

SIEGENIA offers with the whisper quiet wall fan AEROPAC an ideal solution to significantly improve the air quality in schools and positively influence the comfort for and results of students.

The vast majority of school buildings in the Netherlands today are equipped with a ventilation solution based on natural air supply and mechanical air extraction. Thus, fresh air enters through window grilles and a mechanical fan takes care of the removal of polluted air. Nevertheless, the result is not always optimal and often insufficient fresh air enters through the window grilles. Teachers are then advised to open the windows. However, this is only a temporary solution, because the effect disappears as quickly as it came. 

Moreover, opening windows can also create noise pollution, and in the colder months the indoor temperature drops significantly. Teachers then prefer to keep the windows closed, resulting in too little healthy air coming in, ultimately increasing CO₂-concentration as a result. Partly because of the COVID-19 measures, the poor state of the indoor climate in school buildings has once again become painfully obvious.

Ventilate for a healthier and more comfortable indoor environment

However, the solution need not be complex. There are several simple systems to achieve a better indoor climate in the classrooms of outdated school buildings. SIEGENIA's AEROPAC is a good example. 

"With our AEROPAC, we offer a whisper-quiet wall fan that blows clean, oxygen-rich air into the room. It is an ideal solution for both small and large spaces. Thanks to this ventilation solution, windows can simply remain closed and noise pollution is eliminated. The easy installation makes this fan an ideal addition to the already existing ventilation system in older school buildings," explains Jeroen Wolters of SIEGENIA.

"The installation takes no more than three quarters of an hour. Then you plug in the power cord and the operation of the fan is started. For an optimal indoor climate, it is possible to combine the AEROPAC with a SENSOAIR. This sensor measures the air quality in the room and takes into account CO₂ and volatile, organic compounds (VOC), such as glue, for example. Thanks to optional filters, this AEROPAC wall fan can also keep environmental influences out of the classroom. Just think of harmful and/or annoying substances, such as fine dust, pollen, odors. In this way, one ensures good indoor air quality in classrooms at all times, which ultimately leads with certainty to better learning performance and less absenteeism."