With the COVID-19 pandemic appearing in 2020, many companies today are incorporating indoor air quality into their reopening strategy to ensure the health of their tenants and employees.
Tracking indoor air quality is the first and probably the most important step in improving and maintaining indoor air quality, as it allows you to identify air quality trends and implement effective strategies such as ventilation and purification without sacrificing energy efficiency.
At Kaiterra, we work with global clients, including Microsoft, Google, and BMW, to deliver accurate, reliable, and accessible air quality monitors like the Kaiterra Sensedge. With our rich experience empowering our clients to take control of their air, we would like to share with you some key pieces of advice about choosing the best air quality monitoring system for your building.
Crucial Considerations for Choosing an Air Quality Monitor
What are your project goals?
Before implementing an effective air quality monitoring system, you need to identify what you want to accomplish. Will you be using air quality data to improve the efficiency of your ventilation system? Are you looking to optimize the health and productivity of building occupants? Both?
There are a range of air quality monitors available, with wide variation in:
- Sensing parameters
- Building certification compatibility
- Data collection & storage
- Building automation options & more
It will be much easier to choose the most fitting monitor for your project if you know what your project needs beforehand.
To illustrate this point, let’s take a look at building certifications. Top building certifications like WELL, RESET, LEED, and others have specific air quality monitoring criteria which you need to take into account before selecting a monitoring system.
For example, the RESET Standard requires that CO2 sensors in your air quality monitor have a resolution 5 ppm or finer, while WELL only requires a resolution of 25 ppm or finer. An air quality monitor may meet WELL requirements without meeting RESET Air’s more stringent resolution requirements, so you should be familiar with these criteria before investing in an air quality monitoring system.
How will you use your air quality data?
Furthermore, how will you access and leverage your data? This is an essential, yet often overlooked, component of choosing and air quality monitor.
Air quality data alone will not tell you how to solve an air quality issue; air quality data collected from monitoring devices need to be paired with intelligent, insightful data solutions that pave the way to a healthier, more efficient interior.
When your air quality monitoring system is paired with an analytics dashboard, like qlair’s, large amounts of data suddenly become much more manageable. Your dashboard can offer personalized recommendations for improving your air, automate HVAC functions, and predict future air quality changes. The data solutions offered by qlair eliminate the need for guesswork, integrating your air quality data into your building operations to save you time, energy, and cost.
What are physical requirements for your air quality monitoring system?
Beyond air quality data, the air quality monitor itself is a crucial part of your interior. Your monitor will be where the people are, so there are various functional and aesthetic features to consider, including:
- Connectivity & power options
- Display type
- Design
- Color
- Branding & customization
- Recalibration processes
Keeping the above air quality monitor features in mind, you will be able to pick the device most suited to your needs.
Meet the Sensedge: now works with qlair
The Sensedge is an innovative air quality monitor offered by Kaiterra, built with building certifications like WELL and RESET Air in mind.
Kaiterra’s Sensedge features sensors for PM2.5, TVOC, CO2, relative humidity, and temperature, with the option of adding custom parameters like formaldehyde, ozone, and carbon monoxide. Each sensor in the Sensedge can be easily replaced and recalibrated because of Kaiterra’s signature modular design, maintaining long-term accuracy and reliability without the hassle of traditional recalibration processes.
Best of all, Kaiterra has partnered with qlair to transform the data collected by Kaiterra’s commercial monitoring devices into actionable insights, recommendations, and source pinpointing. This revolutionary collaboration is especially important during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, as the combination of air quality data and AI-powered analytics can be used to assess the risk of indoor COVID-19 transmission.