Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Indoor Air Quality

Indoor air quality (IAQ) is a critical issue for school facility leaders. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) states about 50 percent of schools in the U.S. have IAQ complaints. These complaints could include odor issues and high concentrations of allergy and asthma triggers, and they affect the well being of teachers, staff and students every day.

The best practices for improving IAQ include source control, ample ventilation and air purification. All are necessary to reach optimal results and rely on each other for balance.

Increasing ventilation keeps carbon dioxide levels low, but can also accelerate the spread of germs and other contaminants. Limiting the sources of contaminants as much as possible reduces exposure and puts less wear and tear on your air purification system, but is not a solution for removing pollutants entirely. Air purification with true HEPA filtration removes up to 99.9 percent of contaminants from the air and can be used to address areas with higher levels of contaminants.

In sum, source control and ventilation are often school-wide initiatives, while air purifiers are a more targeted and effective approach to providing cleaner common areas.

Schools see the most benefits from enacting a comprehensive IAQ plan that includes all three of these components. Research shows that improving IAQ in educational facilities yields a big return, including higher productivity, reduced absenteeism and improved academic performance.

This article originally appeared in the issue of .

About the Author

Jeff Dryfhout, global marketing director for AeraMax Professional, champions efforts to improve indoor air quality within organizations as the next frontier in well being.

Featured

  • TCU Marks Campus Expansion Milestone

    Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, recently held a topping-out ceremony to mark progress on a major campus expansion effort including four new residential facilities and a five-story parking garage, according to a news release.

  • Wyoming District Breaks Ground on New Elementary School

    Laramie County School District #1 in Cheyenne, Wy., recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for the upcoming Mountain View Elementary School, according to a news release. The facility has an estimated completion date of summer 2028, and it will have the capacity for 650 students in fifth and sixth grade.

  • Dallas ISD Voters Approve $6.2B Bond Package

    Dallas ISD voters have approved a record-setting $6.2-billion bond package that district leaders say will modernize aging campuses, eliminate portable classrooms and reshape learning environments across one of the nation’s largest school systems.

  • Architectural Power for the Modern Campus Landscape

    For generations, an outdoor classroom only required a textbook and a patch of grass. Today, not only has the laptop replaced the printed pages, the rise of agile learning has turned campuses into study halls with students listening to lectures and researching topics from quads, gardens, and plazas. The challenge for architects and facility managers is to provide connectivity without cluttering the landscape with visual eyesores or creating safety hazards with extension cords.