2024 ASHRAE Sustainability Project
Introduction:
In March 2020 the world changed. The 2020 pandemic pushed people to pay more attention to the quality of spaces we live and work in.
With the 2024 ASHRAE Winter Conference being held in Chicago, the ASHRAE Chapter was given the opportunity to identify a local sustainability project to represent ASHRAE’s commitment to sustainability and to help offset the environmental impact from holding the Annual Conference here. Historically this has been an energy efficiency project. The decision has been made to address the topic of IAQ as a response to the global pandemic and as an attempt to educate the next generation of scientists. We decided to partner with Attune (previously Senseware), an organization that specializes in indoor air quality monitoring in real time, to educate elementary and middle school age children on what indoor air quality is and how it impacts our lives. The project consists of IAQ sensors installation in (2) schools, a half day hands on workshop and educational material. The local chapter volunteers will be coordinating all site work and installation related work with Attune and school management.
ASHRAE will cover the cost of the sensors, installation, and the fee to cover the program for 3 years. At the end of year 1 (2024) and year 3 (2027) a case study will be presented at the ASHRAE winter conference in Chicago.
Why Indoor Air Quality is Important to Schools
We spend more than 90% of our time indoors. This number increased after the pandemic. Several studies point out that indoor pollutants can be 2-5 times higher indoors than outdoors. The EPA indicates that this could be more than 100 times in some cases*. Good IAQ contributes to a favorable environment for students, performance of teachers and staff, and a sense of comfort, health, and well-being. These elements combine to assist a school in its core mission — educating children. EPA’s Science Advisory Board (SAB) have consistently ranked indoor air pollution among the top five environmental risks to public health https://www.epa.gov/iaq-schools/why-indoor-air-quality-important-schools
Project Scope:
- Project Partners: ASHRAE, ASHRAE IL Chapter, and Attune.
- IL-ASHRAE Volunteers, with Attune staff, to install 5 Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) sensors package in each selected school. Sumayyah Theron 312.430.4158 and Kevin Summers 630.561.8297 from IL-ASHRAE will be the main contacts for the project. Typical sensor’s locations to be included are a sample classroom, gym, cafeteria, lobby, and library.
- Once the sensors are live online, data can be collected for: Temperature and Relative Humidity, Carbon Dioxide, Total VOCs, Particulate matter, and Ozone. (T/RH, CO2, TVOC, PM, O3).
- Provide a half day workshop for teachers and students. The objective is to educate elementary and middle school students on the importance of indoor air quality through science and technology. The students will have the chance to explore the online platform and experiment with real life data. The curriculum meets Next Generation Science Standard.
School IAQ curriculum/Workshop:
Attune Indoor Air Quality Curriculum was developed by leading education and indoor air quality experts. Given that children have lived through a global pandemic they will be especially receptive and interested in learning about IAQ.
Grades: Developed for grades 7-8. Will be modified for students younger. Lessons can be customized based on school district location including environmental factors.
Duration: 6 Lessons will be shared with the teachers. All material will be covered in the half day workshop.
Format: Each lesson includes a lesson plan, teacher guide, presentation slides, student
activities, warmups, science and technology experiments, and worksheets.
Lessons Include:
- VOCs: What are they, where are they, how do they impact us?
- Indoor Air Quality & COVID Safety: Measuring Relative humidity and CO2
- Air Quality & Environmental Racial Justice: Asthma and Racial Equity
- Climate Change: Problems & Possibilities
- Real-world Application Project
- Final Presentation
Timeline:
Attune will work with ASHRAE IL chapter volunteers and the Senior Director of Buildings and Grounds of the selected school district. Installation time 1-2 days. Workshop to be conducted at the beginning of the new school year 2023-2024.
What does the packaged sensor look like?
Gateway
Gateways provide a conduit between IoT Edge hardware and the IoT Core (Cloud). Real-time data/control messaging is passed between the Gateway and IoT Core via a Wide Area Network (WAN) connection (e.g., cellular).
Node
Nodes create a wireless communication infrastructure with a Gateway. Each solution-ready Node supports multiple Universal Sensor Interface ports for rapid configuration to your data needs using a catalog of pre-built Bridge devices.
Monitoring Platform
Additional resources:
ASHRAE’s Epidemic Task Force Core Recommendations for Schools