Energy Efficient Ways to Create a Healthy Indoor Environment

Are you running an eco-friendly business? You have to meet your business objectives while keeping your carbon footprint as low as possible.

When it comes to a workplace environment, you want to focus on optimizing the space for maximum productivity. As an eco-friendly business, you want to make sure you do so in an energy efficient manner.

For the most part, employees will be increasingly motivated the better they feel. You want an environment that they want to be in. Having the air musty or an environment full of allergens is not conducive to satisfied employees. However, by integrating a strategic Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) plan with air quality monitoring, you can improve how your employees feel and perform. This plan should utilize different things like air filtration, ultraviolet light, and even photocatalytic oxidation (PCO). The return-on-investment potential is mind-blowing considering how satisfied and productive your employees will be.

1. Air Filtration

There are plenty of different allergies people have. Unfortunately, these allergies can be triggered very easily. Luckily, there is plenty of different allergens that can be drastically reduced or even eliminated using professional air filters. Using high-quality air filters can help trap mold spores, pollen, dust, and more. This can keep the allergens out of the air making it much healthier to breathe. This can minimize the number of symptoms your employees suffer from while working in the office.

Not only that, but it can also drastically skyrocket the efficiency and effectiveness of the entire HVAC system. How does it do this? Well, the air filtration system is meant to keep dust, pollen, and other things from building up. This can minimize buildup and keep the system from needing to be maintained as often. It can also keep the airflow optimized. When the system doesn’t need to work as hard to push the air through, it can function more efficiently. This can drastically reduce the total cost of keeping the HVAC system running. Thus, the filters can conserve energy in a big way.

2. Ultraviolet Light Treatment

Whenever an employee gets to work and they are sick, they are only going to introduce their germs to the shared environment. Unfortunately, these germs are not only transmissible through the surface. They are also going to be distributed through the air and the HVAC system. This can increase the spread of the illness and make it much more likely it becomes an office-wide problem. When you have the air passing through UV light, it can drastically decrease the spread of the virus droplets. It can disinfect the air and reduce the spread of these viruses through the air.

A lot of HVAC systems will experience mold growth at some point. After all, the internal workings of these systems are moist. Thus, if the system is resulting in allergens, the IAQ problem is only worsened. When you install UV lights for the system, it can minimize mold growth and it can even help keep clogs from happening. It ultimately keeps the level of contamination under control, and it can eliminate a lot of the unnecessary coil cleanings that would normally have to occur.

3. Photocatalytic Oxidation (PCO)

The fact is the air in the office can get contaminated for a lot of reasons. It can get polluted with various substances. One of them is volatile organic compounds (VCOs). These are harmful gasses that are released by different solids at room temps. Any odor that stems from this process can be detrimental to one’s health. This can be something as simple as new carpets, warm printers, or anything else. These things can cause problems, especially in an office environment with there being so much of it in the environment.

This is a newer type of air filtration process that specifically targets VOCs. It works like a disinfectant for the air. The system has a titanium dioxide coating grid that is energized by Ultraviolet lighting. Through the system, it creates an oxidation process that effectively breaks down the VOC molecules to turn them into less harmful water vapor and CO2. These systems are powerful enough to successfully break down smoke from cigarettes.

Everyone Wins

It’s not difficult to see how much this can help an employer and its employees. After all, everyone in the office is going to be healthier because of it. It’s not only going to keep everyone healthy and happy, but it can make everyone more productive because they will feel better and more energized by having access to cleaner air. Best of all, it can boost energy efficiency throughout your workplace too.