- The development of this new UNE Standard responds to the need to complement and improve the requirements established by quality standards and current legislation.
- Experts in ventilation, aerosols, measurements, and standards gave a broad view of the importance of protecting air quality and its consequences.
- At the event, the recently published UNE Standard was presented, which provides a comprehensive procedure for the implementation, validation and auditing of CO2 continuous measurement systems.
Madrid, 26 January 2024 – On Thursday, 25 January, the headquarters of the College of Industrial Engineers of Madrid was the venue for the presentation, organised by Aireamos and the General Council of Official Colleges of Industrial Engineers, of the new UNE Standard to protect health through the control and measurement of CO2.
The event was attended by the president of the General Council of Official Associations of Industrial Engineers, César Franco, who highlighted "the work of industrial engineers since the beginning of the pandemic, warning of the need for ventilation to avoid contagion through aerosols". He was joined by Patricia Ripoll, promoter of Aireamos, who highlighted the new UNE Standard as a crucial step towards a safer and more conscious future that "provides people with the knowledge and power to make informed decisions to protect themselves and others".
The development of the new Standard UNE 171380: 2024 on Continuous measurement of CO2 in interiors for health prevention and well-being improvement responds to the need to complement and improve the requirements established by the quality standards and current legislation. In this seminar, experts in ventilation, aerosols, measurements and standards gave a broad view of the importance of protecting air quality and its consequences, as well as presenting the recently published UNE Standard that provides a comprehensive procedure for the implementation, validation and auditing of continuous carbon dioxide (CO2) measurement systems.
The UNE 171380 standard covers the requirements to be met by measurement equipment, the project for its implementation depending on the types and uses of the enclosures, the management and reporting of the data obtained, the establishment of CO2 concentration thresholds for air quality, and the procedures for auditing these measurements.
This document will contribute to achieve the indoor air quality requirements established in the current regulations and their evolution.
The UNE Standard has been developed in a working group in the UNE Committee on Indoor Environmental Quality (CTN-UNE 171), led by Aireamos and the secretariat by the Federation of Indoor Environmental Quality Companies (FEDECAI), with the support of the General Council of Official Associations of Industrial Engineers and the participation of all stakeholders. research centres and universities, citizen platforms, professional associations of engineers, architects and technical architects, manufacturers of gas detectors and building automation systems, manufacturers of ventilation and air-conditioning equipment, installers, public administrations, indoor air quality consulting and research companies, facility designers and managers, and trade unions.
A seminar with international experts
The presentation was attended by José-Luis Jiménez, industrial engineer and professor of Chemistry and Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado-Boulder, who pointed out that "as CO2 increases, there is a greater potential for cognitive deterioration". Jiménez stressed that "the survival of the virus in the air is greater when the CO2 level is higher. The continuous measurement of CO2 not only indicates that exhaled air is accumulating, but that the virus is also accumulating, allowing it to survive and infect people".
Rafael Postigo, Project Manager of the Spanish Association for Standardization, UNE, stated that "technical standards provide an effective response to the major challenges facing society and organisations, and are a solid support for public administrations in the development of regulations".
Margarita del Val, PhD in Chemistry and researcher at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the Severo Ochoa Molecular Biology Centre, said that respiratory infections vary widely in their nature and effects, being released into the air we share when we breathe or cough. "Each infectious agent is unique and attacks differently, but the common denominator is our contact with them. Reducing the presence of the infectious agent in the air we breathe is essential, and one of the simplest and most effective measures to achieve this is the continuous monitoring of our shared atmosphere. By making these invisible and complex hazards visible, we empower ourselves to make decisions based on our individual and collective level of risk, and thus protect our health and the health of others".
Del Val took part in the Round Table "Taking care of health based on CO2 measurement", where Miguel Ángel Campano, professor of the ETS-Architecture at the University of Seville and member of COViDWarriors, also took part; Salvador Puigdengolas, Industrial Engineer and Associate Professor at the Polytechnic University of Valencia; and the deputy director of the ETS of Architecture at the University of Seville and member of VentilANDo, Samuel Domínguez.
Campano said that "in many cases the ventilation of spaces is at odds with the way buildings are constructed, which are airtight, as air quality was not previously considered as an element that has a direct impact on our health and cognitive performance. We need to create a traffic light system with dynamic thresholds, established on the basis of current regulations and the relative risk of contagion, according to the specific conditions of each site and adapted to different circumstances."
Puigdengolas, for his part, insisted that "for many years there have been regulations and a high level of awareness about ventilation in certain hospital areas such as operating theatres or ICUs, but nevertheless, when leaving this sector it seems that economic savings are more important, leading us to recirculate the air instead of renewing it. We all have to work together to raise awareness about this. What had not been done so far was to correlate the data. The challenges were how we integrated and processed that data, but mainly how we guarded that data so that it was reliable and trustworthy".
Domínguez stressed that "this standardisation process, indicating how it is measured, how it is transmitted, and how it is transferred to the user, makes technical information accessible to the user. Air quality must be branded as a value."
The event was closed by Manuel Soriano, Vice-Dean of the Madrid Association of Industrial Engineers.
