Airzone

Air Quality

People spend a good deal of time indoors.. Commercial operators, Employers, Developers and Retailers are challenged to provide comfortable situations and to devise projects that will attract employees, tenants and customers.

Indoor Air Quality

Indoor air quality is an exciting opportunity because its improvement makes people more comfortable encouraging them to stay and work longer. It also retards the deterioration of perishable merchandise, making goods fresher and of better quality. It also provides a healthier environment in which employees are at ease and more productive.

A Typical Public Environment

People are depleting the oxygen in the air, and producing heat and unpleasant pollutants such as cigarette smoke bad breath, germs, viruses and body odour. Airborne dust and pollen irritate people suffering from bronchial tract disorders such as asthma or hay fever or sinus problems. Glass windows allow solar energy to heat the air. Synthetic materials exude toxins, such as formaldehyde from chipboard. Heating and refrigeration equipment, electric motors and interior lighting transfer heat to the surrounding air and can cause positive ionisation. Cooking devices add heat, water vapour, odours and particles to the air.
Toilet facilities emit unpleasant odours. Cleaning and sterilising materials emit toxins such as chlorine and ammonia. Odours emerge from garbage collection points.

The Effects of poor indoor Air Quality

The temperature of the air, air motion, humidity and the incidence of radiant heat energy substantially influence human comfort levels. If air is moving, people feel cooler, because perspiration evaporates relatively quickly, reducing body temperature. Solar heat entering windows and radiant heat from ovens can cause significant heat stress. Adverse conditions cause people to become lethargic and irritable and to loose concentration. Air-conditioners are usually employed in an effort to reduce heat. Because these devices re-circulate the air, windows and doors have to be kept closed to ensure that they work effectively. Little or no ventilation occurs and the re-circulated air accumulates all the odours and toxins. An ideal breeding ground for bacteria exists in the air conditioning and heating ducting. Filtration devices and some air-conditioners incorporate filters that trap some odours, particles and toxins, but unless these are cleaned regularly, they are useless. Poor indoor air quality can be harmful to staff, customers and perishable merchandise. People can experience fatigue, headaches, nausea, bronchial disorders, skin irritations, aggressiveness and irritability. This general weakness of the immune system is caused by the breathing of contaminated air, and impacts on staff productivity and the over all comfort of the public and employees. Potential customers can loose their motivation to spend money and can decide to avoid the shopping centre in the future. Stored merchandise, especially food, deteriorates rapidly in adverse conditions.

Benefits of Improved Indoor Air Quality

Beneficiaries of improved indoor air quality in a shopping centre are its customers, tenants, staff and any perishable merchandise. As good indoor air quality results in improved comfort levels, staff motivation and concentration levels will be higher. Fewer costly mistakes will be made and staff turnover and absenteeism will be reduced. If customers are more comfortable, they will enjoy their shopping experience, stay longer, and will be more inclined to return. The shelf life of perishable merchandise such as electronic devices, rubber product flowers and fresh food will be longer and food will look more appetising and be less prone to contamination in good quality air.

Air Quality Solutions

Air has eight separate components, each of which is vital to its overall quality. These are its temperature, motion and electrostatic balance, and the degree to which water vapour, particulate contaminants, toxic fumes, odorous vapours, and oxygen are present. It is important to apply the appropriate combination of solutions to effect a profitable improvement to indoor air quality. 

Some solutions to poor indoor air quality are:-

• Ventilation entails the continuous replenishment of hot, stale, polluted air with fresh air. This process can alleviate oxygen depletion and remove excess heat, moisture, particulate contaminants and toxic fumes.
• Heating air that is too cold by passing it over plates or coils that have been heated by electricity, gas, or hot water is common. Radiant heaters are useful where it is impractical to heat the air.
• Cooling is usually effected by air conditioners. Traditional refrigerate air-conditioners cool or heat the air, and may or may not change humidity levels. However, they re-circulate more than 90% of the air and tend to dry the air. The process does not work if doors or windows are left open. An alternative is evaporative cooling, a process using natural physics that dates back to Egyptian times. Modern evaporative air-conditioners cool the air, add moisture and have the advantage of allowing windows and doors to be left open, simultaneously ventilating the area.
• Filtration can remove airborne particles, odours and toxic fumes. Some modern filters are very sophisticated, employing a variety of filter media in combination.
• Insulation can retard changes in air temperature and can inhibit radiant heat from devices such as ovens.
• Ionisation is the introduction of negative ions to improve the electrostatic balance of the air. Ionisation can also cause airborne particles such as dust and pollen to join, become heavier than air and fall to the floor, where they can be swept up.
• Ultraviolet technology is a non-chemical approach to disinfection where air passed by an ultra violet light if at the right levels and airflow will be purified and bacteria free.
• A new innovation called photocatalytic nanotechnology is now been utilised to clean and purify indoor air. The technology consists of Titanium dioxide (TiO2) crystals, only 40 nanometers in size, which form a molecular machine powered by light. TiO2 is a semiconductor charged by ultraviolet photons. When these nanoparticles are charged, powerful oxidizing agents called hydroxyl radicals are produced. These free radicals destroy airborne germs and pollutants in the air.
• Ozone purification is a particularly exciting approach to improving air quality. Ozone is nature’s own deodoriser and sterilant. Minute quantities of ozone injected into the air will completely neutralise all odours, including those generated by smoking, sewerage, cooking and people. In appropriate concentrations, ozone is beneficial to humans and will kill bacteria, viruses, germs, fungus and mould and will neutralise harmful toxins. Ozone also breaks down into oxygen, making the air fresher and free of chemical residues.