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Indoor air quality is a key factor for performance, health, and comfort in educational environments. Schools and universities host hundreds of students and teachers every day in enclosed spaces where ventilation and environmental management directly influence well-being and academic performance.
Several scientific studies have shown that adequate ventilation and effective control of indoor pollutants contribute to improving concentration, reducing respiratory problems, and optimizing learning conditions.
Below, we analyze some main reasons why more and more educational institutions are investing in indoor air quality monitoring.
Educational spaces present conditions that favor the accumulation of indoor air pollutants. Classrooms, study rooms, and lecture halls bring together many occupants for long periods of time, which can lead to increased levels of particles, aerosols, and carbon dioxide when ventilation is insufficient.
Scientific studies published in Science and Physics of Fluids have shown how respiratory aerosols can remain suspended in the air in poorly ventilated indoor spaces, increasing occupant exposure to contaminants present in the indoor environment. Their conclusions reinforce the importance of monitoring indicators such as CO₂ to maintain adequate ventilation and improve air quality.
Indoor air quality is also linked to the development or worsening of respiratory diseases. Prolonged exposure to pollutants such as particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, or allergens can cause respiratory symptoms, eye irritation, headaches, or fatigue.
This is particularly relevant because, according to studies on child health in Spain, nearly 1 in 10 school-age children suffers from asthma, making it one of the most common chronic diseases among children.
Various studies have shown that indoor pollutants, such as particles or chemical compounds emitted by materials and cleaning products, may influence the development of respiratory symptoms and allergies.
Ensuring good indoor air quality helps reduce exposure to these pollutants and contributes to improving the well-being of students and teaching staff.
The relationship between indoor air quality and cognitive performance has been widely studied lately. Various studies have shown that adequate ventilation and the reduction of indoor pollutants have a direct impact on concentration, processing speed, and learning capacity.
Children in classrooms with higher rates of fresh air ventilation tend to achieve higher scores in standardized math and reading tests than children in poorly ventilated classrooms. A study published by ScienceDirect concluded that reducing the CO₂ concentration from 2,100 ppm to 900 ppm would improve performance on psychological tests and schoolwork by 12% in terms of task completion speed and by 2% in terms of the number of errors made.
When CO₂ levels increase due to insufficient ventilation, symptoms such as drowsiness, fatigue, or difficulty concentrating may appear.
Continuous monitoring makes it possible to identify these situations in real time and maintain adequate ventilation levels, creating more favorable conditions for learning.
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Adequate ventilation not only has implications for health and performance but also for building energy efficiency.
Heating, lighting, and air conditioning account for around 70% of all energy consumed in schools, and managing them efficiently is key to optimizing energy use.
Monitoring parameters such as CO₂, temperature, and humidity makes it possible to implement demand-controlled ventilation strategies, adjusting HVAC operation according to the actual occupancy of spaces.
This strategy makes it possible to balance two key objectives in building operation:
If you are keen to learn more about how to save energy through air quality monitoring in HVAC systems, we recommend reading this article.
The environmental quality of a building directly influences how students, teachers, and staff perceive a space.
A comfortable indoor environment with good ventilation and adequate environmental conditions contributes to the overall well-being of occupants and can influence overall satisfaction with the environment.
Thanks to continuous monitoring, it is possible to generate verifiable air quality data, facilitating transparency and communication with the educational community. Information panels or accessible dashboards allow users to visualize the environmental status of the building and reinforce trust in space management.
In addition, the availability of traceable environmental data can support certification processes for healthy and sustainable buildings, such as WELL, LEED or BREEAM.
More and more universities and public administrations are implementing continuous indoor air quality monitoring systems to better understand the environmental behavior of their buildings and optimize their management.
Among them, inBiot developed the following projects:
A campus indoor air quality monitoring network integrated with the university’s LoRaWAN infrastructure, generating verifiable data to support BREEAM certification and providing high-quality datasets for research on the balance between energy, health, occupant exposure, and environmental comfort. Learn more.
A project involving a continuous indoor air quality monitoring infrastructure in primary schools to support research on environmental exposure and children’s health, generating consistent datasets for longitudinal scientific analysis. Learn more.
A continuous indoor air quality monitoring network deployed in classrooms that allows real-time IAQ visualization improves ventilation and supports data-driven centralized management of educational centers. Learn more.
These projects demonstrate how continuous indoor air quality monitoring provides reliable and traceable data that help understand the environmental behavior of educational buildings and optimize their performance in terms of health, comfort, and operational efficiency.
