Press release -
WORLD IEQ FORUM 2022: LIFE-SAVING AND MONEY-SAVING REASONS FOR FOCUSING ON INDOOR AIR QUALITY
Stockholm, Sweden, 27 June 2022 – One way to protect people from air pollution, is to provide clean and healthy air inside of buildings. This was a main conclusion at the 6th World IEQ Forum, held in the Sweden Pavilion at EXPO in Dubai, earlier in 2022.
The EXPO in Dubai may have concluded but the topic of indoor air quality still remain a mainstream concern discussed globally. There were two reasons for the 2022 World IEQ Forum having had an extra focus on Indoor Air Quality (IAQ):
- According to World Health Organisation (WHO), the risk of spreading the COVID-19 virus between people is higher in poorly ventilated indoor settings.
- In September 2021, WHO published the first new version of their global Air Quality Guidelines since 2005.
“New scientific studies place the threshold of air pollution exposure considered harmful to human health 50% lower today compared to seventeen years ago, when the previous WHO Air Quality Guidelines were published”, says Tobias Zimmer, Camfil’s Vice President of Global Product Management & International Standards.
Also add that a recent WHO study states that 99% of the world’s population lives in areas with too much air pollution. Air pollution that is causing serious human suffering in the form of diseases and millions of premature global deaths yearly, and on top of that, substantial economic costs.
“In the North African and Middle-Eastern regions, air pollution is responsible for 270.000 deaths every year at a cost of 141 billion US dollars, according to the World Bank”, says Tobias Zimmer.
He goes on to point out that most people today spend 90% of their time indoors, and that the simplest and best way to achieve protection against harmful airborne particles is to invest in efficient air filtration solutions in our buildings.
“The need for quality air filtration is reflected via the much lower PM2.5 and PM10 threshold levels stated in WHO’s new Air Quality Guidelines. These thresholds also align with Eurovent Guideline4/23 for the selection of EN ISO 16890 rated air filter classes for general ventilation applications.”
At the same time, Tobias Zimmer is careful to emphasise that you cannot have a same-solution-fits-all approach to cleaning the indoor air. “Consensus at the World IEQ Forum was that every solution has to be tailored to where the building is located. The outside air quality must determine the solution you have inside.”
For example, he says, what works in a temperate zone might not be right in regions with high humidity. “The needs can also vary within a region. Cities are more afflicted when it comes to air pollution than the countryside. Some cities are more polluted than others. And so on.”
Image: Tobias Zimmer, Camfil’s Vice President of Global Product Management & International Standards.
The World IEQ Forum is an opportunity for experts on indoor air quality, like Tobias Zimmer and his colleagues, to engage with, for example, representatives from the Ministry of Health and other influential representatives from various countries.
“It is imperative that we continue to raise awareness around the urgent need to protect people from air pollution. When you look at the human and financial costs on a global level, it is evident that we can’t afford not to protect ourselves.”
Tobias Zimmer says they didn’t just talk about the importance of healthy indoor air quality (IAQ).
“We also demonstrated proof of concept by measuring the outside and inside air at the location during the EXPO. Dubai’s outdoor air was ten times more polluted than the WHO recommendations. The air inside the air filtrated Sweden Pavilion was well below WHO limits for particle concentration.”
He concludes by saying that the effect of the clean indoor air in the Sweden Pavilion was visible to the naked eye. “After several hours of listening to me and other speakers, the audience was still fresh and alert. So, you could say that we certainly ‘walked-the-talk’ when it comes to proving the benefits of clean, healthy and productive indoor air.”
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For more than half a century, Camfil has been helping people breathe cleaner air. As a leading manufacturer of premium clean air solutions, we provide commercial and industrial systems for air filtration and air pollution control that improve worker and equipment productivity, minimize energy use, and benefit human health and the environment. We firmly believe that the best solutions for our customers are the best solutions for our planet, too. That’s why every step of the way – from design to delivery and across the product life cycle – we consider the impact of what we do on people and on the world around us. Through a fresh approach to problem-solving, innovative design, precise process control, and a strong customer focus we aim to conserve more, use less, and find better ways – so we can all breathe easier.
The Camfil Group is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, and has 31 manufacturing sites, six R&D centres, local sales offices in 35 countries, and 5,200 employees and growing. We proudly serve and support customers in a wide variety of industries and in communities across the world. To discover how Camfil can help you to protect people, processes, and the environment, visit us at www.camfil.com.
