indoor air quality

If a school or business wants to boost productivity and performance, the answer may be hiding, invisibly, right under their noses. And in their lungs.

That’s right, air. According to The COGfx Study by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Syracuse University Center of Excellence, and SUNY Upstate Medical School, increasing the supply of clean air may boost cognitive functions—how we learn and make decisions– by over 100 percent.

The largest improvements were found in three domains:

Crisis Response: 131% Strategy: 288% and Information Usage: 299%.

(Note:Any thoughts on where we could use some brain boosting ventilation? White House? Pentagon? Tweet Room?)

The study compared the levels of Co2, VOC’s (volatile organic compounds) and ventilation in convention building conditions, green buildings, and green with enhanced ventilation.

Conventional: typical (~500 ppm) volatile organic compound (VOC) levels and 20 cfm outdoor air per person

Green: VOC levels reduced to approximately 50 ?g/m³ and 20 cfm outdoor air per person

Green with enhanced ventilation: VOC levels reduced to approximately 50 ?g/m³ and 40 cfm outdoor air per person

The study showed a 61 % increase in cognitive function in green buildings compared to conventional buildings, and a 101% increase in cognitive function in Green buildings with enhanced ventilation.

Granted, this is a small study in a controlled office environment. But these large effects should start us thinking about our opportunities to improve the performance of those who learn, work and live in our buildings.

What would it be worth to flip a switch and significantly improve the cognitive performance of the students at your school or the employees at your business?

In a March 2017 presentation at the NFTM conference in Baltimore, Christopher Walinski of Munich Reinsurance, America, discussed how his team is applying enhanced ventilation to an office area on their campus in New Jersey. The team has reduced energy use at their campus by 50% since 2007, and they are using occupancy sensors to manage the additional ventilation efficiently. The team is using plants in area planters and green cleaning to help lower VOC levels.

This work is not a study and they are not collecting data on occupant performance, but occupant comments have been positive. They are tracking the lowering of the Co2 levels (average of 514 in the test space vs 655 in similar office areas). The team expects to expand this enhanced ventilation to more areas on their campus in the future. They may be creating a template for other building managers to follow as they look to improve the productivity and health of their occupants.

In a second study, Cogfx2, the researchers examined ten office buildings in five cities and found that high performing, green certified buildings outperformed high performing, uncertified buildings.

4% higher cognitive test scores in high-performing, green certified buildings.
4% higher Sleep Quality scores in high-performing, green certified buildings.
30% fewer symptoms in high-performing, green certified buildings.
Thermal comfort and sleep quality associated with higher cognitive scores

Read the report: http://naturalleader.com/thecogfxstudy/study-2/view-the-report

As we looked for the cause of bad decisions and poor performance, our first question has been

“What were you smoking?!”

With what we are learning about cognitive function and ventilation, our second question should be

“What were you breathing?”

The outdoor lights are blazing away trying to keep up with the bright sun shining outside of North Avenue–the Baltimore City Public Schools district office. It’s an interesting welcome to a meeting on sustainability policy.

But inside the board room, something is different. Purpose and determination. As Cheryl Casciani, a school board member pages through the draft of the sustainability policy, she is pointing out parts of the policy that staff need to revise.

“Encourage isn’t strong enough,” We need to change it to Insist.”

Peering over her glasses at school officials, Casciani moves quickly through the document to ask for stronger policies to protect children. Her points are quick, thoughtful and insistent.

“I’d like all toxics out of our schools… stop bus idling in front of schools…it’s a health issue.”
For a school district that still hasn’t implemented green cleaning as required by the state, this insistence toward progress is necessary and overdue. Plagued with poorly maintained schools and a lack of resources, change will only come when it is demanded and verified.
But how can we verify that changes in policy to improve the health and learning of students will be implemented in our schools?

Let the students do it.

Let our students use their school as a science laboratory, gathering and analyzing data on factors that affect their health and learning. Using common professional tools and protocols, our student can monitor, analyze and report on the environmental factors that affect their health and learning.

Students can use Tools for Schools by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to proactively find and report issues that could trigger asthma attacks if left uncorrected. Using the Operations Report Card by the Collaboration for High Performance Schools (CHPS), students can monitor classroom ventilation, temperatures, humidity, and acoustics. Adding their school to the data base of the Energy Star Portfolio manager enables them to compare their energy use to similar schools and to calculate cost savings of energy renovations or improved operations.

As a hands-on science project investigating air quality, health, energy, engineering and technology, it aligns perfectly with Next Generation Science Standards, Common Core, Maryland Environmental Literacy requirements and STEM. This project studies the school as a system, integrating knowledge from the health professionals, facilities managers, custodians and teachers to improve the health and learning conditions at the school.
The information that students provide to the district could avoid or remedy health hazards, reduce repair costs and identify potential cost savings. In a pilot project at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, students and faculty noticed excessive water charges over a several year period. The city water department has now credited over $447,000 back to the school district. Not bad for a one week project.
This project empowers students to use science and innovation to improve their school environment, their learning, and their lives. We owe them this chance. Let’s insist upon it.

For all of our children, thanks, Cheryl.