With its 13 institutions across more than 50 locations, the Carmelcollege Foundation manages over 2,000 classrooms. With the vision that teachers and students are entitled to a pleasant living and working environment, it decided to collaborate with SPIE during the COVID-19 period. Due to the pandemic, providing healthy classrooms became even more important. The ambition: to meet Class B of the Fresh Schools Policy.
How comfortable and healthy is it for the students in our classrooms? How can we gain more insight into this? And how can we improve that air quality? With these questions, the administrative office of the Carmelcollege Foundation approached PULSE CORE.
The importance of a healthy indoor climate in schools was emphasized even more during the coronavirus period. It was crucial to ensure that air quality was always maintained, so teachers and students could and can work in a safe environment.
Therefore, the air in every room is monitored. By installing CO₂ sensors, teachers are warned when action is required.
One of the major challenges for Carmelcollege was obtaining detailed insight into the performance of their climate installations, spread across more than 50 locations. PULSE CORE delivered a fully automated system providing real-time data.
How to meet the standards while simultaneously improving the indoor climate? SPIE was the partner that helped collect and interpret the required data.
A key part was identifying which installations were insufficient and how they could be improved. Carmelcollege wanted to know not only the current condition of the installations, but also which technical solutions were needed to comply with the standards.
SPIE worked closely with Carmelcollege to propose solutions, ultimately improving indoor air quality at all locations.
Cost control and optimization were crucial for Carmelcollege. SPIE supported the monitoring of operational costs and energy consumption, enabling Carmelcollege to adjust in time and reduce costs.
This was achieved without reducing classroom comfort and contributed to a more sustainable and efficient approach to climate installations.
The objective of the Carmel College is to gain insight into the performance of the climate control systems of all schools in relation to the indoor climate standard specifications from the acceptance criteria of the Fresh Schools Class B theme 'air'.
Thanks to a detailed plan developed by SPIE, the foundation now has current and long-term insight into the performance of the indoor climate at all locations. SPIE also contributed ideas regarding possible technical solutions to improve installations that did not meet the standards, so that the Fresh Schools Class B policy could be adhered to.
Carmelcollege opted for CO₂ sensors linked to PULSE CORE. This allows CO₂ concentration, humidity, and temperature to be monitored. The data is stored and can be displayed in various ways in available dashboards.
This system provides both teachers and policymakers with insight into real-time and historical climate data at the local, site, and foundation levels. This ensures that appropriate measures could be taken in a timely manner. Additionally, energy meters linked to PULSE CORE have been installed to map energy consumption and solar panel generation.
Moreover, SPIE's working method ensured a smooth implementation process. Thanks to a comprehensive project plan outlining the steps for execution and communication with the various locations, it was possible to anticipate and resolve specific issues.
SPIE responds to the fact that it is crucial for local users to feel a sense of ownership over the sensors and that they must therefore be the first to be able to resolve any potential issues. This is achieved by providing sufficient support, for example in the form of webinars.
Through insight into energy consumption and the comfort levels of the locations, timely action can be taken and optimization is possible. Technical solutions can be realized to meet government requirements and measures, thereby fulfilling the acceptance criteria of the Frisse Scholen Class B.
So, Stichting Carmelcollege is a satisfied client? “Absolutely,” answers Marga Moes. “In addition to the fact that we comply with all government requirements and measures, we can view the energy consumption and comfort of the locations, and our teachers and office staff on-site can do so as well. This insight allows us to take timely action and optimize where possible. We can now implement technical solutions that actually allow us to meet the acceptance criteria of the Fresh Schools Class B theme 'air'.”
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