COVID-19 | DATA MONITORING Figure 3: Indoor air quality monitor in meeting rooms The rooms with the highest CO2 levels (Alexandra and Greencoat) are the smallest rooms in the office, with no windows or dedicated fresh air supply. Data has helped us conclude that only a single user at a time can use these rooms and, even then, with the doors open. The data also allows us to understand how many people can use other spaces simultaneously, for what length of time, and under what conditions. We are continually monitoring this data and displaying it live to empower users to make decisions, act, and feel comfortable using the space. We have found that leaving meeting room doors and windows open, as well as leaving a short time in between meetings to flush out the rooms with fresh air, has the biggest impact in ensuring that air quality is optimised through sufficient air changes. As temperatures cool and the ability to open windows becomes limited, we will be able to use this data further to make informed Figure 4: Electricity load proles for a typical London ofce before and after implementation of increased ventilation decisions about how we use our office space for example, by reducing the capacity of some meeting rooms. Covid safety, comfort and energy is there a conflict? There is no doubt that running ventilation for longer increases energy bills, especially where heat recovery is not available or not permitted. The extent of this additional energy demand can be very high. In a number of buildings, we have seen energy use increase by as much as 80% compared with pre-Covid levels, because of the additional hours of ventilation, heating and cooling, especially if AHUs do not have speed control. In conclusion building managers and engineers are telling us there are three factors to be aware of when reoccupying buildings. One is to mitigate extra costs that arise from increased ventilation levels and associated increased heating and cooling of air. Another is to communicate that your building is a safe place to work this ensures confidence for the returning building occupants. And the third factor is to use data and systems for visibility and control of the building, so that ongoing assurance of the safety of the workspaces is possible. All three are possible, but will often require additional or new sensors and processes. CJ KHASHA MOHAMMADIAN is senior energy performance consultant at Carbon Intelligence PARASOL Zenith Ready for change E N SIT ED O SOLV High performance 4-way distribution comfort module with cooling, heating and ventilation. PARASOL Zenith offers all the benefits of active chilled beam technology with added flexibly throughout your project. With the options of constant, variable or demand control air flow, PARASOL Zenith provides the perfect indoor climate. 32Parasol October Zenith 2020 Ad Folderwww.cibsejournal.com CIBSE.indd 1 CIBSE Oct20 pp30-32 Covid office data.indd 32 13/02/2020 15:45:45 25/09/2020 14:45