The quality of the air we breathe indoors is crucial and an area seeing more focus and bigger investment. The Clean Air Strategy highlights that we spend 90% of our time indoors and therefore improving the quality of the air we breathe at home, work and inside other buildings is becoming increasingly important.
Many everyday items such as carpets, cleaning products, furniture, paints and even building materials emit VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) which could be damaging for our health. VOCs can also aggravate existing health conditions and cause dizziness, headaches and fatigue. Moisture (with a risk of mould) and carbon dioxide are also known pollutants found in many buildings and while we are increasing our insulation to save energy, we are also decreasing natural ventilation.
So, how can electrical wholesalers support their customers in tackling this problem and helping to improve indoor air quality? With effective ventilation products…
Given the big changes we have seen in efficiency targets and building standards over the last few years, new homes are much warmer and more energy efficient however they are unable to breathe naturally.
Installing ventilation products such as intermittent extract fans, background ventilators, passive stack ventilation, centralised or decentralised mechanical extract, or MVHR (Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery), will help to improve indoor air quality.
Manufacturers have responded well to challenges with plenty of types of these products. Each has their own advantages and disadvantages and wholesalers should be able to advise their customers of which are best suited to their needs.
MVHR has seen the most rapid development and deployment in recent years as awareness of indoor air quality has grown. It extracts air from the building through a central heat exchanger and then recovers heat back into the air supply. This is an effective solution as it is a cost-effective and balanced ventilation system that constantly supplies fresh filtered air.
There is a whole host of ventilation solutions available and there’s no one solution that will fit all of your customers. Whatever sector your customers are in, however, what’s clear is that wholesalers need to offer products that balance energy efficiency with the management of indoor air quality.
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