The Nanoenvi IAQ device for monitoring indoor air quality, developed by an Asturian company specialized in sensors, monitoring, and the environment, has been installed on the fleet of public urban buses in Lanzarote. From now on, passengers will be able to find out about the quality of the air that is breathed inside the buses.
The installed equipment monitors the parameters of carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), PM10 and PM2.5 particles, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Based on them, the device calculates an index of ambient air quality that measures the level of health and well-being in indoor spaces. Bus users will be able to know the quality of the air they breathe with the naked eye, through color codes. The possible values of the index move in the range 0-7, being 0-1 poor quality (LEDs in red), 2-3 poor quality (LEDs in yellow), 4-6 good quality (LEDs in green), and 7 quality optimal (blue LEDs).
Identifying the main sources of pollution inside city buses will allow the council to design protocols to improve environmental comfort and the quality of the air that passengers breathe. In addition, in this context of a COVID-19 pandemic, the monitoring of CO2 levels is a key indicator to know the social distance and the ventilation rate. If equipment begins to show poor air quality on a journey, the driver can take measures to renew the air, such as opening windows or activating the air conditioning.
ENVIRA, the equipment manufacturer company, is not the first time that it has carried out a monitoring project in bus fleets. In 2016, it designed a pioneering form of environmental monitoring in cities, integrating its on-board equipment technology in municipal vehicles. The objective was to measure urban air quality in motion, on the road itself. This project was carried out in cities such as Madrid, Valencia, Tarragona, Gijón, and Oslo, where the air quality sensorization platform embarked on service fleets was a success. At that time, this system already incorporated an indoor air quality module, although it was still in a very early stage.
The indoor air quality monitoring devices designed by ENVIRA that have been placed on Lanzarote buses are equipped with high-precision sensors. Its installation has been possible thanks to the collaboration of the partner Sistemas Ambientales Canarios.
