Posted on
Carbon dioxide levels today are higher than ever, reaching a new record high in 2018, according to the State of the Climate in 2018 report. It should be no surprise that as a result we are breathing in more CO₂, which could cause a number of damaging health effects or even death.
Unfortunately, some buildings and spaces are vulnerable to CO₂ buildup and the high levels go unnoticed until it’s too late. Higher indoor levels of CO₂ could be an indication of HVAC issues or the lack of fresh air being introduced into the environment.
Have you ever caught yourself nodding off at your desk or during a meeting? Even though some may blame this on the presenter, the true culprit could be increased levels of CO₂. But dozing off during a meeting isn’t the only outcome of higher levels of CO₂.
In 2012, a study was done on the direct impacts that increased CO₂ levels have on human decision making. The study was performed by the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science from the Upstate Medical University at SUNY Syracuse and the Indoor Environment Department from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Twenty-two subjects were exposed to varying levels of CO₂ and asked to complete tests where they had to make decisions during each exposure. Overall, the results showed that as higher levels of CO₂ were introduced to the environment, decision making abilities decreased.
In order to be proven as fact, many more studies and tests will need to be done on the impacts CO₂ has on human decision making. Evidence of decreased decision-making abilities can be applied to an educational or office setting as having detrimental effects. When making important decisions in a work or school environment, simply having too much CO₂ in the environment can have undesirable effects on the outcome.
To combat this, ventilation systems must be installed and CO₂ levels need to be accurately monitored. Data loggers, such as the RFCO2RHTemp2000A can be employed to monitor temperature, humidity and CO₂ levels in real-time. This wireless data logger can transmit data in real-time to a central PC or into MadgeTech Cloud Services for up to date monitoring from any internet enabled device.
Being able to view this data in real-time gives supervisors the ability to notice when levels are exceeding the acceptable limits and make the adjustments to maintain the environment and productivity. Alarms can also be set up within the MadgeTech Data Logger Software to audibly sound from the device, or send text or email alerts to users when CO₂ levels meet or exceed acceptable levels.
Having the proper monitoring devices in place takes the guesswork out and instills confidence that safe and healthy CO₂ levels are maintained at all times.
