Urgency of action

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has shown an urgent need for a healthy indoor air quality. Low levels of CO2 are related to an decreased risk for spreading COVID-19, while humidity levels of around 50% are optimal for shortening the lifespan of virus particles in the air. This has moved society all over the world to reconsider the importance of indoor air quality and it has resulted in many new policies related to ventilation in buildings.

Next to the spread of viral diseases during a pandemic, there is a bigger picture related to indoor air quality and human health. CO2 levels are a good indicator for indoor air quality overall, when CO2 levels rise too high inside buildings, the people in the building suffer from headaches, tiredness and even reduced performance. Considering that we spend approximately 92% of our time indoors, indoor air quality must be warranted at all times.

Next to CO2 there are other dangers to human health, such as particulate matter, which are very small particles that get stuck in the lungs or even in the bloodstream. This is especially a danger in large, polluted cities and next to- or in industrial environments. Apart from particulate matter, there are other dangerous gases, such as radon gas, which is a naturally- occurring, colorless, odorless radioactive gas that is the second largest cause of lung cancer. A lot of air quality dangers are especially eminent in indoor environment, as air sometimes gets trapped due to a lack of ventilation, whereas outdoors this quickly disperses.

Apart from air quality, water quality is another important topic in Talkpool’s sustainability framework. Water pollution is a problem that affects drinking water supplies as well as the environment. In some cases water is polluted by human action, for example when water from construction sites is not cleaned before being released into nature. In other cases, water gets polluted by flaws in the sewage systems, such as when sewage systems overflow.

UN Sustainable Development Goals:
3. Good health and well-being
6. Clean water and sanitation

Talkpool is world leader in providing solutions for good indoor air quality. Based on its high precision IoT sensor devices for temperature, humidity, CO2, particulate matter and radon gas, the company provides data insights, alarms and building management system optimization solutions to ensure a perfect indoor air quality is always guaranteed in buildings. The BMS optimization solution is currently running in over 1 million square meters of building space, contributing to a healthy indoor climate in dozens of large buildings.

In the water industry, Talkpool has been part of the LoV-IoT project, funded by IoT Sweden this project was concerned with the monitoring of water quality in Sweden between 2017 and 2020. Today, Talkpool is part of the SCOREwater project, an EU funded project that focuses on enhancing the resilience of cities against climate change and urbanization by enabling a water smart society, operational in the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.

Furthermore, Talkpool has developed devices that can monitor water quality and report this data online, providing valuable insights into water pollution and early detection of failing water treatment equipment.