The 21st of June marks Clean Air Day, the purpose of which is to raise awareness about air pollution while promoting the adoption of more sustainable and environmentally friendly practices involving air quality. The importance of these initiatives cannot be understated, the World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that except for man-made climate change, dangerous polluting of the air represents the biggest environmental health risk we face as a species, currently responsible for 4.2 million premature deaths annually.
Increasing the risk of Lung cancer, bladder cancer, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes, air quality is certainly an issue which deserves our attention. It is encouraging then that it appears to be an issue which has of late received more public attention. For example, Sadiq Khan’s current London administration has introduced a slew of initiatives to reduce air pollution in London (one of the most polluted worldwide), increasing the fleet of electric buses, introducing taxes for polluting vehicles, extending the ultra-low emissions zone, introducing air quality audits in primary schools and joining the call for a 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel vehicles with other UK mayors nationwide.
At Considerate Hoteliers we have also been acutely aware of the risk of air pollution and have as an organisation taken proactive steps with our clients to help reduce and mitigate its effects. Air quality is a metric which we can help our clients track through our data management platform Con-serve™, allowing them to track live air quality throughout their premises, including CO2 and volatile organic compounds. Furthermore, Considerate Hoteliers in light of Clean Air Day recommends that business owners perform routine maintenance on their ventilation and air conditioning units, keep air flow rates at a minimum of 8 litres of fresh air a second (l/s) and reduce the use of CFC, HCFC, HFC’s in their operations. The World Green Building Council states that better air quality can result in 8-11% improvements in staff productivity so it is never too late to take steps toward increasing air quality, as it is Clean Air Day why not start today?
