Providing a safe and healthy learning environment for students, staff and families is a top priority for all schools in Beijing, but WAB has gone above and beyond. They have been working diligently to provide a long term solution to this perennial Beijing issue. Part of their campus is now equipped with an air filtration system that constantly pumps super-filtered, clean, tempered air pressure into their buildings, safely and quietly. This is the same advanced technology that keeps pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities clean.
Over the spring break holiday, Western Academy of Beijing (WAB) put finishing touches on their state-of-the-art air filtration system in their school which has reportedly been a phenomenal success. Encouraged by these results, they are currently installing new systems in the Middle School (MS) and High School (HS) buildings as well. When completed in August, 2016, those buildings will be filled with the same high-quality air with low PM2.5 levels, as the Early Childhood Center and Elementary School buildings are now.
Keeping the PM2.5 reading low depends on various factors and having a state-of-the-art filtration system in place is just the first step. Schools need to have quite a few precautionary measures in place to keep their air clean. WAB regularly tests and reviews its air filtration systems.
A DUSTTRAK device is used to measure indoor air quality in school buildings on a daily basis. All classrooms are also equipped with a portable Blueair 603 filtration unit, with HEPASilent ®filters, which are inspected and changed regularly. WAB’s windows and doors are airtight to reduce infiltration. Main entrances to the school have overhead devices to keep pollutants from entering the building, while vacuum cleaners with the HEPA filter are used to reduce in-house generated PM2.5 pollutants.
Even with their current system, the PM2.5 levels in the MS and HS classrooms already register below 50. Those numbers will improve tremendously, to the same levels in the ES and ECC, once the installation of the new systems in the MS and HS is complete by August. They boast that their indoor PM2.5 readings, ranging between 2-6 when the outside readings are AQI 300 or more, is the best possible air in Beijing. We can’t argue with that now, can we? A breath of fresh air indeed!
Photo Courtesy: Western Academy of Beijing
