A new research paper has shown just how much there is to be gained by ensuring clean air in schools.
The student showed that air purifiers reduce school student absences by 12.5%. The cost per avoided absence was just 10.60€. The rate at which respiratory illness was reported as the reason for absence was reduced.
The study did not investigate run-on effects of reducing school infections on the students’ families. One can imagine they would also be significant.
The air purifiers used reduced indoor air pollution inside the classroom by approximately one third. The effect was stable regardless of variations in outdoor air quality.
The study centred on a randomized controlled trial with 95 classes spread across five public schools. The research was carried out by environmental economists in Milan. Alongside Poland, the Po Valley is Europe’s worst region in terms of air pollution.
Surprisingly, the effect on absences was only noted during spring and autumn, rather than in winter when air pollution in Milan is at its worst. This suggests that past a certain level of deterioration in air quality, the filters could not make a significant difference.
“These insights align with previous findings indicating that the marginal effect of air pollution on health is concave,” stated the research team. “Improving air quality when pollution is relatively low has greater health effects than doing so when pollution is high.”
Fortunately, this suggests such an initiative could also move the needle in regions with higher baseline air quality, like Australia.
“Healthy indoor air” was recently the topic of a global call to action event at the UN General Assembly. COVID has become the most significant rallying point, but this new research shows its importance goes beyond just COVID.
Indeed, expanding air purification into offices and public indoor spaces would likely have an ever greater cost-benefit outcome in terms of economic output.
For reference, the researchers used Netco Niveus NV100 air purifiers with U15 ultra-law particulate air (ULPA) filters. These filters reportedly capture 99.99% of particles larger than 0.026 microns, and have power consumption equivalent to a 60W incandescent light bulb.
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