Europe and the Middle East say Yes to a better Indoor Air Quality
Brussels, Dubai, 24 April 2017. During an online press conference, the Eurovent Association (Brussels) and Eurovent Middle East (Dubai) have officially launched #IAQmatters – a joint initiative of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) manufacturers in Europe and the Middle East, which provides solutions to ensure a healthy indoor climate. #IAQmatters was developed in close cooperation with leading experts such as Prof. Geo Clausen from the Section for Indoor Climate and Building Physics at Denmark Technical University (DTU). Prof. Stefano Cognati, President of REHVA, is one of the campaign’s patrons.
According to the campaign organisers, #IAQmatters is a long-term initiative. It includes a multitude of measures and recommendations that are going to be launched throughout 2017, 2018 and beyond. The portal www.IAQmatters.org constitutes the campaign’s central hub, linking the various campaign elements and social media activities. #IAQmatters has been set up in an open-source manner, welcoming contributions from each organisation that provably and convincingly cares about a healthy indoor climate. The campaign geographically covers Europe and the Middle East, acknowledging the evolving partnership between the two regions, which are both affected by indoor air pollution.
‘Our goal is to move Indoor Air Quality out of the academic sphere into a dynamic, interactive and credible framework that highlights its increasing relevance.’ States Mr Alex Rasmussen (President of the Eurovent Association and campaign patron). ‘Everyone should be able to critically reflect on this subject, being able distinguish suppliers of HVAC equipment and building owners that really care about a healthy indoor climate and offer concrete solutions, from those exploiting IAQ as a marketing tool.’
‘Providing a good indoor environment is the main reason why we build buildings. As proven by countless studies, a bad indoor climate can have a negative impact on issues such as your and your children’s health, work productivity, study performance, and human comfort.’ States Mr Matthias Kasprowicz (Vice-President of Eurovent Middle East and campaign patron). ‘Looking at Europe and the Middle East, we see a high necessity for providing hands-on information and solutions on Indoor Air Quality. In my daily life in the Middle East with my own children suffering from air pollution, it becomes obvious that something needs to be done. We strongly believe that #IAQmatters and hope that our campaign can contribute to changing attitudes over time.’
Interested organisations can now sign up as a ‘Supporter’ of the #IAQmatters campaign via a dedicated form at www.IAQmatters.org. Everyone is invited to share their thoughts via yes@IAQmatters.org or on Twitter. The portal also offers close to 100 different campaign images (and counting) that can be freely downloaded and used for all kinds of print and online purposes.
