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Enhancing Classroom Ventilation While Saving on Energy Costs
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Enhancing Classroom Ventilation While Saving on Energy Costs

School systems are facing a challenging time dealing with the constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even as hopes for a vaccine rise, increased safety requirements for classroom conditions are likely to stay in place.

Writing in EdSource, Jeff Vincent reports that adequate ventilation in the classroom is more important than ever:

We’ve learned a great deal about the SARS-CoV-2 virus and how it transmits. We now know this virus can spread through the air. With an airborne virus, the absolute riskiest places for groups of people are indoor environments that have very poor fresh air ventilation.

Importance of Ventilation

With many public schools in areas such as California being reported as having poor ventilation, school facility managers have to consider the most economical solutions to increase ventilation while reducing energy costs. 

On average, the minimum ventilation requirement is about 15 cubic feet of fresh air per person per minute (CFM). In a classroom with 30 students, this means school’s HVAC equipment would be moving 27,000 CFM of outside air per hour per classroom. 

See how Modine products improved the ventilation at Niles Schools.

This can be expensive. In mild climates this might not be an issue, but in harsher winter climates, such as the Midwest, where temperatures can commonly be well below freezing, school HVAC systems can undergo a lot of strain.

Modine can Help Schools

The Sentinel® is specifically designed and engineered to provide the proper amount of fresh air ventilation while minimizing energy consumption. The advanced Modine Controls System is a standard feature on Sentinel® units to maximize efficiency, reliability, and serviceability.