The Problem

Approximately 20 cases of Legionnaires’ disease per one million persons are reported in U.S each year while 9% of those cases are fatal. According to an investigation contacted by U.S. CDC, the main reasons for these outbreaks are process failures and equipment failures. These cases could have been avoided, and future outbreaks might be prevented, if an Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) monitoring technology was widely available.

In 2012, 99 000 deaths in Europe and 19 000 in non-European high-income countries were attributable to household (indoor) air pollution. In the last decade, concentrations of indoor air pollutants and the risk of entrapment of various gasses indoors have increased considerably due to the various government-imposed regulations towards reducing natural ventilation within buildings (i.e., weatherproofing, passivity and insulation of buildings) in order to reduce the energy losses. It is estimated that €99 Billion per year are lost due to air-pollutants in Europe’s building stock whereas better IAQ may lead to health-related annual savings in United States of $7-48 Billion per year. Therefore, it is important to properly monitor the IAQ against possible contaminant sources in order to promptly initiate the necessary measures and minimize their consequences.