Schools have a measurable problem that smart sensors are unusually good at solving: carbon dioxide in a full classroom rises to levels that demonstrably reduce concentration, and nobody in the room can feel it happening.
This category covers air quality and ventilation, heating a building that is empty half the year, access and safeguarding, and how to fund and justify the work in an environment where every euro is contested.
Articles in this category
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CO2 in classrooms: the cheapest measurement that changes a lesson
Thirty children and a closed door produce readings above 2,000 ppm within a double period. Here is how to measure it credibly, and why a traffic light beats automation as a first step.
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Classroom acoustics: the problem nobody logs as a fault
A room where children cannot reliably hear the teacher affects every lesson taught in it. The research is unusually clear and the fixes are unusually cheap.
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Lighting a classroom properly, then making it efficient
Most classrooms are lit to a standard nobody has measured. Get the level and the glare right first — automating inadequate lighting just means it is inadequate on a schedule.
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Heating a school building that is empty half the year
Thirteen weeks of holidays, six-hour days, and heating schedules that depend on somebody remembering. The largest savings here are free.
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Access, safeguarding and lockdown: what technology can and cannot do
Knowing who is in the building matters more than locks. Escape routes override every security preference. And a lockdown signal that sounds like a fire alarm is dangerous.
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Using the school building as a teaching resource
An instrumented building is a live dataset about a place students know intimately. It is also the argument that unlocks funding a facilities proposal never will.
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Making the business case for a smarter school building
The technical part is rarely the obstacle. Four audiences, two budget categories, and the difference between a request and a finding.