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[김성렬교수의 시사영어] Air Sensors to the Rescue
"No more anxiety from health harming carbon dioxide in classrooms!"
Starting this year, student health will be more carefully managed through the systematic maintenance of air quality in school classrooms from kindergarten to high school in the Busan area.
The Busan Metropolitan Education Office stated on January 29 that'carbon dioxide sensors' were installed on a trial basis. The sensors can monitor and give instant readings of carbon dioxide concentrations in the air, the primary indicators of air pollution in the classroom. If carbon dioxide concentrations exceed safe health limits, the sensor sounds an alarm.
As a result, classroom concentrations of carbon dioxide can easily be checked by students and staff, allowing them to ventilate the classroom, if needed, to preserve air quality for their health.
Excessive carbon dioxide concentrations have long been recognized as the primary agent of school air pollution. Due to students being crowded together in classrooms, which themselves are infrequently ventilated during the winter and summer, carbon dioxide in the air increases, posing a health danger. Especially since the only method used to ventilate classrooms was to open windows or doors, the need for a systematic and scientific way to maintain air quality has continuously been pointed out.
Addressing the problem, the Metropolitan Education Office, with a budget of 12 million won, has purchased this year carbon dioxide sensors at 120,000 won each and installed them on a trial basis in 87 classrooms from kindergarten to high school located in 14 different districts on January 28. The carbon dioxide sensors were modified compact all-purpose air quality monitors re-designed by the supplier company specifically for school use.
Using infrared rays to detect carbon dioxide, which is invisible to the human eye and has no odor, the carbon dioxide sensor sounds an alarm if the carbon dioxide inside a room goes beyond the recommended level of 1000ppm, thereby preventing air pollution. It also has a built-in dew point alarm to warn of mold developing on building walls or window areas.
In addition, the Metropolitan Education Office plans to install 3 carbon dioxide sensors in the Science Education Center and use them to check their durability, accuracy, and dependability.
After evaluating the effectiveness of their use in the first and second semesters at the selected schools, the Metropolitan Education Office intends to place more sensors in schools year by year and install them ultimately in every school classroom.
According to Kim Moon-gyu, the Head of the Air Quality Team at the Science Education Center in the Metropolitan Education Office, "the placement of sensors in classrooms has made it possible to manage the quality of the air scientifically and systematically as carbon dioxide levels, the primary agent of pollution, can now be measured. If the trial run is effective, there are plans to increase the use of sensors starting next year."(한글 내용은 www.busanilbo.com 1월 28일자 21면) urizen@dau.ac.kr
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 / 입력시간: 2008. 02.26. 09:56
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