Care building · Ventilation
Ventilation in care building: what the SRI measures
Ventilation is about demand-controlled ventilation: more air when more people are present or CO2 rises, less when a room is empty. Heat recovery, free cooling with outdoor air and air-quality reporting count as well.
In short
- 1This page shows how the Smart Readiness Indicator assesses the ventilation domain in care buildings such as nursing homes.
- 2Ventilation carries heavy weight here, with the highest weighting factor, because air quality directly affects the health of vulnerable residents.
- 3The assessment looks at, among other things, demand-controlled regulation per room, heat recovery, and reporting on air quality.
Weight of this domain for this building type
Which services count
| Service | Lowest level | Highest level | Advice |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supply air flow control at the room level V-1a · A · 5 levels | No ventilation system or manual control | Local Demand Control based on air quality sensors (CO2, VOC, ...) with local flow from/to the zone regulated by dampers | highest level |
| Air flow or pressure control at the air handler level V-1c · 5 levels | No automatic control: Continuously supplies of air flow for a maximum load of all rooms | Automatic flow or pressure control with pressure reset: Load dependent supplies of air flow for the demand of all connected rooms (for variable air volume systems with VFD) | – |
| Heat recovery control: prevention of overheating V-2c · 3 levels | Without overheating control | Modulate or bypass heat recovery based on multiple room temperature sensors or predictive control | – |
| Supply air temperature control at the air handling unit level V-2d · 4 levels | No automatic control | Variable set point with load dependant compensation. A control loop enables to control the supply air temperature. The setpoint is defined as a function of the loads in the room | – |
| Free cooling with mechanical ventilation system V-3 · 4 levels | No automatic control | H,x-directed control: The amount of outside air and recirculation air are modulated during all periods of time to minimize the amount of mechanical cooling. Calculation is performed on the basis of temperatures and humidity (enthalpy) | – |
| Reporting information regarding IAQ V-6 · A · 4 levels | None | Real time monitoring & historical information of IAQ available to occupants + warning on maintenance needs or occupant actions (e.g. window opening) | highest level |
Worked example
If everything in this domain is at level 0, the domain contributes nothing. At the highest level for all services, the indicative total score for this building type rises by about 10 percentage points (from 31 to 41 percent, with all other domains at level 1).
Why does ventilation weigh so heavily in a care building?
A care building operates 24 hours a day. There is no moment when the ventilation system can be completely switched off, as can happen in an office at night. For the Smart Readiness Indicator (SRI), a score that indicates how well a building handles smart technology, this means that the Ventilation domain receives maximum weight: 3 out of 3.
Residents of nursing homes are often vulnerable to poor air quality. A system that automatically responds to CO2, humidity, or occupancy protects them better than a system that runs continuously at full capacity or only operates with a time clock.
Which smart-ready services count?
Within the Ventilation domain, the SRI assesses six smart-ready services, functions that indicate how intelligently a system controls. Each service has functionality levels from 0 (no automatic control) to 4 (the most advanced level).
- V-1a: control of air flow rate per room, for example based on CO2 or occupancy.
- V-1c: control of air flow rate or pressure at the level of the air handling unit.
- V-2c: control of heat recovery to prevent overheating.
- V-2d: control of supply air temperature.
- V-3: free cooling with outside air, such as night cooling or enthalpy-based control.
- V-6: reporting of information on air quality to users or managers.
For a care building, V-1a is especially relevant. Keeping comfort controllable per room is often a care requirement. Local demand-controlled regulation with dampers per zone (level 4) aligns best with this.
What does this mean for the score?
Because hot water and continuous operation represent large, constant energy flows in care buildings, a system that responds only to occupancy without accounting for air quality is less effective. Reporting of air quality (V-6) with an alert when maintenance is needed contributes to a higher class.
The final score falls into one of seven classes, from below 20 percent to 90 to 100 percent. A care building with only time clock control and without heat recovery control remains stuck in the lower classes, regardless of other domains.
What this means for you
- Owner
- For owners of care buildings, it is worthwhile to check the ventilation control against the highest functionality levels, because this domain receives the heaviest weight in the score. Investing in demand-controlled regulation per room and improved air quality reporting therefore yields relatively much for the Smart Readiness Indicator.
- Tenant
- Residents and care staff notice a well-functioning ventilation system mainly through fresh air without drafts and the ability to adjust comfort per room. When malfunctions occur, a quick alert ensures that air quality problems do not go unnoticed for long.
- Advisor
- When assessing a care building, it is important to look closely at the functionality level of V-1a and V-6, because these services directly relate to the care requirement of comfort per room and fault reporting. Also account for the weighting factor of 3 out of 3 for ventilation, which can less easily compensate for weak scores in other domains.
Next step
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