Recently, there has been increased attention on indoor air quality, and the effect it has on the health, focus, and productivity of everyone in crowded spaces such as office buildings, retail, restaurants, manufacturing facilities, and schools. For this article, we'd like to focus on students in classrooms. California's Title 24 CO₂ requirements set the standard for CO₂ measurements and alerting in school classrooms. NetX X7 thermostats with CO₂ sensors meet or exceed all these requirements.

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NetX CO₂ sensors are a groundbreaking system-on-a-chip MEMS technology that is built on the principles of photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS).

The PAS technology features far superior accuracy than the so-called eCO₂ sensors that you may see in residential products. The 'e' in eCO₂ sensors stands for 'equivalent' because they don't actually take measurements, they use many assumptions (such as how many people are present) to build their algorithms to calculate an equivalent CO₂ value. While some companies believe educated guesses are okay in a residential setting, true and accurate measurements are required when integrating logic decisions into commercial HVAC controls. That is why the NetX uses PAS CO₂ sensors, which are also self-calibrating and designed to maintain their accuracy for at least 5 years without the need to even check calibration.

When installed (or included) in the X7 Series thermostat, CO₂ readings are displayed prominently at the top of the X7 faceplate in the dot matrix display. Taping on the CO₂ reading will give you the maximum recorded CO₂ level making classroom CO₂ tracking easy for teachers.

Fresh air (outside air) in rural and suburban areas is typically around 400ppm. According to the American Society of Heating and Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the recommended CO₂ levels in buildings should not exceed 700 ppm above the outdoor air measurements. And while urban centers can rise to 600-900ppm, experts agree that the ideal limit for indoor CO₂ measurements should not exceed 1100ppm.

When the CO₂ Alert Level is exceeded, the power of NetX springs into action. First, an alert notification is presented on the X7 faceplate. Simultaneously, it sends an alert message (via text and or email) to the management so they can take action if warranted. Finally, the X7 manages fresh air damper(s) to reduce the CO₂ in the classroom space. These configurable actions are immediate. The results are optimized conditions for students to thrive.

The ability to easily control and configure the X7 thermostat makes NetX a popular choice among Facility Managers. Simple CO₂ functions can be set from the faceplate using the easy-to-read color touchscreen display. The CO₂ settings can be configured from our cloud interface or via the embedded webpages for the 'behind the firewall' operation.

(CO₂ Settings Page)

(CO₂ Relay Page)

The X7 can be configured to trigger output relays that control fresh air dampers in the event CO₂ exceeds the alert level or if the X7 detects a CO₂ sensor failure.

If the thermostat detects an error from the CO₂ sensor, a special alert (email and or text message) is sent to the facility manager. This helps assure a safe environment for occupants. CO₂ sensor status, readings, and alerts are all data logged and available for viewing from our cloud.