The Impact of Air Pollution on Athletes’ Health: A Review of Risks and Recommendations
The Brussels Marathon being a popular event in the heart of the city, it is interesting to note the lack of awareness the health risks of air pollution in an urban setting on the everyday athlete. Air pollution presents significant risks to health, both in the short and long term, particularly for individuals who engage in outdoor physical activity as they breathe more heavily and inhale greater amounts of polluted air, which can have serious repercussions. While Brussels is not amongst the most polluted cities in the world, it still accumulates concentrations above thresholds established by the World Health Organisation when it comes to air pollution. It’s important to stay aware of the health effects, and how to train in the most optimal conditions for an enhanced athletic performance…
Green Building Certification: Your Checklist for Successful Performance Verification
Performance verification is the finish line of a green building certification marathon for a building project. At this moment, a project team and people involved in the construction of the building get to know if all the solutions and mechanisms implemented in the building are working following the design plan.
Given the importance of these tests, the Airscan team has prepared a short checklist that will help your green building project achieve the certification(s) and receive the highest possible score…
Ozone Levels In Brussels For The Last 10 Years
Did you know that the very air we breathe can be both a shield and a hazard? While ozone high up in the atmosphere protects us from the sun’s harmful rays, ground-level ozone can pose serious health risks. Airscan’s latest decade-long study reveals alarming trends in ozone levels across Brussels, with certain summer days seeing concentrations double the WHO’s recommended limit. Dive into our findings to understand how ozone impacts your environment and discover practical tips to protect yourself during high-pollution days..
Urban green spaces and Car Free day: can parks help purify our air?
Air quality plays a vital role in the overall health and well-being of urban populations. Clean air is essential for maintaining respiratory and cardiovascular health, especially for vulnerable groups such as children, the elderly, and individuals with pre-existing conditions. However, urban environments are often hotspots for air pollution, much of which is caused by traffic emissions. The day without cars takes place annually in Brussels, to promote and encourage its citizens to use more sustainable modes of transportation with the goal of reducing these emissions. This venture is of the utmost importance, as emissions in the city can reach consequential concentrations, harming our health and environment.
Wood Hub: WELL Pre-Test (Indoor Air and Water Quality)
Airscan was mandated by BPI to assess indoor air quality conditions and water quality in the Wood Hub building prior to the WELL certification (WELL pre-test). The results of this pre-testing will be used by the project team as input for the upcoming actual WELL certification of the building…
Mastercard x Airscan: BREEAM certification
Mastercard’s newly renovated HQ in Belgium set high standards for sustainability, aiming for BREEAM certification. Here’s how Airscan played a crucial role in helping the banking pioneer to achieve this goal. Let’s dive into the details of the project.
Denys: Air Quality Tests In Prison Village
The Haren prison village represents one of Belgium’s recent initiatives to address issues related to overcrowded prisons and deteriorating penitentiary infrastructure. The Haren facility is designed to accommodate 1,190 detainees. In addition to the prison overcrowding problem, the project targeted to achieve the maximum ratio between health, indoor well-being, and comfort with a minimum environmental impact following an “Energy Neutral Building” concept. The project was built on a 15-hectare site near Brussels and comprised 17 building units of 116,000 m2…
Air Quality in Belgium
The importance of good ambient air quality in cities has finally received high recognition over the past few years, thanks to more and more evidence proving the direct link of air pollution to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases as well as premature death rates. In addition, the long-awaited update on safe air pollution limits released by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2021 has pushed people to reflect on the quality of the air they breathe. To address this important question, Airscan prepared a technical report delving into the analysis of air pollution levels and their fluctuations over the preceding five years across five cities in Belgium: Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent, Charleroi, and Liege..
Airscan: certified WELL Performance Testing Organisation
On site performance testing is a data-driven approach to verify building performance required for WELL Certification. Through highly trained specialist, professional grade instrument, and precise PV (Performance Verification) protocol, WELL performance testing verifies the quality of building indoor environment regarding Air, Water, Light, Thermal Comfort, and Sound, to ensure the health and wellness for building occupants. Airscan is proud to announce it is now a certified WELL Performance Testing Organisation with certified Well Performance Testing agents operating in Europe and South-East Asia…
E.U. proposed to review the current version of the ambient air quality directive
The main scope of the revision is to develop a new set of stricter threshold limits which will be used from 2030 and align the vision with the WHO global air quality guidelines updated in 2021.
