Indoor Air Quality in NYC Buildings: CO₂, PM2.5, VOC & Basement Gas as Live Operational Risk Signals (Zone-Based + Sensors + Live SHM)

Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) is not a “comfort metric.” In building operations, it is a live indicator of ventilation performance, contaminant ingress, and safety risk-especially in basements, mechanical rooms, and low-ventilation zones.

A common mistake is reacting to single readings. The engineering approach is to quantify persistence (time-above-threshold), trend behavior, and event correlation:
CO₂ as a proxy for ventilation adequacy (baseline drift + exceedance duration)
PM2.5 / PM10 as filtration/infiltration performance signals (spikes + persistence)
VOC as a source indicator (materials/cleaners/solvents/off-gassing; sustained elevation)
Basement gas flag (0/1) as a safety event that should trigger an operational response workflow

Sensor stack (typical, zone-based)
infrascan.ai instruments IAQ by zones (basement segments, mechanical rooms, utility penetrations, corridors/lobbies) using:

NDIR CO₂ sensor → CO2 (ppm)
Optical particle sensor (laser scattering) → PM2.5 / PM10 (µg/m³)
VOC sensor (PID or MOS, application-dependent) → VOC (ppb)
Temperature / RH probe → Indoor temp (°C), RH (%) (context + condensation/mold risk)
Electrochemical gas detector (site-dependent) → Basement toxic gas (0/1) (e.g., CO / H₂S)
(Optional) Differential pressure / airflow → ventilation and infiltration diagnostics

What the live dashboard delivers
Raw time series + derived metrics: rates, persistence, exceedance counts
IAQ status: watch / warn / critical + event log
Correlation views: IAQ excursions vs ventilation cycles / weather / intrusion events

How this solves the problem operationally
Instead of periodic spot checks, teams get evidence-based triggers to:

separate chronic under-ventilation from episodic ingress,
pinpoint the zone driving complaints,
validate mitigation (filter changes, ventilation tuning, sealing, source removal),
escalate safety events with a time-stamped record.

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