Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Classrooms at the University of the Basque Country through a User-Informed Natural Ventilation Demonstrator.

The COVID-19 pandemic has generated a renewed interest in indoor air quality to limit viral spread. In the case of educational spaces, due to the high concentration of people and the fact that most of the existing buildings do not have any mechanical ventilation system, the different administrations have established natural ventilation protocols to guarantee an air quality that reduces risk of contagion by the SARS-CoV-2 virus after the return to the classrooms. Many of the initial protocols established a ventilation pattern that opted for continuous or intermittent ventilation to varying degrees of intensity. This study, carried out on a university campus in Spain, analyses the performance of natural ventilation activated through the information provided by monitoring and visualisation of real-time data. In order to carry out this analysis, a experiment was set up where a preliminary study of ventilation without providing information to the users was carried out, which was then compared with the result of providing live feedback to the occupants of two classrooms and an administration office in different periods of 2020, 2021 and 2022. In the administration office, a CO2-concentration-based method was applied retrospectively to assess the risk of airborne infection. This experience has served as a basis to establish a route for user-informed improvement of air quality in educational spaces in general through low-cost systems that allow a rational use of natural ventilation while helping maintain an adequate compromise between IAQ, comfort and energy consumption, without having to resort to mechanical ventilation systems.

[Archivos in 2021, second year of the COVID-19 pandemic]. / Archivos en 2021, segundo año de la pandemia de COVID-19.

Al igual que ya sucedió en 2020, 2021 ha estado dominado por la pandemia de COVID-19. Si hace un año escribíamos esta Nota Editorial con gran preocupación por la evolución de la situación de la infección originada por el SARS-CoV-2 y, a su vez, con grandes esperanzas puestas en las vacunas como estrategia preventiva, la actual viene marcada por la incertidumbre generada por la irrupción de la nueva variante de preocupación: Omicrón….

Adaptation of a Traditional Irrigation System of Micro-Plots to Smart Agri Development: A Case Study in Murcia (Spain)

Currently, water users associations (WUAs) in semi-arid areas of southeastern Spain (Murcia region) send a multitude of data supplied by sensors in the field to the cloud. The constant technological revolution offers opportunities for small farms not to be abandoned, thanks to the Internet of Things (IoT). This technology allows them to continue to manage remotely using smartphones/tablets/laptops. This new system contributes to the mitigation of climate change from several aspects: reduction of water footprint and energy consumption (in the pumps that pressurize the grid, such as in the optimization of the proposed solution, by using batteries that communicate in low radiation of electric and magnetic alternating fields (LoRad), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), or narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), or clean energy). The analysis of these data and the incorporation of new IoT technologies facilitate the maintenance of green roofs and ensure the continuity of these farms. The direct benefit obtained is remarkable CO2 removal that prevents desertification by the abandonment of arable land. This communication shows the implementation of a Smart Agri system in areas with micro-plots (surface less than 0.5 ha) with low-cost technology based on long-range (LoRa) systems, easily maintainable by personnel with basic knowledge of automation, which transforms into a very interesting solution for regions with development roads. In addition, complex orography and difficult access are added in both physical and technological environments. The main technical limitations found in such plots are poor coverage for mobile phones and unworkable and expensive implementation by wiring or WiFi/radio systems. Currently, thanks to the Smart Agri system implemented in this WUA in Murcia, farmers can manage and control the irrigation systems in their plots from home. Then, they cannot lose their crops and respect the isolation conditions imposed by the Spanish government as a result of the alarm caused by COVID-19.