This is how engineers developed a user-friendly solution for the indoor climate

"Two out of three primary schools have a poor indoor climate", "The primary school suffers from a poor indoor climate", "Poor indoor climate can affect the nervous system", "Schools suffer from a poor indoor climate", were just some of the headlines that began to appear in the media in 2016.

From DTU to reality

In a time when sustainability is higher than the sun, in 2016 Kristoffer Jensen and Valdemar Østergaard participated in the Green Entrepreneurship course in connection with their education as Process and Innovation Engineers at DTU. The course involved them, together with their fellow students, having to come up with something 'green' that meets the UN's sustainable world goals.

The problem turned out to be extensive and a problem that Realdania, DTU, the Alexandra Institute and many others had discovered and created long-term solutions for, such as renovating the schools, installing ventilation systems and creating awareness campaigns.

But what about initiatives that work from tomorrow? How about just being able to make it a little bit better, starting tomorrow? This is what the two students would like to propose a solution for. A proposed solution that was later to be known as SKYEN, developed by ÅBN.

The two students went out to different schools in the capital area to investigate the problem in more detail through indoor climate measurements as well as observations and user interviews. An obvious solution proposed by the school leaders and teachers was regular venting - but how do you remember to vent during a working day with 24 students - where the primary focus is, and must continue to be, teaching?

By getting the students to take ownership of the indoor climate and ventilate themselves!

Therefore, the two students invited the elementary school classes in to develop what we know today as THE CLOUD, through drawings, responding to colors and much more. That is why we can say today that SKYEN is designed by children - for children.

The SKYEN is a nudging device which, through newly developed calculations and technology, visualizes the quality of one's indoor climate and tells one when to ventilate. It is designed for children so that they take ownership of their indoor climate.

ÅBN promotes a good ventilation culture in day care centers and schools by, in a child-friendly way, making the indoor climate visible to the children, and showing when the CO2 level passes 1000 ppm. In this way, operations are facilitated, and the task of venting is shifted from the busy educators and teachers to the children.

SKYEN was designed in collaboration with elementary school teachers and students. It is a nudging device at child height that tells when it is time to air out the room, so that the students have a healthy indoor climate. When the indoor climate in the room is good, the CLOUD lights up blue. It changes to red when the indoor climate is bad. The red SKY is a sign to create drafts in the room.

In the next post, we will talk about a case at Øster Farimagsgades School, where you can see how it goes after they have invested in SKYEN and taken responsibility for their indoor climate.