Latvia has successfully deployed 14,000 CO2 monitors in hundreds of schools, ensuring safer and healthier learning environments for students and teachers. This nationwide initiative, launched by the Ministry of Education and Science of Latvia and implemented by the technology company MESH, addresses concerns about elevated CO₂ levels, which can contribute to the transmission of pathogens and affect concentration. Such successful projects should serve as a blueprint for others aiming to improve indoor air quality and efficiency in public buildings. The data collected from these monitors is freely accessible to the public via the website https://co2.mesh.lv/home/dashboard, providing transparency and peace of mind for parents.

The project, which involved an initial investment of €3.58M, translates to an approximate cost of 12 euros per student. This cost-effective solution was designed to significantly improve cognitive abilities and health, as well as air quality, for 300,000 children across Latvian schools. Even without adding heating control, facility managers were able to optimize energy use by simply analyzing temperature trends available online – leading to smarter manual adjustments and early savings in several municipalities. Following the project, some municipalities further developed the system by integrating automatic regulation of heat nodes, and in one case, the investment was fully recouped within a single heating season.

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