Toronto residents can now rent CO2 monitors at the library

Torontonians with a library card can now rent CO2 monitors at eight locations across the city.

As of this week, the Toronto Public Library became one of a select few systems in Canada to offer a carbon dioxide monitor borrowing program as a response to the pandemic.

The City of Peterborough was the first municipality to facilitate such a program.

“The response to this initiative has been very, very positive,” Ab Velasco, manager of innovation at the Toronto Public Library.

“Ever since Peterborough launched their program, we've been getting a lot of questions from the public and on social media saying ‘are you going to do this?’”

There are 50 monitors available in total, donated by an Ontario company called Prescientx. They will be made available at eight Toronto library locations—those with a digital innovation hub—for a one-week time period.

Due to demand, there will be no renewal option and residents will not be able to place a hold on a CO2 monitor.

Velasco stressed that the monitors help determine the quality of air ventilation within a space, and does not directly measure the risk of COVID-19.

“I don't want people to see the reading and, you know, get alarmed unnecessarily, but it's just for people to really get an understanding of their indoor air quality and then take steps that they need to improve the ventilation in their space.”

The monitor uses a “stoplight system” similar to those used in Peterborough, in which a green light means the air quality in the space is good, yellow means it is okay, and red means there is little ventilation in the area.

The higher the CO2 levels within the space, the more recycled air an individual will be inhaling.

Each monitor also comes with a fact sheet explaining the results and offering suggestions for how to best improve ventilation, such as opening windows, reducing the number of people in a room and using an air filtration device.

There are no late fees when borrowing the monitors, however officials urge residents to return them promptly due to the high demand.

If a device is damaged or not returned, the borrower will have to pay to replace it. The cost of a CO2 monitor is $355.

“It's great that we're making them available to the library, because we're making something like this, a unique piece of technology that that average person might not be able to access, to be able to access them through a library card,” Velasco said.

Officials say the program will be re-assessed in six months based on how the pandemic is progressing.