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Username
Ty Newell
Proposer First Name
Ty
Proposer Email
ty@buildequinox.com
Proposer Last Name
Newell
Proposer Company/Organization
Build Equinox
Proposer Phone
(217) 377-4576
Proposer Job Title
PhD, PE, V President, Engineer
Proposed Session Description
The session will discuss why today's ventilation standards are inadequate. Current ventilation standards are based on an odor level that offends 20% of the general populace rather than based on health. One cannot smell healthy air. Today's sensors allow us to monitor and automatically control air quality. ASHRAE 62.2, "Ventilation and Acceptable Indoor Air Quality in Residential Buildings", especially penalizes small residences and multi-family dwellings with poor IAQ while inefficiently over-ventilating larger homes. Ventilation standards based on "air changes per hour" (ACH), such as used by Passive House Institute (PHI) and commercial airlines, are similarly deficient in providing healthy air to occupants. Poor ventilation standards impact our health, cognition and sleep, and increase the transmission of contagions. We provide background on today's ventilation standards, and how our recommendations for indoor air quality create healthy indoor environments. Actionable and practical indoor air management guidelines for reducing transmission of SARS-CoV-2 are included in the presentation. For example, a person spending 1 hour in a home or building with typical 20cfm fresh air ventilation per occupant with MERV 8 filtration is twice as likely to contract influenza or Covid-19 as someone in a space with 40cfm per occupant fresh air ventilation and 25cfm per occupant of air recirculated through a MERV 13 filter. Equally important, standard ventilation practice results in a "building Reproduction number" (Ro) greater than 1 in which virus transmission, such as SARS-CoV-2, is self-sustaining. Improved ventilation and filtration can reduce building Ro below the self-sustaining limit of 1. The cost for increased fresh air ventilation without any energy recovery and increased air filtration are approximately $0.01/occupant-hour. A very small price relative to the value of humans.
Diversity and Inclusiveness
Poor indoor air quality disproportionately impacts lower income households. Current residential ventilation standards (ASHRAE 62.2) are most insufficient for smaller residences (single family and multi-family). Additionally, lower income households have less income available for residence maintenance, creating less healthy indoor environmental quality that results in higher, disproportionate environmental health problems. Reference data and analyses using contract housing data for US Military families will be included that demonstrates the relation between income, maintenance problems, and environmental health problems.
Learning Objectives
Understand how indoor air quality impacts on health, cognition, sleep and productivity.
Learn how the synergistic interaction of fresh air ventilation, filtered air recirculation, and UVGI (Ultra-violet Germicidal Irradiation) create healthy indoor air environments.
Discuss the costs related to increasing fresh air ventilation, improved air filtration, and UVGI relative to building occupant value.
Understand transmission of SARS-VoC-2, and how indoor air quality, vaccination, and infections reduce the probability of infection of susceptible building occupants, and how IAQ improvements reduce disease transmission below self-sustaining levels.
Has this session been presented before?
No
Additional Comments
Not currently submitted elsewhere, however some parts of the presentation are derived from other presentations (see video link below). Impact of IAQ on disease transmission and cost of IAQ improvements are new.
Target Audiences Level of Expertise
Level 1 - No prior knowledge needed.
Session Format Details
Basic slide presentation format with mix of background references, analyses, and field data demonstrating IAQ in variety of situations (residences, businesses, house of worship, restaurant/bar, and commercial air transportation). Presentation will include detailed information on transmission of SARS-CoV-2 virus, and IAQ processes (fresh air, filtration, and UVGI) required to reduce transmission below self-sustaining levels.
Comments about your speaker roster
The proposed presentation is based on research conducted by Build Equinox. The video link contains a recent presentation with related matter presented to PHIUS and local ASHRAE groups.
Reviewer 1
Baumann, Lauren
Reviewer 2
Simons, Mike
Curator
Schow, Mark
Proposal #
127
Session #
708
Committee Decision
Accepted
Full Description
Today's built environment is not a healthy environment. Fresh air ventilation per occupant must be doubled, and indoor air must be recirculated through proper filters (MERV 13 or better) in order to create a indoor environment that promotes health, cognition, and sleep. The annual cost of seasonal influenza, colds, asthma and allergies (pre-pandemic) is similar to annual energy cost for residences in the US. Increasing fresh air ventilation, improving filtration, and designing proper air distribution systems can significantly reduce costs for influenza and colds while increasing productivity from improved cognition and sleep. Today's horrific pandemic is discussed in terms of the interplay of human behavior, fresh air ventilation, air filtration, and vaccination impact transmission of SARS-CoV-2, and guidelines for maintaining an indoor environment the minimizes the probability of infection and disease transmission.