Clearing the Air: Time to Prepare for Respiratory Virus Season

Oct 10

Ventilation, filtration, and air disinfection can all play a role in optimizing indoor air quality.

Insights from the Center for Active Design Experts

Breathe Easy

School is back in session, bringing with it a predictable uptick in the common cold, stomach bug, flu, and COVID that we have come to expect. As the weather starts to cool in the northern hemisphere, many of us return indoors, where contagious diseases and airborne viruses like influenza and COVID-19 spread more easily. Fortunately, there are several strategies building managers, owners, and occupants can implement to prevent contagious disease transmission.

Dr. William Bahnfleth, CfAD Research Advisor and Professor of Architectural Engineering at Penn State — **Dr. William Bahnfleth**
Professor of Architectural Engineering, Penn State

Ventilation, filtration, and air disinfection can all play a role in optimizing indoor air quality, and the interventions can be quite basic. Dr. William Bahnfleth, CfAD Research Advisor, professor in the Department of Architectural Engineering at Penn State, and ASHRAE Presidential Fellow and Standard Project Committee 241 chair explained to Propmodo, “The number one improvement you can make to your building’s air quality is to make sure it’s running the way it’s supposed to.” He goes on to urge facility managers and engineers to “make sure your building system is operating properly, that you have the right kinds of filters, and they’re properly installed. If you just do that, the air quality in a lot of these older buildings would be much better.”

Once the existing systems have been assessed, it is clear whether upgrades or improvements are required. When necessary, upgrades or improvements to ventilation can dilute the presence of contaminants, reducing the concentration of disease particles. Air purification and filtration can also reduce disease concentrations, with some research indicating that HEPA air cleaners can reduce exposure to infectious particles by up to 65%. In anticipation of the fall season, ASHRAE (the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers), published new indoor air quality guidelines designed to specifically target disease transmission. This new standard, known as ASHRAE 241, is a huge step forward in creating more resilient buildings designed and operated to respond to contagious disease outbreaks. Some notable elements of the standard include the introduction of “Infection Risk Management Mode,” or elevated standards and protections during contagious disease outbreaks; the development of equivalent clean airflow requirements; and additional details on effective filtration and clean air technologies that can support these requirements. As an industry leader in air quality management guidelines, this standard can be an indispensable tool for facility managers and on-site engineers to ensure occupants remain safe as the seasons turn. For occupants as well, this knowledge can help all of us remain informed about the standards we should be demanding from our building management teams to prioritize health and safety. In line with ASHRAE 241, the Fitwel Standard strives to address indoor air quality holistically and allow for flexibility in the approach taken to clean the air, realizing there are many different evidence-based solutions to achieve indoor air quality goals.

2023 Best in Building Health winner HERE Building (Thames Valley Park, Reading, UK). Image courtesy of V7 Asset Management, Element Four, and Jack Hobhouse. — **2023 Best in Building Health winner HERE Building.** Image courtesy of V7 Asset Management, Element Four, and Jack Hobhouse. Learn More

Create Value with Clean Air

In addition to supporting health and safety, optimizing indoor air quality can also provide substantial return on your investment. In both office and school settings, health-certified spaces and those utilizing demand-controlled ventilation yield higher leases per square foot and higher savings. It is a commonly held misconception that improvements to indoor air quality come at the cost of energy and financial savings, however, one study found that the costs associated with improvements to indoor air quality ($40 per person per year) are miniscule compared to the productivity benefits ($6,500 per person per year) associated with improved indoor air quality. In total, the study estimated that IAQ improvements could generate more than $13 billion in benefits for the U.S. economy. These productivity benefits can not only support tenant retention and occupant satisfaction for building owners and developers but can also serve as key selling points for office managers and tenants. One study of 12.4 million workers estimated that optimization in HVAC ventilation yielded a 1.1% average increase in worker performance, an 18.8% decrease in sick building syndrome symptoms, and 10 million days of avoided absence. This research is supported widely, as high-quality indoor air has been repeatedly linked to increased productivity and reduced short-term sick leave, sick building syndrome symptoms, inflammation, respiratory infections, asthma, and allergies.

Although we’ve moved out of the emergency phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, much like with the seasonal flu, we must revisit indoor health and safety for all airborne infections every fall when we return indoors to live, work, learn, and socialize. For all who work or learn indoors, knowledge around how to optimize air quality for safety can empower us to demand changes in these spaces. More importantly, for building owners, developers, and managers, optimizing indoor air quality is not only beneficial for health, but it can lead to savings in productivity as well as increased financial returns.

We’ve infused these key learnings and findings into an updated Indoor Air Quality strategy that will be available in the impending revised Fitwel Standard, v3, this December. To learn more visit the Fitwel Help Center.

Article contributed by Grace Dickinson, MPH, MUP, Fitwel Ambassador, Associate Director of Applied Research, Center for Active Design

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