United States. Syracuse University has jointly developed with Carrier Global Corporation an assessment tool that can analyze buildings to detect the risk of transmission of airborne pathogens and provide customized strategies to help ensure healthier and safer environments for their occupants.
Research with Syracuse University's College of Engineering and Computer Science evaluated how effective different mitigation strategies are in reducing the risk of airborne pathogen transmission in buildings. Specifically, the study evaluated the individual components of the buildings and how they work together. The results showed that customized, layered mitigation strategies can reduce the risk of airborne pathogen transmission by up to 80%. Tactics such as controlled occupancy, increased filtration and ventilation, air scrubbers, and air purifiers can help create healthier and safer indoor environments. The main support for the study came from Carrier.
In the study, Syracuse University calculated the rate of virus generation based on published case studies for SARS-COV-2 outbreaks, defined baseline space conditions for different types of buildings, and then applied the widely adopted Wells-Riley equation to estimate baseline risks.
"Applying this aggregated data and risk calculation, we quantified the potential to reduce the risk of airborne transmission by using various indoor air quality control strategies, including source control, ventilation and air cleaning," said the Syracuse University professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering. Jensen Zhang. "It's encouraging to know that significant risk reduction can be achieved."
"Our new assessment tool provides a new and innovative way for Carrier experts to examine individual components in buildings and how they work together, to recommend a layered strategy that ultimately reduces the risk of airborne transmission of pathogens," said Rajan Goel, senior vice president of Carrier Building Solutions Group and leader of Carrier's Healthy Buildings Program. "The tool provides us with a very effective mechanism to improve the overall indoor air quality and efficiency of our customers."
Carrier has a legacy of working with leading institutions to promote the body of knowledge. Most recently, Carrier worked with the University of Colorado Boulder to examine ventilation rates in K-12 classrooms and found that 60% of the classrooms studied in the Denver area were below recommended ventilation levels.
Carrier also supported groundbreaking research with Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Syracuse University Center of Excellence's Indoor Environmental Quality lab that reviewed the effect ventilation can have on cognitive function. The Impact of Green Buildings on Cognitive Function study found a doubling of cognitive function test scores among study participants in green buildings with improved ventilation.
To learn more about scheduling a building assessment, visit Corporate.Carrier.com/HealthyBuildings
