Latin America. Operating buildings in a pandemic-centric world is no easy task. Considerations about occupancy levels, airflow sanitization, and energy use are just a few of the immediate areas that building owners and managers are putting their efforts into.
For many, activities to identify and improve a building's indoor air (including air quality) are paying off. There have been no specific solutions, but assessments and investigations for each unique situation in which risk is mitigated within the confines of an owner's building, equipment, and budget.
Why it matters: Given covid-19-related cases across the globe, many businesses are focused on operating and maintaining their buildings safely. In some cases, small changes are achieving big improvements, and in others, the long-term health of the building is receiving much-needed attention.
"There is a renewed vision for indoor air quality and the benefits it can bring," said Carlos Garcia, Managing Director of Trane in Mexico. "The mindset that indoor air quality can be fixed quickly in the short term until things 'calm down and go away' has changed. People are realizing that indoor air quality has become an element of permanent importance, fundamental to the long-term health and sustainability of a building."
Small changes for big impacts
Small changes or improvements can have a significant impact on the overall health of a building. Many companies using Trane's Indoor Air Quality assessment are discovering the true condition of their buildings and receiving support to identify short- and long-term solutions. In some cases, experts are identifying lower-cost solutions that can have a significant impact on indoor air quality.
Trend: Outdoor air gates
One common ground experts find is with a building's outdoor air gates, critical components for bringing in fresh air to ventilate and dilute the buildup of certain pollutants inside.
Building owners and managers may unknowingly have air gates that cannot be opened or are not working properly. "Outdoor air gates are the primary method of controlling the air entering the building," said Carlos Garcia, Managing Director of Trane in Mexico. "Without working outdoor air gates, a building is like an airplane flying without a pilot. There would be no way to know how much or how little outside air is being introduced into space."
Air gates should be checked regularly as part of an overall maintenance program. If the gates are not checked regularly, there is a high probability that the system is not introducing the right amount of outside air.
"If too much is introduced, this can increase energy consumption or create temperature and humidity control challenges if the air conditioning system can't keep up," Carlos Garcia said. "If too little outside air is introduced, the system may not be able to dilute contaminants optimally."
Monitoring through building automation systems (BAS) is the best way to ensure that the gates are functioning properly, as they provide visibility of system operation through BAS alerts for building engineering personnel.
Trend: Humidity control
Another common problem is related to humidity control, an important pillar of indoor air quality management that, when set up correctly, can create an environment that is not friendly to pollutants in the air. High humidity can favor the growth of pathogenic or allergenic organisms, according to ASHRAE® (the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers), but low humidity levels can also lead to longer microbiological life expectancy.
"Humidity has an impact on the longevity of a virus, so it's key to keep humidity levels between 40 and 60% relative humidity at comfortable cooling temperatures," said Carlos Garcia. "Some studies have shown that the SARS-CoV-2 virus (the virus that causes COVID-19) has a half-life of 40 minutes at 21.1°C with 50% humidity. But that half-life increases to almost three hours if the humidity drops to 30%."
Actively maintaining moisture is key to reducing the risk of viral longevity in a room. This may involve installing new humidity sensors, reprogramming or reconfiguring equipment control to implement a moisture control sequence, or installing new equipment or components in existing equipment. For cold climates, this could involve adding humidification equipment.
Learn what humidity levels are right for your building from your local Air Conditioning expert.
Trend: Maximize the capabilities of your controls
Maximizing the capabilities of a building's control systems is critical. When a building's controls are fully integrated and used correctly, they help identify problem areas before they become serious problems. Building owners and facility managers can track and develop long-term service plans and reduce costs related to emergency calls for a service.
"With the collaboration of maintenance engineers and facility managers – and the analysis of data from them – you get a support system that seeks to fully optimize these connected buildings and their advanced machine learning capabilities," said Carlos Garcia. "The unique data collected from each connected building gives us the best insight into what to do for a building's specific performance needs, and expert subject matter interpretation of that data is crucial."
Connected buildings also help maximize energy savings based on building occupancy. If a quick shutdown is required, a BAS will speed up the shutdown process, which can provide homeowners with immediate savings.
Sources
- Moisture Engineering Bulletin: Managing Moisture and Humidity in Buildings (trane.com)
- The best tips from BAS: the best tips for remote building management (trane.com)
- Moisture Research - I-P_S16_Ch22.fm (ashrae.org)
- Homeland Security - Estimated aerial decomposition of SARS-CoV-2 | National Security (dhs.gov)
