The sixth edition of the World IEQ Forum, on March 16, was an occasion for the HVAC industry to do a deep dive into Indoor Air Quality issues, which in the aftermath of the height of the pandemic, spawned multiple avenues of discussion.

Omnia Halawani

In Part 1, doctors, public health officials, MEP consultants and standards bodies discussed the need for re-defining IAQ across building types with future possible pandemics in mind. Participants focused on the new-normal of taking extremely contagious bio-agents, which are placing the burden on IAQ technological solutions for protecting lives in the built-environment.

In this, the second part, manufacturers, primarily, hold court on issues relating to innovation in design, manufacturing and installation, among others.

The quest for extraordinary IAQ
A panel discussion aimed at understanding the viewpoints of the manufacturing community…

Moderator: Omnia Halawani, Co-CEO & Founder, GRFN, UAE

Panellists: Bill McQuade, Vice President, Industry Sector Services, and Industry Sector Lead, Applied and Refrigeration, AHRI
Morten Schmelzer, Group Technical Marketing Director, Head of Public Affairs, Systemair David Schurk, Director of Healthcare and Applied Engineering Markets, Global Plasma Solutions Yasmine Skanji, Scientific Director of Zaack – RDI Department, Igienair Group Dr Stephanie Taylor, CEO, Building4Health Tobias Zimmer, Vice President, Global Product Management & International Standards, Camfil

Omnia Halawani: What innovations would you like to see in design, construction, installation and equipment for unprecedented IAQ?

Dr Stephanie Taylor: I would start with designs and create space for proper mechanical systems. We need to bring together silos of engineering and medical professionals. We need to bring in silos of building materials.

Tobias Zimmer

Tobias Zimmer: The biggest impact will be in the design stage. Maintenance, of course, has a major impact. As Iyad (Dr Iyad Al-Attar, independent air filtration consultant) mentioned, we are stuck with low-cost washable filters to save first cost. So, we need basic filtration solutions. If we look at energy, which is the main argument, when you wash a filter it clogs, and then energy consumption is tremendous. So, with washable filters, there is a lower first cost, but you pay a high energy cost.

Morten Schmelzer: Having high efficiency filters with lower energy consumption is not contradictory. You do have these.

Halawani: Other than filters, what are the energy consuming equipment. How can we convince the market on the importance of IAQ?

Schmelzer: We need to start with legislation. You need to improve the ground condition. In the industry, you need a push. In Europe, you have the Ecodesign Framework, and with push it is being applied. It starts with legislation, and it needs to be enforced, as well.

Bill McQuade: A lot of technologies exist already, and they have existed as options. But there was no driver. Once the pandemic goes back, people will go back to low-cost solutions and not paying attention to IAQ. When it comes to energy, the more efficient the filters, the more energy they use.

There is opportunity to use lower-level filtration, UV lighting and standalone air cleaners. So, there is an opportunity to use a hybrid-type system, which can be incorporated in existing AHUs.

Yasmine Skanji

Yasmine Skanji: We definitely have to find the right balance between IAQ and energy efficiency. We are providing many solutions, and in the future, we must focus on many solutions that are available and on being totally connected to BMS in buildings to provide best maintenance.

Halawani: How can we combat airborne diseases?

David Schurk: At the end of the day, when it comes to pathogens, it boils down to everything in the air. If we can effectively remove those particles from the air, they cannot hurt us. So, it is about making ventilation and filtration efficient. And maybe they have not been maintained properly, not operated property not commissioned properly. So, if we use them effectively to remove particles, we can create much healthier buildings.

Halawani: Stephanie, you are a clinical practitioner and architect? Where do you see the main drivers coming from?

Dr Taylor: In my experience, one of the issues that has been perpetuated in IAQ is the disconnect between who is responsible for the building and who uses the building. In commercial buildings, the building owner might not want to put too much money. I think somehow, whether tenant, parent, child or employee, they need to be able to see what is happening. So, removing the disconnect is important.

David Schurk

Halawani: From an IAQ perspective, the technology is there, but is it being adequately used and maintained?

Schmelzer: The technology is already there but is not being fully utilised. Here, we focus on cooling aspect and recirculation aspect. COVID has given a push on this subject, but we should make sure we don’t lose this momentum.

Schurk: From a manufacturer’s perspective, efficiency can be maintained, as can be the opex from energy consumption and lifecycle cost of maintenance. Maintainability of product is largest overall and is based on lifecycle. If equipment lasts for 25 years, then the end user should take all his costs into consideration.

Zimmer: There is a disconnect between the user and those responsible for the building. If you look at the total building from a maintenance point of view, it does not cost much but reduces the energy bill, because if you maintain the filter, it will save energy.

Bill McQuade

McQuade: I think that is a very good point. You have capex and opex. So, the good stick is regulation and mandatory standards. The operating budget is there, and this is true with energy efficiency, too. If there isn’t the institutional will to maintain the system, you are not going to be fully effective. So, make the operating budget folks accountable.

Member of the audience: Dr Stephanie, you mentioned cost centre silos. There is a different entity that makes the building and the ones that maintain the building. What is the short-term and long- term approach to building management? If you look at the long term, the building may be repurposed. Are we looking at repurposed buildings?

Halawani: We rarely see designers revisit a building they have worked on.

Zimmer: In Germany, we have similar issues. Regulation just looks at how it is built. More standardised the system, the easier is the maintenance. How do you maintain it, if completely wrong dimension?

Dr Stephanie Taylor

Schurk: In the healthcare market, we are not only tasked with building hospitals. Hospitals are tasked with providing resiliency and responsiveness, so they can respond when the next pandemic comes.

Member of the audience: How can we see IAQ of a particular office so that we can rent it? I am speaking about visibility? Are we near or far from that? Are dashboards available quantifying IAQ?

Skanji: You are speaking about the future of the subject. COVID has increased visibility. But part of our work is educating our customer first. For the future, we need specific points to have 11 pollutants. And we need to provide good information for best predictive maintenance of buildings.

Dr Taylor: We can see what is in the air. We have the ability to measure human beings. We have data points. We are pretty much there, and figuring out a model for buildings is not very expensive. That’s my dream – an endocrine system for buildings!

VOICES

Insights and observations heard during the Forum…

Coordination of cross-sector stakeholders is required.

Fatima Hammadi, Head of Air Quality Section, UAE Ministry of Climate Change & Environment

The role of your sector is very valuable to achieve energy efficiency and Indoor Air Quality…. We strongly believe in the role of the private sector to allows radical improvement of Indoor Air Quality. The World IEQ Forum is an important platform for the government and private sector on how to improve Indoor Air Quality through collaboration.

Morten Schmelzer

Fatima Hammadi, Head of Air Quality Section, UAE Ministry of Climate Change & Environment

To have traction with any endeavour, we need to have a business model. Unless you do so, it is very hard to bring about change.

Dr Stephanie Taylor, Building4Health

We need some organisms to live. Buildings also have a microbiome. We need to decrease the bad germs but do not want to annihilate the good ones.

Dr Stephanie Taylor, Building4Health

Occupant health impact should be the epicentre of all building-related decisions.

Dr Stephanie Taylor, Building4Health

Ventilation is important, filtration is important, but if you ventilate to dilute and have low Relative Humidity, it is really hard to bring down the count in the air, so don’t look at filtration and ventilation in isolation.

Dr Stephanie Taylor, Building4Health

The problem in the Gulf is high humidity than adding more humidity. Oversizing of cooling equipment leads to humidity. People want 22 degrees C and lower. So, the problem is a bit different here in the Gulf.

Member of the audience

Let’s vent together. It’s time to place ventilation and IAQ at the forefront of sustainable HVAC.

Morten Schmelzer, Group Technical Marketing Director, Head of Public Affairs, Systemair

Achieving fresh air indoors with minimal energy use is not contracting itself.

Morten Schmelzer, Group Technical Marketing Director, Head of Public Affairs, Systemair