15 minute read
How Indoor Air Quality Affects the Tenant Experience With contributions from indoor air quality experts from across the globe
For several years NAFA and BOMA have collaborated to educate building owners and operators on the benefits of clean air. At BOMA’s request and for this article the question of how indoor air quality affects the tenant experience was posed to a group of subject matter experts with experience in the United States, Mexico and Australia, including those from the business side of the filtration industry and those in filtration research. The following are their responses, which offer some insight on how filtration could transform building IAQ in a post-pandemic world.
Nathan Wittman, CAFS, NCT President, National Air Filtration Association Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Filter Technology Company, Inc.
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Prior to COVID-19 pandemic, tenants of commercial facilities operated under the assumption that the supplied air to their workspace and the general indoor air quality within a facility was “good” or “acceptable” for occupancy. Few occupants questioned property management and overall, the level of IAQ within a facility was taken for granted. A small percentage of commercial facilities pursued improvements in HVAC filtration and general IAQ. These investments were mainly focused on new equipment requirements, facility energy benefits, or longer service life products that may concurrently include higher levels of particulate capture efficiency. Additionally, many of these investments in improved filtration and IAQ were prompted by property ownership or management pursing larger certifications resulting in facility recognition. Generally, IAQ was a small portion of the larger plan. Overall occupants were unaware of the role filtration and IAQ impacts their experience within the workplace.
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed many areas of life, increased awareness and interest in indoor air quality is one of the primary items on that list. Tenants and occupants have increasingly sought out education regarding IAQ topics and the potential impact of how inadequate levels of both ventilation and filtration can negatively affect their comfort and perceived safety. Occupant awareness and knowledge has prompted questions to property management specifically relating to facility maintenance practices, filtration levels, and most importantly demonstratable documentation regarding IAQ.
The tenants and occupants within workspaces are increasingly aware and knowledgeable regarding IAQ. Previously, perceived differences in IAQ only occurred in response to occupant comfort changes. Individual occupant experiences, some resulting from seasonal allergies, unfamiliar odors, or humidity and temperature changes generated IAQ complaints that were addressed by management on a case-by-case basis.
Today, due to higher levels of occupant education on these topics, the filtration industry, has seen both facility ownership demand improvements in filtration levels and a greater overall public demand for superior indoor air quality within the workplace. A larger percentage of tenants are now concerned about the air they breathe during the workday. They are also aware and understand there may be imperceivable differences between acceptable or unacceptable levels of IAQ unrelated to their comfort. These new concerns directly impact occupant satisfaction regarding their job, employer, and the facilities that maintain the indoor air quality in their workspace. Property management and ownership will need to proactively, rather than reactively, address tenant IAQ concerns from the overall facility operations level, rather than just a singular localized concern or complaint. Superior filtration, and high levels of indoor air quality are required moving forward, our occupants and tenants now demand it.
Nathaniel Nance Vice President of Global Research and Development-HVAC AAF Flanders Michael Corbat NAFA BOD & Treasurer, Vice President of Engineering RENSA Filtration
Air quality has profound health implications in indoor environments where the US population normally spends most of their time. Indoor air, in particular, can expose tenants to noxious chemicals, particulates, and a variety of infectious agents as well as pollen and other allergens. Emerging pathogens, such as viruses, bacteria and fungi have also been detected in indoor air, with a strong potential for airborne dissemination and contamination. The quality of indoor air is, therefore, a prominent public health concern in residential environments as more and more clients work from home.
There have been significant trends in both industry recommendations and standards in which the general public are educating themselves and demanding better filtration for improved health. This progression is following the trend of tap water a few decades prior where the more educated the consumer, the more the consumer wants to mitigate risk. Filtration companies are providing more options and advancing offerings for the tenant space to support this change in customer preference and regulation. Indoor Air Quality impacts on the general tenant is just coming into focus due to lessons learned from the Coronavirus pandemic. For a long time, researchers believed that pollutants in the air could significantly affect the mortality of a human over an extended period of time. However due to new understandings through research of common air pollutants combined with a better understanding of how virus behave, we now see that indoor air quality has a dramatic acute effect on the inhabitant.
Some examples of a reduction in indoor air pollutants have shown up in the reduction and in some localities, removal of all natural gas devices, especially stoves that cause a very large amount of both gaseous and particulate contaminants. These types of contaminants have begun to show the ability to highly effect a tenant’s ability to focus and work while also affecting mood. This is not dissimilar from previous finding surrounding the effects of lighting in a facility.
Combined this with the global pandemic which brought the importance of air cleaning to the forefront of many building owners, there has been a surge in lost time and lost productivity due to poor indoor air quality. The good news for most owners is that it is often an easy fix through ventilation and filtration.
Steve Griffiths NAFA International Director General Manager, Independent Filter Service P/L
As a distributor in Australia, we have found the benefits of improving indoor air quality for tenants to be the main motivation facility managers and building owners have when investing in more efficient filtration systems in their buildings. These benefits have especially been a major selling point for us since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Our clients that have upgraded to more efficient filtration which has improved their indoor air quality, have also experienced reductions in duct and coil cleaning costs, and staff absenteeism over time.
Before the pandemic started, there was more focus in the market on potential energy cost savings from upgrading filtration systems. This remains an important economic consideration due to the medium to long term pay-back from the initial investment.
A delayed and cautious vaccine roll out by the Australian federal government has led to low vaccine rates currently in the population. Most capital cities, such as Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane, are still experiencing regular lockdowns / stay at home orders from outbreaks of the COVID Delta variant.
As a result, many large community business district high rise buildings are still operating well below normal tenancy capacities. When vaccination rates improve and stay at home orders end, many building facility managers are aware that improved indoor air quality and ventilation, supported by more efficient filtration from MERV 13 or above, will be a major factor in attracting back present and potential future tenants. This will be especially important when major tenants return their staff to working on site and sign new long-term leases.
Due to Australia’s location, and with most medium to high efficient filters being manufactured overseas, lead times for these filters can be up to 3 to 4 months before orders are received and then installed. If local stock levels are limited then this extended lead time can make planning and installing filter upgrades potentially a longer process than compared to other parts of the world. But once facility managers and building owners decide to upgrade their filtration system, the long-term benefits are worth waiting for.
Tom Justice Past NAFA President President, ZENE Filtration
Over the past 18 months, the way that we manage our facilities has changed dramatically as a result of the pandemic, and driven mainly by increased public awareness of the need for improved air filtration. During this life-threatening event which even now is having a major impact on how we conduct business worldwide, building owners and managers have looked to their trade associations such as BOMA, NAFA (National Air Filtration Association), ASHRAE and others, to provide practical guidance on how best to protect their building occupants. The recent closure of schools, the overwhelming surge of patients at many medical facilities and the need to provide safer work spaces have all brought attention to the importance of indoor air quality. Yet, long before this event, organizations such as NAFA have been working to promote the benefits of clean air in the work space. The importance of this work is evidenced by the USEPA estimates which state that “Americans on average spend close to 90% of their time indoors, where pollutants are often two to five times higher than typical outdoor concentrations.” 1 Sources
1. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 1987. The total exposure assessment methodology (TEAM) study: Summary and analysis. EPA/600/6-87/002a. Washington, DC.
IAQ in office buildings could have been considered a luxury before the pandemic, but now it is crucial for tenants and landlords. In my 30 years of experience in Mexico, we had never seen such a dramatic increase in the demand for better ventilation, air filtration and UV disinfection.
Back in the 90`s, indoor air quality in Mexico, was a concern only when there was a problem in the building, such as a Sick Building. Then IAQ started gaining attention as ASHRAE´s indoor air quality standards were adopted in Mexican LEED certified buildings for instance. Outdoor air contamination in Mexico City and Monterrey, also known as the industrial capital of the country, have also driven the necessity of getting better filtration systems in buildings as awareness grows that outdoor air becomes indoor air and the known adverse effects of PM2.5 (particle matter that are 2.5 microns or less in diameter) in our health. Now the risk of breathing the same air and getting sick with COVID-19 has everyone thinking about the quality of the air we share. Many of Mexico’s buildings lack good ventilation and now that people have realized that IAQ is a defense against airborne illnesses the demand for the installation of MERV 13 filters and UVGI is a new normality.
Mexican ASHRAE members, NAFA Certified Technicians and Air Filtration Specialists in Mexico are a good source of expertise and information. Mexico is part of region VIII of ASHRAE and has three chapters: Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara. NAFA has also been certifying technicians in air filtration systems in Mexico since 2008. Both associations have manuals in Spanish that helps with the implementation of best practices in IAQ.
The first and favorite choice of buildings are the ones designed with indoor air quality in mind. Buildings that have good ventilation and technologies to clean and purify the air have a greater demand, since more companies are interested protecting the health and well-being of their employees in the workplace and minimizing the risk of COVID-19 transmission. The urge for better air to protect the occupants in a building has changed forever the way we look into IAQ.
Joe Gorman Vice President - Product & Development Camfil USA Inc.
Indoor air quality has become an essential discussion point over the past year and a half, over higher levels of concerns regarding the air people are breathing in. It is now, more than ever, a point of interest for building owners to satisfy the increasing demands tenants have on their overall health and well-being to sustain tenant retention rates and provide healthy and productive environments.
For years, research studies have identified that poor air quality, which includes high levels of PM2.5 particulate, is damaging to health, productivity, and overall cognitive performance. Research is now showing that not only does poor air quality affect people’s health, but it also has adverse effects on emotional well-being, such as the increased risk of anxiety and depression1. Harvard University analyzed worker concentration and cognitive abilities and found that providing good indoor air quality increased overall worker productivity by 8%2. That may not sound significant, but if you take the entire payroll of the building occupants and multiply it by 8%, in most cases, it will far outweigh the cost of upgrading building ventilation.
Future measures of indoor air quality are changing. With the implementation of the global ISO 16890 filtration standard, air filtration products are being more stringently measured for particulate removal. One change with the new ISO 16890 standard is the correlation to PM1 (particles are about 0.01-1 microns in size) particles, which research shows have an even stronger connection to adverse health effects than PM2.5 3,4,5. PM1 particles are the finer particulate that primarily originates from combustion processes that are more common in high traffic, urban environments. With the increasing research linking poor IAQ to illnesses and even one’s emotional health, high-efficiency air filters and clean air are as relevant as clean water.
Providing tenants with optimum ventilation systems with high-quality air filtration will help maintain their occupancy, provides them effective working environments and gives them peace of mind that they are breathing in clean air.
Sources
1 https://news.mit.edu/2019/china-link-happiness-air-quality-0121 2 https://www.mdpi. com/1660-4601/12/11/14709/htm 3 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969721045769 4 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11356-021-15244-z 5 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969721005775
About the Authors
Joe Gorman
Starting in 2005, Joe Gorman has worked in numerous roles at Camfil USA with a primary focus in product development as well as the application specialist for data centers, indoor firing ranges, transportation, health care and livestock enclosures where protecting animals against airborne viruses has been practiced for over 12 years.
Marisa Jimenez de Segovia
Marisa Jimenez de Segovia co-founder of Air-Care de México, established 1992, dedicated to indoor air quality, manufacturer of air filters, ultraviolet light distributor, air purifiers and air duct cleaning. Involved in ASHRAE standards and technical committees including SSPC 52.2 and TC 2.4. Honored as ASHRAE Fellow.
Michael Corbat
Michael is Vice President of Engineering for RENSA Filtration. In this position he is responsible for coordinating the engineering and product development for Rensa and its portfolio companies. Michael has extensive experience in filtration media, filter development and filter test methodology. He was previously chair of ASHRAE Technical Committee for Particulate Air Contaminants and Particulate Contaminant Removal Equipment.
Nathanial Nance
Nathaniel Nance is currently the Vice President of Global Research and Development-HVAC with AAF Flandrs. He has more than 20 years of experience in the filtration industry a with specialties in filter testing and filtration application development fields with expertise in non woven filtration development. He has held several different positions within Research and Development and Operations for filtration materials and filter manufacturing companies.
Nathan Wittman
Nathan is currently serving as President of the National Air Filtration Association (NAFA) He is Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Filter Technology Company, Inc. based out of Houston, TX. Nathan holds his CAFS and NCT certifications and is active on air filtration committees at ASHRAE.
Tom Justice
Tom Justice acquired his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from North Carolina State University. He is a Certified Air Filtration Specialist (CAFS) and a NAFA Certified Technician (NCT). Along with being a past NAFA President, Justice is active in ASHRAE serving as chair of TC 2.4. L.
Steve Griffiths
Steve Griffiths is the General Manager and owner of Independent Filter Service based in Melbourne Australia. In a prior life, he worked and studied in the behavioral science field in Sweden and Australia, which occasionally comes in handy running a business with over 20 staff and hundreds of customers.
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Healthy Buildings Webinar: Indoor Air Quality Emerging Tech and Techniques
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The Healthy Buildings Webinar explores the principles of creating and managing a healthy building by exploring Indoor Air Quality (IAQ). The program specifically explores Emerging Technologies and Techniques that have advanced in recent years and reviews their practice and implementation at commercial properties and facilities.
Maintaining Indoor Air Quality Webinar
In partnership with the National Air Filtration Association, this webinar gives an overview of both germicidal UV and air filtration methods of combating airborne illnesses. Part one of the webinar (2:45), reviews facts about airborne transmission and particle sizes. Part two (16:00) reviews MERV filters and air filtration methods. Part three (30:48) reviews the usage and safety behind germicidal UV.
