Page 50 - Climate Control News September 2021

Temperature Gauge
GUTH DECONZO CONSULTING ENGINEERS VICE PRESIDENT, JEREMY MCDONALD, EXPLAINS WHY IMPROVEMENTS TO INDOOR AIR QUALITY (IAQ) ARE IMPORTANT TO MOVE BEYOND COVID-19 AND TO BUILD A DEFENSE AGAINST FUTURE PANDEMICS.
Planning for a post- pandemic future
But public health officials aren’t really talking about indoor air quality either, so a lot of politicians probably don’t want to go against the narrative.
We are constantly hearing 'Wash your hands, wear a mask, and socially distance-where possi- ble.' We need to add simple, yet time-tested ven- tilation strategies to our messaging, which we all know implicitly makes sense to folks from all po- litical persuasions.
Perhaps with improved messaging from our leaders and initiatives to fix our broken HVAC systems we can truly address this pandemic without arguing about the viability of masking and vaccines.
It is clear that vaccines are a key tool in beat- ing this pandemic. But, without addressing the fundamental issue of indoor air quality, we may be putting a "BAND-AID" on the current prob- lem, missing out on the opportunity to improve public health for the long term. ✺
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jeremy McDonald, 54, is vice president of Guth Deconzo Consulting Engineers. He is an engineer with more than 25 years of experience in HVAC design, energy services, commissioning and the
construction management industry. His expertise includes indoor air quality assessments, with a focus on higher education and healthcare (hospitals/nursing homes) facilities. To read and download his “COVID-19: Business Best Practices Guide” visit: https://secureservercdn.net/198.71.233.161/ e89.710.myftpupload.com/wp-content/ uploads/2020/10/GD_COVID19_ FINAL_10.07.2020.pdf
UNTIL THE FUNDAMENTAL issue of indoor air quality is addressed, governments will miss out on opportunities to improve public health in the long term.
Fixing sick buildings is much better than fix- ing sick people. Improvements to ventilation and the use of high-performance air filters and other air purification technologies are necessary in this
“IT IS TIME TO START LISTENING TO ENGINEERS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST AIRBORNE ILLNESS.”
day and age. Buildings that have deferred mainte- nance and investment in modern HVAC may re- quire more complicated and expensive solutions.
Although some buildings may require an ex- pensive investment, we need to weigh this against the cost of our health and well-being.
There are plenty of low cost or no cost solu- tions that can drastically improve IAQ, such as
cracking a window which reduces the intensity and quantity of virus particles and their ability to spread to more people. There is a historical precedent for this common-sense strategy.
In response to the Pandemic of 1918 when more than 20,000 New Yorkers died, ventilation was seen as one of the key attributes to protect residents from the devastation of the pandemic. Back then, New York City officials dictated that building heating systems were to be designed and sized to operate with all the windows open, since it was recognised that ventilation was key to purge the virus from indoor spaces. If it worked 100 years ago, it will work today.
One of the main challenges in getting peo- ple to pay more attention to poor indoor air quality is that the problem is invisible. Be- cause air is so fundamental to our existence, most of us don’t even think about it but HVAC engineers think about air every day, all day and it’s time to listen to them in the fight against airborne illness.
My frustration, which motivates me to write and speak out on the issue of air quality, is that our leaders are not getting it and they aren’t lis- tening to engineers.
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