2016 Winter Air Media

AIRMEDIA

WINTER 2016

National Air Filtration Association 22 N Carroll St Ste 300, Madison, WI 53703

Ventilation, IAQ and Filtration in a Net Zero Energy House

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www.nafahq.org ▪ The source for expertise, education and standards in air filtration

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AIRMEDIA Publisher

National Air Filtration Association

Chair, Marketing & Membership Robert Martin, CAFS

Table of Contents Features

Ventilation, IAQ and Filtration in a Net Zero Energy House

4

Editor

What the 2015 Clean Air Award Nominations Tell Us About the Evolving Air Filtration Industry 23

Designer and Content Editor

The Importance of Air Filtration How Well Can Higher Efficiency Filtration

Publisher’s Note

Control Particles at High Ventilation Rates in Offices?

32

Growing the Association Through Real Connections

36

Michelle Czosek, CAE NAFA Executive Director Terry Driscoll

Air Media magazine is published three times per year by the National Air Filtration Association.

Annual dues are $520 for Active Membership and $945 for Associate Membership; dues include a paid subscription to Air Media.

Air Media provides a forum for the free exchange of opinions and information. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of NAFA, its officers, directors, membership or staff. Your contributions help make this magazine an interesting and informative forum for exchanging ideas and recognizing the advancements in our industry.

Neither NAFA nor Air Media is responsible for claims made in advertisements.

Editorial and advertising closing dates are the 1st of the month prior to issue.

Departments

President’s Message Welcome to NAFA 2016 Board of Directors Industry Calendar of Events Industry News Technology Corner Certified Personnel

28

2 2 3 16 21 27 34

National Air Filtration Association (NAFA) Headquarters 22 N. Carroll Street, Suite 300 Madison, WI 53703 Phone: 608-310-7542 Fax: 608-310-7545 Email: nafa@nafahq.org

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1

President’s Message

Change is the law of life

by Jeron Downing, CAFS, Dave Downing & Associates

As temperatures across the country begin to plummet, things at NAFA are heating up. The transition from MVA to AMPED has been fantastic. As John F Kennedy once said, “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” As you may have already seen, for the first time AMPED has rolled out online payments for membership dues. The option to send payment back via “snail mail” is still an option, but from the comfort of the office chair you can pay your dues. Also, AMPED is hard at work on preparing a marketing campaign designed to spread the word about all of the great benefits NAFA has to offer.

The main event coming up is the AHR Expo in Orlando. NAFA members will be proudly showing off the newest products and features, so if you plan on attending please stop by the NAFA booth. Let’s show our support for our members. Make it a point to see all NAFA Member booths. The AHR Expo is a great time to explore the many benefits NAFA has to offer. The many benefits can be found on the website at www.nafahq.org/join-nafa. Like any organization, you only get out of it what you put into it. Attending the conferences and participating in the committees are just some of the ways to increase your knowledge of the industry. The hard work done by those before me has allowed for ASHRAE and AHR members to participate in NAFA events so please take advantage of our conferences. Again, look to the website for details pertaining to upcoming NAFA events.

One of the greatest benefits to being a NAFA member is the coveted Certified Air Filter Specialist (CAFS) desgination. The knowledge gained about the principals of air filtration is something you will not find on the web. Once you have mastered the basics, attending the conferences and listening to some of the best the industry has to offer takes you to the next level. From there, you can truly guide members in the community to take the steps of improving their filtration. One of the best ways to secure a customer for life is to work with them to get a NAFA Clean Air Award. A rigorous set of standards ensures the recipients have taken the steps to improve their indoor air quality. The list of membership benefits goes on and on.

April 2016 marks the NAFA Technical Seminar being held in Phoenix, Arizona.

The list of speakers is shaping up to be one of the best we have ever had. If listening to speakers isn’t enough, we are going to feature a hands on workshop taught by our very own members. We will feature demonstrations on energy usage, filter velocity tests, testing HEPAs for leaks, and more. If you are new to filtration, this will be a conference you will never forget. We will also be doing the CAFS tutorial and testing so please request the NAFA Guide to Air Filtration, 5th edition to study from. Our list of CAFS continues to grow so get on board and see what it’s all about. As a native to Phoenix, I must say you will probably be tired of shoveling snow from the winter so come out and enjoy our 85 degree April weather!

For those heading to Orlando in January, I look forward to meeting you. If you cannot participate there, I look forward to seeing you in Phoenix in April! Until then, as legendary Anchorman Ron Burgundy would say, “Stay Classy”! ■

2

NAFA Air Media

Welcome to NAFA!

2015 - 2016 Board of Directors

Active

President

Bill Doslak, CAFS Hometown Filter Fort Wayne, Indiana

Darren Fitch, CAFS

Air Filter Superstore, LLC Boise, Idaho

Associate

Jess George Philip

Century Mechanical Systems Factory, LLC Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Professional Individual Carlos Otalora

National University Colombia Calle, Bogota Colombia

Association Partner

Joseph R. Abbott, NCT

Bentall Kennedy Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Jeron Downing, CAFS

Dave Downing & Associates 130 North 39th Avenue Phoenix, AZ 85009 602-264-5100 Fax 602-241-7500 jeron@davedowning.com www.davedowning.com

President-Elect

Timmy Lott, CAFS, NCT II

Pure Air Filter Sales & Service 204 Eastman Street Greenwood, MS 38935 662-453-0034 Fax: 662-453-8199 timmy@pureairco.com www.pureairco.com

Treasurer

Jay Reese, CAFS

3M Purification, Inc. 400 Research Parkway Meriden, CT 06450 612-716-1001 jjreese@mmm.com www.3MPurification.com

Secretary

Trey Fly, CAFS, NCT II

Joe W. Fly Co., Inc. 4820 Memphis Street Dallas, TX 75207 214-634-2200 Fax: 214-634-7928 trey@joeflyco.com www.joeflyco.com

Immediate Past President

Christopher A. Zaker, CAFS, NCT Glasfloss Industries, Inc. 2168 Commerce Street Lancaster, OH 43130 740-687-1100 x 116 Fax 740-687-1145 czaker@glasfloss.com www.glasfloss.com

Northeast Region

Tom Justice, CAFS, NCT Zene 112 Point Shore Drive Goldsboro, NC 27534 919-740-6308 justfilter@yahoo.com

www.nafahq.org

Southeast Region

Patrick Rosenthal, CAFS

TEX-AIR Filters/Air Relief Technologies 2209-A Rutland Drive Austin, TX 78758 512-833-3330 Fax: 512-833-3335 patrickrosenthal@texairfilters.com www.texairfilters.com

North Central Region

Robert Martin, CAFS

Kimberly Clark Corporation 1400 Holcomb Bridge Road Roswell, GA 30076 770-587-7383 Fax: 770-587-7241 robert.martin@kcc.com www.kcfiltration.com

South Central Region Ray Riopel, CAFS

B. C. Air Filter, Ltd. 2809 Norland Avenue Burnaby, BC V5B 3A9 Canada 604-435-4396 Fax: 604-291-2510 ray@bcairfilter.com www.bcairfilter.com

Northwest Region

Nathan Wittman, CAFS, NCT Filter Technology Company, Inc. 9018-B Scranton Street Houston, TX 77075, USA 713-910-1395 Fax: 713-910-0071 nwittman@filtertexas.com www.filtertexas.com

Southwest Region

Julie Engelstad, CAFS

Fiber Bond Corporation 110 Menke Road Michigan City, IN 46360 219-879-4541 Fax: 219-874-7502 julie.engelstad@fiberbond.net www.fiberbond.net

International

Ruben A. Cespedes, CAFS

RCA Ltd. Av. 11 de Setiembre 2214, Of. 149 Providencia, Santiago, Chile 011 56 2 335-0418 Fax: 011 56 2 335-7733 cespedes@rcaltd.cl www.rcaltd.cl

3

Ventilation, IAQ and Filtration in a Net Zero Energy House

by Andrew Persily, Lisa Ng, Dustin Poppendieck and Steven Emmerich National Institute of Standards and Technology

Abstract

The Net Zero Energy Residential Test Facility (NZERTF) was constructed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to support the development and adoption of costeffective net zero energy designs and technologies. The 250 m2 two-story, unoccupied NZERTF, built in 2012, had the following design goals: meeting the comfort and functional needs of the occupants; siting to maximize renewable energy potential; establishing an airtight and highly insulated building enclosure designed for water and moisture control; providing controlled mechanical ventilation, and installing highly efficient mechanical equipment, lighting and appliances. The NZERTF achieved its goal of generating more energy than it consumed during its first year of simulated occupancy by a single family, despite a severe winter. The airtightness goal was achieved through detailed envelope design, careful construction, and during- and postconstruction commissioning. The NZERTF is one of the tightest residential buildings in North America with a whole building pressurization test result of roughly 0.6 h-1 at 50 Pa. The ventilation goals were met with a heat recovery ventilator, sized to comply with ASHRAE Standard 62.22010, which corresponds to roughly 40 L/s or 0.1 h-1 for this building. Low indoor contaminant levels were achieved through the careful selection of building materials.

This article describes the design and construction methods used to achieve such a tight building as well as the performance measurements made to verify that the building achieved its ventilation and indoor air quality (IAQ) goals.

Indoor air quality (IAQ)-based guidelines were developed for this project to support the design goal of providing good IAQ in this lowenergy residence

4

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Introduction

Buildings consumed 41% of all energy used in the United States in 2010, with residential buildings and commercial buildings accounting for 22% and 19%, respectively (DOE 2011). In addition to consuming more energy than the transportation or industrial sectors, buildings represent the fastest growing sector of energy usage. Thus, many buildings have been designed, constructed and monitored throughout the world to demonstrate the feasibility of achieving net-zero energy. Parker (2009) presents a history of low energy homes, including annual performance data from a dozen very low energy homes in North America. While most studies of net zero energy buildings report data on energy usage, very few of them focus on ventilation and IAQ in terms of either design or performance.

Residential buildings in the U.S. and other countries have historically been ventilated by infiltration, supplemented by window openings and local exhaust ventilation. As energy efficiency has become a priority, buildings have been built to be more airtight and mechanical ventilation has been increasingly employed to meet building ventilation requirements. The U.S. was slower in making these changes compared to some countries, particularly the Nordic countries in Europe, but U.S. homes are getting tighter (Chan et al. 2013) and mechanical ventilation is becoming more common (Persily 2015). Envelope leakage or infiltration is not a good way to ventilate a building as the rate and air distribution is not controlled, the entering air cannot be filtered for outdoor contaminants or dehumidified, and the rates tend to be

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highest during more severe weather when the energy penalty is greatest.

Mechanical ventilation allows the rates to be controlled and the incoming air to be treated, as well as providing the opportunity for heat recovery. In general, mechanical ventilation will provide better performance when combined with a tight envelope, or in the words of Arne Elmroth “Build tight, ventilate right” (Elmroth 1980). The American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Standard 62.2 contains minimum ventilation rates to achieve “acceptable” IAQ based on the floor area and number of bedrooms (ASHRAE 2010; ASHRAE 2013a).

The NIST Net Zero Energy Residential Test Facility (NZERTF) was built on the campus of the National Institute of Standards and Technology to demonstrate low energy residential technologies with the goal of net zero energy use on an annual basis. As described below, this facility is unique

in the attention given to ventilation and IAQ. This article describes the design and construction methods used in the NZERTF to achieve a very tight building with reliable mechanical ventilation, as well as the results of selected performance measurements in the building. Measures taken to address IAQ are also described, along with selected measurements of indoor chemical concentrations.

Design and construction of the NZERTF The NZERTF is a 250 m2 twostory, unoccupied house located in Gaithersburg, Maryland with an unfinished basement and an attic, both within the conditioned space.

The building envelope was constructed using advanced framing techniques (i.e., wood studs of greater depth than typical of U.S. construction, allowing for more insulation to be installed) with a continuous fully-adhered membrane air and moisture barrier sealed down to the

foundation wall (Figure 1). The nominal R-value of the exterior wall assembly is 7.9 m2∙K/W (R-45 h∙ft 2∙°F/Btu). The roof insulation is part of the roof structure, with a nominal R-value of 12.7 m2∙K/W (R-72 h∙ft 2∙°F/Btu). These two values exceed the current code requirements in the state of Maryland of 2.3 m2∙K/W (R-13 h∙ft 2∙°F/Btu) and of 6.7 m2∙K/W (R-38 h∙ft 2∙°F/Btu) respectively. A 10.2 kW photovoltaic system is located on the main roof, and four solar thermal collectors are located on the roof of the front porch to contribute to the domestic hot water requirements. More details on the building design and construction can be found in Pettit et al. (2014).

Internal loads, energy and water usage of a virtual family of two adults and two children were simulated according to daily schedules (Omar and Bushby 2013). Sensible heat from the occupants is simulated throughout the house, while Cont’d on page 7

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the occupant latent loads are released in the kitchen. Energy performance results for the first year of operation of the house, which demonstrated that the facility achieved better than net zero energy, are found in Fanney et al. (2015).

While the NZERTF was designed with several heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) options for future research purposes, only a twospeed air-to-air heat pump with a dedicated dehumidification function has been used to date. Outdoor air ventilation is provided continuously by a heat recovery ventilator (HRV) with dedicated ductwork. It supplies air to the living room on the first floor and the three bedrooms on the second floor.

The air returned to the HRV is drawn from a bathroom on the first floor and two bathrooms on the second floor. It is sized to comply with ASHRAE 62.2-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) which corresponds to an outdoor air ventilation rate of roughly 40 L/s. Based on the available HRV fan settings, the actual ventilation supplied to the house was 56 L/s, as measured by duct traverse. It is interesting to compare the ventilation rate based on Standard 62.2 with the requirements based on other standards. For example, the historical ventilation requirement for residences in Standard 62, which last appeared in 62.1-2001, was 0.35 h-1, which corresponds to 123 L/s in this house. A recent review of residential ventilation requirements

Figure 1. Construction of NZERTF showing the air barrier (top) and completed structure (bottom).

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in Europe showed that several countries require 0.5 h-1, which equals 176 L/s for the NZERTF (Dimitroulopoulou 2012).

It is also worth noting that a literature review of ventilation rates and health found that air change rates about 0.5 h-1 have been associated with reduced risk of allergic symptoms in children in Nordic climates as compared with lower ventilation rates (Sundell et al. 2011).

The NZERTF building systems are equipped with particulate filters but do not employ any gaseous air cleaning.

The air distribution system of the heat pump used for heating and cooling employs a MERV 8 filter that is replaced approximately every 30 days; ASHRAE Standard 62.2 requires MERV 6. The heat recovery ventilator has washable filters in the incoming outdoor airstream and the return airstream from the building, which are rated at MERV 9 and are replaced every month.

Indoor air quality (IAQ) based guidelines were developed for this project to support the design goal of providing good IAQ in this low-energy residence, in particular to guide the selection of interior finishes, insulation and other indoor building materials. The guidelines were mostly prescriptive, requiring use of certain products and the avoidance of others, with the objective of reducing common sources of volatile organic compounds (VOC) that affect health and comfort. Emphasis was placed on reducing sources of formaldehyde emissions based on its known health impacts (IARC 2012). Reduced emissions of VOCs in solvents were addressed by incorporating maximum VOC content requirements for wet-applied products. Guidelines were also included for adhesives and sealants, paints and coatings, built-in cabinetry, woodwork, doors, countertops, floor coverings, and insulation. Note that the house contains no furniture, which can be an important source of VOC emissions. The NZERTF IAQ guidelines have been updated and formalized into a detailed architectural specification intended for use in new residential construction and major renovations. This specification is written in a manner so that it can be applied to any project and is available in Bernheim et al. (2014).

7

Figure 2. Blower door test results at various stages of construction. (*Indicates the tests performed by NIST)

Table 1. Summary of NZERTF airtightness and relevant guidelines for airtightness

Guideline/Standard

Target Airtightness (L/s at 50 Pa)

NZERTF Design

381

Passiv House (PHI 2015)

212

LEED BD+C: Homes v4 (for 2 points) (USGBC 2014)

706

DOE Challenge Home (DOE 2013)

953

ENERGY STAR v3.1 (rev. 06) (EPA 2015)

1059

ICC 700 National Green Building Standard (testing option) (NAHB/ICC 2012)

2648

Performance measurements While the NZERTF was carefully designed and constructed, its actual performance in terms of infiltration, ventilation and IAQ were verified via the measurements described below.

Envelope Airtightness Five blower-door tests were performed at the NZERTF to confirm that the envelope airtightness met the design targets (Figure 2). The first three tests (without windows, pre-drywall, and substantial completion) were conducted by third-party testing companies (Pettit, Gates et al. 2014). The final tests (#4 and #5) were performed

by NIST after the house was completed, according to the methods in ASTM E779-10 (ASTM 2010). These results have an uncertainty of about 10%. Test #4 was

8

performed with the kitchen and dryer vents sealed and yielded an airflow rate of 195 L/s at 50 Pa, which corresponds to 0.55 h-1. Test #5 was performed with those vents unsealed, yielding 223 L/s at 50 Pa or 0.63 h-1. This airtightness value is compared with several guidelines in Table 1 and is tighter than the requirements in LEED and ENERGY STAR and slightly leakier than the Passiv Haus requirement. Based on statistical analysis of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Residential Diagnostics Database (ResDB) by Chan et al. (2013), the NZERTF is tighter than well over 99% of U.S. homes.

Infiltration The total outdoor air change of the NZERTF was measured on several occasions using tracer gas decay (ASTM

2011) with the HRV on continuously and with it off. During these measurements, the heat pump and its air distribution fan were controlled by the thermostat.

Measurements were made in July 2014, August 2014 and January 2015. For the summer measurements, with an average indoor temperature of 27 °C, an average outdoor temperature of 23.0 °C and an average wind speed of 1.6 m/s, the average outdoor air change rate with the HRV on was 0.17 h-1 and 0.02 h-1 with the HRV off. In the winter, with an average indoor temperature of 21 °C, an average outdoor temperature of -2.9 °C and an average wind speed of 2.9 m/s, the average outdoor air change rate with the HRV on was 0.19 h-1 and 0.06 h-1 with the HRV off.

Cont’d on page 11

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Ventilation As noted earlier, the HRV in the NZERTF was sized to comply with ASHRAE Standard 62.2-2010 (ASHRAE 2010), which corresponds to roughly 40 L/s or 0.1 h-1 for this building. The airflow through the HRV was measured periodically using a hot wire anemometer (accuracy ±3% or 0.015 m/s), yielding an average flow of 56 L/s. The airflow of the HRV supplies and returns were measured using a balometer, with a stated uncertainty from the manufacturer of ±3% plus 2.5 L/s. Table 2 summarizes these measurements, along with the exhaust airflows associated with the kitchen exhaust and the clothes dryer, also measured with a balometer. The sums of the HRV supply and return vents match within their measurement accuracy but are below the values measured at the unit itself, which is likely a reflection of the measurement uncertainties of the flows, particularly for the balometer measurements at the individual vents, as well as the existence of duct leakage. It is worth noting that the measured envelope infiltration rates, even in this extremely tight house, are on the order of 15% to 40% of the HRV ventilation rate based on the outdoor air requirements in ASHRAE Standard 62.2.

During the periodic HRV airflow measurements, the airflow rates were sometimes found to be significantly reduced over time. One such reduction occurred in the spring when the outdoor pollen levels were particularly high. After

cleaning the HRV filters, the airflow rates returned to the levels that were measured more typically. Also, the filters were found to clog very quickly after humidifiers were installed in the building to simulate occupant-generated moisture. Once the cause of filter clogging was understood to be water-borne minerals released from the humidifiers, deionizers were installed in the water supply line to effectively eliminate this problem.

IAQ and thermal comfort A key design goal in designing the NZERTF was to make sure that low energy use did not come at the cost of indoor environmental quality. As noted above, special care was taken in selecting building materials with low contaminant emissions. In addition, the heating and cooling systems were carefully designed to provide for thermal comfort. In order to ensure that these design intentions were achieved; conditions in the house were monitored for a year.

Thermal comfort measurements included dry-bulb temperature and relative humidity in each room, as well as the operative temperature, which captures radiant heat transfer from interior surfaces to occupants. Figure 3 is a photo of these sensors deployed in the center of a room, with a close-up of the probe used to measure the operative temperature (a ping-pong ball painted gray with a thermocouple placed in its center). The results of these measurements were used to calculate the thermal sensation

parameters contained in ASHRAE Standard 55, specifically the predicted mean vote (PMV) and the predicted percentage dissatisfied (PPD) (ASHRAE 2013b). As defined in Standard 55, the PMV is “an index that predicts the mean value of the thermal sensation votes (self-reported perceptions) of a large group of persons” on a scale from -3 to +3 corresponding to “cold,” “cool,” “slightly cool,” “neutral,” “slightly warm,” “warm,” and “hot.” The PPD is “an index that establishes a quantitative prediction of the percentage of thermally dissatisfied people determined from PMV.” It should be noted that the baseline PPD, as defined by ASHRAE, is 5%. Thus, even if all occupants are thermally neutral (PMV=0.0), 5% of the occupants will be dissatisfied.

Figure 4 is a plot of the monthly average PMV and PPD values for the house, with the shaded area indicating values of PMV between -0.5 and +0.5 and values of PPD below 10%. All of the monthly average PPD values are less than 15%, which is consistent with the definition of “acceptable thermal environments” in Standard 55, i.e., less than 20% of occupants finding the thermal conditions unacceptable Indoor concentrations of VOCs (volatile organic compounds) were measured approximately every month in the NZERTF during the first year of operation. Detailed descriptions of the measurements and results are

Table 2: Measured system airflow rates

Heat Recovery Ventilator

Supply

Return

1st Floor

15

19

2nd Floor

30

27

SUM

45 (0.13 h-1)

46 (0.13 h-1)

Ducts at HRV unit

56 (0.16 h-1)

54 (0.15 h-1)

Local Exhaust Kitchen hood

49

Cloths dryer

47

All flows in L/s except where otherwise indicated.

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11

Figure 3. Thermal comfort sensors in room of the NZERTF (operative temperature probe on the right)

presented in Poppendieck et al. (2015).

Concentrations of formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, hexanal, propylene glycol, acetone and α-pinene are plotted versus time in Figure 5. The temporal data reveal two general trends. Concentrations of some VOCs were higher during the first summer of sampling than during the second summer, indicating that building product and material emissions decreased with time. Additionally, concentrations

of many VOCs increased throughout the warmer summer sampling events and decreased during cooler winter sampling events, presumably due to the effects of temperature on emission rates.

Table 3 compares the measurements in the NZERTF to those made in several other residential IAQ studies. This table presents emission factors, which are the rates at which each listed VOC is emitted per unit floor area. VOC emission rates

Figure 4. Monthly average thermal comfort parameters. Grey box indicates “comfortable” zone (values of PMV between -0.5 and +0.5 and values of PPD below 10%) as defined by ASHRAE 55.

were calculated separately for Phase 1 of monitoring (8 months, June through December, 2013) and for Phase 2 (7 months, January through July, 2014). The results show that for many VOCs, the emission factors decreased from Phase 1 to Phase 2. The results for the California New Home Study (CNHS) were obtained in houses built to the 2005 California energy code and were occupied at the time of the study (Offermann and Hodgson 2011). None were reported to be designed specifically for low VOC emissions. A study of new, unoccupied site-built and manufactured houses conducted in the late 1990’s reported floor area-specific emission rates for 28 VOCs, and the results are presented in the last two columns of Table 3 (Hodgson et al. 2000).

Conclusions Infiltration and ventilation of residences has been studied for decades, with trends towards the mantra of “build tight, ventilate right.” The design and construction of the NZERTF was consistent with that philosophy, resulting in a very tight envelope and controlled mechanical ventilation.

Even in this tight house, the remaining infiltration is nontrivial compared with the intentional ventilation rate supplied in accordance with industry standards.

As a result of careful material selection, the formaldehyde levels measured in the NZERTF over the course of eight months were on average 80% less than the average Cont’d on page 15

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Figure 5. Indoor minus outdoor concentrations of selected VOCs over 15 sample periods

measured in other new homes and 60% less than the average measured in existing homes. Levels of acetic acid, toluene, and other VOCs were also lower on average than in new and existing homes. ■ Dr. Persily was a vice-president of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) from 2007 to 2009, and is past chair of ASHRAE SSPC 62.1,

He is currently chair of Standard 189.1, Design of High-Performance Green Buildings. He is a past chair of ASTM Subcommittee E6.41 on Air Leakage and Ventilation Performance and past vicechair of subcommittee D22.05 on Indoor Air Quality. He was named an ASTM Fellow and an ISIAQ Fellow in 2002, and an ASHRAE Fellow in 2004.

References ASHRAE. (2010.) ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 62.22010 Ventilation and Acceptable Indoor Air Quality in Low-Rise Residential Buildings, American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc., Atlanta, GA. ASHRAE. (2010.) Standard 62.2-2010: Ventilation and Acceptable Indoor Air Quality in Low-Rise Residential Buildings. Atlanta, American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc. ASHRAE. (2013a.) ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 62.22013 Ventilation and Acceptable Indoor Air Quality in Low-Rise Residential Buildings, American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc., Atlanta, GA.

Table 3: Average VOC emission factors for NZERTF with values reported by other studies.

Floor Area Emission Factor (µg h-1 m-2) Compound

Phase 1 Phase 2 CNHS (8 month average) (7 month average) n=108

Site-Built n=7

Manufactured n=4

Acetic Acid

39

21

95

310

Formaldehyde

7.1

6.2

29

31

45

Acetaldehyde

18

7.4

14

25

17

Hexanal

79

14

5.8

84

77

Toluene

1.4

33

3.4

26

3.9

TMPD-MIB

4.0

4.9

64

24

Ethylene glycol

24

4.3

10

170

64

α-Pinene

17

11.6

7.6

120

100

d-Limonene

2.0

1.1

6.8

23

19

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15

ASHRAE. (2013b.) ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 55-2013, Thermal Environmental Conditions for Human Occupancy, American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc., Atlanta, GA. ASTM. (2010.) ASTM E779-10 Standard Test Method for Determining Air Leakage Rate by Fan Pressurization. Philadelphia, American Society of Testing and Materials.

ASTM. (2011.) ASTM E741-11 Standard Test Method for Determining Air Change in a Single Zone by Means of a Tracer Gas Dilution. West Conshohocken, PA, American Society for Testing and Materials.

Bernheim, A., P. White, et al. (2014.) High Performance Indoor Air Quality specification for Net Zero Energy Homes. Gaithersburg, MD, National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Chan, W. R., J. Joh, et al. (2013.) Analysis of air leakage measurements of US houses. Energy and Buildings, 66(0), 616-625.

Dimitroulopoulou, C. (2012.) Ventilation in European dwellings: A review. Building and Environment, 47, 109-125.

DOE. (2011). “Building Energy Data Book.” 2014, from http://buildingsdatabook.eren.doe.gov/.

DOE. (2013.) DOE Challenge Home (Rev. 03).

Washington, D. C., U. S. Department of Energy.

Elmorth, A. (1980.) Building Tight, Ventilating Right.

Air Infiltration Review, 1(40), 5.

EPA. (2015). “ENERGY STAR Certified Homes, Version 3.1 (Rev. 06).”

Fanney, A. H., V. Payne, et al. (2015.) Net-zero and beyond! Design and performance of NIST’s net-zero energy residential test facility. Energy and Buildings, 101, 95-109.

Hodgson, A. T., A. F. Rudd, et al. (2000.) Volatile Organic Compound Concentrations and Emission Rates in New Manufactured and Site-Built Houses.

Indoor Air, 10(3), 178-192.

IARC. (2012.) Chemical Agents and Related Occupations: Volume 100 F A Review of Human Carcinogens. IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans. Lyon, France, International Agency for Research on Cancer. 100 F. NAHB/ICC. (2012.) ICC 700-2012 National Green Building Standard. Washington, D. C., National Association of Home Builders and International Code Council Offermann, F. J. and A. T. Hodgson. (2011.) Emission Rates of Volatile Organic Compounds in New Homes. 12th International Conference on Indoor Air Quality and Climate 2011. Austin, Texas.

Omar, F. and S. T. Bushby. (2013.) Simulating Occupancy in the NIST Net-Zero Energy Residential Test Facility. Gaithersburg, MD, National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Parker, D. S. (2009.) Very low energy homes in the United States: Perspectives on performance from measured data. Energy and Buildings, 41(5), 512-520.

Persily, A. K. (2015.) Field measurement of ventilation rates. Indoor Air. Pettit, B., C. Gates, et al. (2014.) Design Challenges of the NIST Net Zero Energy Residential Test Facility.

Gaithersburg, MD, National Institute of Standards and Technology.

PHI. (2015). “Passive House requirements.” Retrieved 2015, from http://www.passiv.de/en/index.php.

Poppendieck, D. G., L. C. Ng, et al. (2015.) Long term air quality monitoring in a net-zero energy residence designed with low emitting interior products.

Building and Environment, 94, 33-42.

Sundell, J., H. Levin, et al. (2011.) Ventilation rates and health: multidisciplinary review of the scientific literature. Indoor Air, 21(3), 191-204.

USGBC. (2014). “LEED BD+C: Homes | v4 - LEED v4.” from http://www.usgbc.org/credits/homes/v4.

Industry Calendar 2016 AHR Expo January 25 - 27 Orlando, Florida IAQA 19th Annual Meeting

January 24 – 27 Orlando, Florida

NADCA Annual Meeting March 7 - 9 Phoenix, Arizona

ACCA 2016

March 10 - 13 Charlotte, North Carolina

NAFA Technical Seminar

April 6 – 8 Embassy Suites Phoenix-Scottsdale Phoenix, Arizona

NEBB Annual Conference April 14 - 16 Albuquerque, New Mexico

AHRI Spring Meeting

NAFA Technical Seminar 2016

May 2 - 4 Reston, Virginia

Embassy Suites, Phoenix-Scottsdale Phoenix, Arizona April 6 - 8, 2016

ASHRAE IAQ 2016 Conference

Join us in sunny Phoenix for NAFA’s 2016 Technical Seminar featuring two educational tracks.

NAFA Annual Convention

● Track one covers the Principles of Air Filtration, Intended for those new to the industry, or

those who are taking the Certified Air Filter Specialist (CAFS) exam. ● Track two will cover more advanced air filtration topics brought to you by experts in the field.

In addition to our outstanding educational opportunities, the event also includes: ● ● ●

networking with your peers our welcome reception optional golf outing

Sponsorship opportunities are available.

Visit www.nafahq.org for additional information.

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September 12 - 14 Alexandria, Virginia

September 14 – 16 Hyatt Regency Newport Beach Newport Beach, California

SMACNA 2016 Convention October 16 - 19 Phoenix, Arizona

AHRI Annual Meeting November 13 - 15 Scottsdale, Arizona

2016 HARDI Conference December 3 - 6 Colorado Springs, Colorado

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Industry News Training Sessions at AHR Expo NAFA Best Practice Guideline for Hospital and Healthcare Facilities Tuesday, January 26 at 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM, Room S320A This session will detail NAFA’s best practice recommendations for air filter applications in hospital and healthcare facilities. Participants will learn: five different areas of a healthcare facility each having separate filtration requirements, typical application of air filtration versus “best practice;” and information on Hospital Technician accreditation.

Each attendee will also receive a copy of NAFA’s Best Practice Guideline for Hospitals and Healthcare Facilities/ Cost: Free to all registered AHR attendees.

Presented By National Air Filtration Association (NAFA) Speaker: Tom Justice, CAFS, NCT, President, Zene, Inc.

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La Mejor Guia de NAFA para Hospitales y Centros de Salud Tuesday, January 26 at 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM, Room S320A Esta sesión detallará las mejores prácticas recomendadas por NAFA para la aplicación de filtros de aire en Hospitales y Centros de Salud. Los participantes aprenderán: 5 zonas diferentes de un Centro de Salud teniendo cada uno requisitos de filtración por separado; aplicación típica de filtración de aire en comparación con las “mejores prácticas”; e información sobre la acreditación de Hospital Técnico.

Cost: Free to all registered AHR attendees.

Presented By National Air Filtration Association (NAFA) Speaker: Marisa Jimenez de Segovia, CAFS, President, Air-Care de Mexico

21

What the 2015 Clean Air Award Nominations Tell Us About the Evolving Air Filtration Industry

by Jim Rosenthal, CAFS, Tex-Air Filters

One of the best programs of the National Air Filtration Association (NAFA) is the Clean Air Award. It gives the NAFA member the opportunity to help recognize a customer who is interested in providing the best filtration and the best indoor air quality for their building. Furthermore, it promotes good filtration practices and training of individuals involved in air filter selection and installation.

For the past five years Gerald Festian, CAFS from Aero Filter, Mark Mattingly, CAFS from Koch Filter and I have served as the Clean Air Award Committee. We have reviewed every application during that time.

Terry Driscoll of the NAFA office has played a major role in this process by receiving all applications and ensuring that supporting documentation is included before passing them on to the Clean Air Award Committee.

In 2015 a total of 32 nominations were approved for a Clean Air Award. These nominations came from all over the United States and Canada. The nomination form is set-up to award points for various aspects of the air filtration and maintenance of a building providing “clean air.� A review of these nomination forms gives us insight into some of the more significant trends in the air filtration industry.

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Significant Trends Air filtration efficiency in buildings continues to increase Of the 32 Clean Air Award nominations, 31 used MERV 13 filters or above and one used MERV 11. The benefits of higher efficiency filtration is becoming more important to building owners and managers. The minimum requirement for the Clean Air Award is a MERV 8. Just a few years ago a large percentage of the nominees used this minimum.

Good air filtration practices are more widespread Three of the point categories on the nomination form deal with good filtration practices: Gaskets, Filter Monitoring Devices (pressure gauges) and Filter Change Record. All 32 of the nominations included filter monitoring devices and filter change records. The point here is that one really does not know when to change filters without knowing the resistance of the filters and when the filters were last changed. These are simple things but they reflect the attention to detail required to ensure optimum filter performance.

Air filters, particularly high efficiency filters, are only as good as the seal of the filters in the system. Air bypass can significantly reduce filter efficiency.

Therefore, gasketing is an essential component. A review of the nominations shows that 30 of the 32 filter installations included gasketing.

2015 Clean Air Award Recipient, Commerce Place submitted by Guy Chauvet, CAFS and Doug Edwards, B.G.E. Service & Supply, Ltd.

23

Air filtration training and certification are growing in importance Seventy-six percent of the nominations included points for either having a NAFA Certified Technician (NCT) on the staff of the nominee or having filter service performed by a NAFA Certified Technician service crew.

Most of the buildings nominated for the Clean Air Award have building engineers whose sole responsibility is the care of their property. These engineers are often encouraged by their management to take advantage of training opportunities that would make them more proficient and knowledgeable about their jobs.

The NAFA Certified Technician (NCT) program is perfect for this purpose.

Any Certified Air Filter Specialist (CAFS) can give the training and administer the test for the NCT. This is a great opportunity to exhibit filter knowledge, create a more receptive customer and cement ties to ensure future business. The complete NCT training

program is available as a PowerPoint presentation. The test is based on the book The NAFA Installation, Operation and Maintenance of Air Filtration Systems Manual. The NCT designation is a plus for facility managers and an ongoing link with the CAFS who gave them the training.

It is also interesting to note that 31 of the 32 applications were submitted by individuals who were NAFA Certified Air Filter Specialists (CAFS). This is recognition of the fact that the CAFS designation is an essential part of being a professional in the air filtration industry.

The use of UV lights is increasing A few years ago we added points on the nomination form for the use of UV lights.

Initially, less than 10% of the applications included UV lights. In 2015 UV lights were included in 35% of the applications.

It is also interesting to note the types of buildings nominated for a Clean Air Award. Here is the breakdown for 2015:

Building Type

Submission %

Office

75%

Medical

13%

Resort/Casino

6%

Government

3%

School

3%

To summarize, the Clean Air Award has become an established and important program. It is an excellent benefit of NAFA membership. As we move into the new year it is a great time to start your list of nominees for 2016 from your customer base. ■ Jim Rosenthal is Chairman and CEO of Tex-Air Filters in Fort Worth, Texas. He is a graduate of Colorado College and has a Master’s Degree from the University of Pittsburgh. He is a Certified Air Filter Specialist and Past President of the National Air Filtration Association.

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Reliable Data Center Cooling Data centers house sensitive computers that require a consistently high level of critical cooling. Many Fortune 500 corporations rely on outsourced facility space to help maximize their data center strategy and IT resources to ensure their data operations run efficiently. According to Ponemon Institute’s 2013 Cost of Data Center Outages Survey, the cost of downtime incidents averages $690,204 per incident, among organizations polled. Immediate availability of critical facility services, such as equipment cooling is considered vital within densely packed server rooms so that the computing equipment does not overheat. Cooling is also the biggest user of electrical power within a data center, so maintaining HVAC energy efficiency is key to not breaking the operations budget. Aefficiency leading data center provider, based out of California offers a full spectrum of data solutions, from move-in-ready to custom-built. With over 140 data centers across 32 global markets, this worldwide provider focuses on minimizing any chance of cooling disruption that can impact uptime, downtime incidents and costs associated with cooling.

One of 3 locations in the Chicago area, includes a facility that is 800,000 square feet and split up between 3 buildings. Vital cooling operations are equipped with 800 ton BAC cooling towers, 25 ton Trane and Greenheck RTUs. With the facility being located next to extensive Cook County Forest Preserves, local environmental conditions caused system problems. Cottonwood seeds were getting sucked into cooling tower strainers, rooftop unit air intakes and creating clogs. The facility Chief Engineer had heard of a prefilter to stop this type of problem and contacted their local filtration expert, Carolynn Gallmann, of DP Systems, based in Addison, Illinois.

The large cooling towers were fitted with custom sized PreVent® air intake filter Model BHA, containing high abrasion media. Each RTU was fitted with PreVent Model U, containing woven electrostatic polypropylene media to capture even more of the finer particles. These air intake filters act as a primary pre-filtration defense to help prevent air flow obstruction damage and extensive maintenance that large volumes of debris can cause. PreVent can be custom designed and manufactured to fit any air intake protection application.

Designed for strength and durability, PreVent air intake filters are UV protected and stand up to extreme outdoor exposure, with a variety of design features that allow them to be attached easily and securely. Before the air intake filters were installed, costly coil cleanings were required 3 to 4 times per year. Now that PreVent has been installed, coil cleanings are only required 1 time per year. The filter screens can be quickly brushed clean with a broom, as needed during peak cottonwood season.

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Debris is quickly brushed off PreVent surface with a broom.

According to Gallmann of DP Systems, "The PreVent filters are working great so far - saving the engineering department on time, cleaning, and peace of mind!"

27

The Importance of Air Filtration Excerpt from the NAFA Guide to Air Filtration

Introduction

Comfort air conditioning is described as “the process of treating air to simultaneously control its temperature, humidity, cleanliness, and distribution to meet the comfort requirements of the occupants of the conditioned space,” by the Air quality criteria for particulate matter, EPA, 1996. Air conditioning for uses other than comfort is classified as “industrial air conditioning.” The four requirements of temperature, humidity, cleanliness, and distribution control apply equally to industrial air conditioning.

The air we breathe

Air is a mixture of gases composed of approximately 21% oxygen, 78% nitrogen, 1% argon and carbon dioxide, and traces of other gases (Figure 1). The air we breathe also includes particulate material and gases generated by nature, by man, and by industrial processes.

We are concerned with the particulate matter and gases that influence our health or comfort, that damage the spaces we occupy, or that affect the products or components we are manufacturing.

Although great strides have been made in cleaning up the environment, the air we breathe is not very clean. Pages could be used to list all the sources and nature of the materials that pollute it. Once, outdoor air was considered the main source of particulates found indoors.

However, the oil crisis in the 1970’s, started an effort to save energy resulting in less and less outdoor air being used in building air conditioning systems. It was found that this resulted in a buildup of contaminants within occupied spaces and created indoor air quality problems.

These contaminants come from building materials and finishes, building contents such as furniture and fixtures, and from people, processes and materials within the building. Many of these are nuisance

28

particulate and molecular contaminants such as cooking odors, but others are identified as causing discomfort and even illness for some, if not all, of the building occupants. Regardless of its source, an airborne contaminant can be either an aerosol or a gas.

Aerosols Aerosols cover a wide range of sizes.

Particle size is the most important property of an aerosol because the smaller the particles, the more stable the aerosol and hence, the greater the difficulty in separating the particles from the gas phase in which they are suspended.

An aerosol is a suspension of solid or liquid particles in the air.

The size of an aerosol is usually measured in micrometers; abbreviated “µm”. A µm is one millionth of a meter or approximately 1/25,400 inch. Figure 2 helps visualize the size of a µm by relating this dimension to the size of a human hair and other objects and Figure 3 is actual particles magnified on filter fibers.

Solid particles Dusts are solid aerosols generated from the reduction of larger solid materials.

As examples, a jackhammer creates dust while drilling holes in a rock, and a volcanic eruption discharges tons of fine lava dust into the air.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA 2004) classifies ambient atmospheric particles into three primary modes, coarse, fine and ultrafine. Coarse particles, which include those larger than 3 µm, are generally formed by mechanical breakup of solids, primarily natural and chemically inert. Fine particles are those formed from chemical reactions or condensing gases. They have a maximum size of 1 - 3 µm and are more chemically complex than coarse particles. Ultrafine particles are those particles smaller than 0.1 micrometer created by the reaction of gases with other particles or the degradation of larger particles and emissions from cooking and office printing equipment.

Figure 1. The Air We Breathe

NAFA Air Media

Measuring particulate contamination

Figure 2. Size in µm of certain small particles

Nanoparticles have the same definition as ultrafine particles according to the U.S. National Nanotechnology Institute (NNI 2008).

Although, larger dust particles settle rapidly, smaller dust particles tend to stay suspended in the air or to settle very slowly. According to the 2013 ASHRAE Fundamentals Handbook, airborne dust particles less than 0.1 µm behave like gases and have no rate of fall but are affected by Brownian Motion. Those in the range of 0.1 to 1.0 µm have negligible settling velocities, while those in the range of 1.0 to 10 µm have constant and appreciable settling rates but are kept in suspension by air currents. Particles larger than 10 µm will normally settle out of the atmosphere.

Airborne particles are a major concern to human health. Larger particles are typically removed in the nasal cavity while smaller sizes particles are respirable and can deposit deep into the human lung.

Bioaerosols are airborne biological materials including fungi, bacteria (and their spores) and viruses.

Fumes are solid aerosols formed by the condensation of vapors of solid materials. Arc welding fumes are a typical example. The heat of the electric arc is

30

enough to vaporize some of the rod and its coating. When they cool, they form welding fumes. Very small fume particles have a tendency to agglomerate forming larger particles.

Liquid particles • Fogs are liquid aerosols formed by the condensation of water vapor in the air.

• Mists are liquid aerosols formed by the atomization of liquids.

Compound particles • Smokes are solid and/or liquid aerosols formed by the incomplete combustion of organic substances.

• Smog is a compound mixture of particulates and droplets seen as a haze caused by a sunlight-induced photochemical reaction. Smog most often results over a populated area when a temperature inversion restricts normal removal of contaminants.

• Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) is a compound mass of poly-dispersed smaller sized particles, fumes and vapors created from burning tobacco products.

The concentration of different size particles in the atmosphere is usually measured by weight or count. Methods for testing filters are based on these two techniques.

Weight concentration can be determined by drawing a measured amount of air through a pre-weighed filter paper target. The paper can then be reweighed to determine its weight increase. This increase represents the weight of the dust in the quantity of air which was drawn through the filter paper.

Knowing the total weight of dust and the volume of air sampled, one can calculate the weight concentration of dust for a unit volume of air.

Counting and sizing of dust particles in the atmosphere were once tedious tasks. Initially, air samples were drawn through impingers in which the airborne dust was captured in a measured amount of water or some other liquid.

Representative samples of the liquid containing the dust in suspension were then examined under a microscope and the different size particles counted.

The introduction of membrane filters simplified this procedure. Air samples were drawn through membrane filter papers which collected the dust on their surface. The membranes could be treated with liquids which made them transparent and allowed the dust particles captured on them to be counted and sized under a microscope. The use of membrane filters is still a recognized method for counting and sizing particles.

The importance of air filtration

Air filtration supplies the means to obtain the level of particulate and molecular cleanliness required by any definition of “air conditioning.” It ranges from the simple task of preventing larger particles from plugging heating/cooling coils, to removing particles which can become a respiratory irritant or hazard, or molecular contaminants and particles as small as 0.1 µm and smaller which could cause a short circuit on a microchip.

Facility managers should always look to air filtration and cleaning as the best way to protect the health and safety of the occupants in a facility by removing contaminants from the air. NAFA has recently concluded a research project

NAFA Air Media

Photo courtesy of Kimberly Clark Corporation Figure 3. Close-up of particles on filter fibers

which links MERV filter efficiencies to the Wells-Riley ventilation formula to assess risks from airborne infectious disease.

An Executive Summary is included as an Appendix in the NAFA Guide to Air Filtration. The research report in its entirety is available online at www. nafahq.org and is required reading for a complete understanding of the impact of filtration and ventilation.

Other important [factors] for efficient particle removal by air filtration include: Protect the decor of occupied spaces by removing the staining portion of airborne dust; Reduce maintenance of building interiors by reducing the frequency of washing such items as window treatments and fluorescent fixtures; Protect the contents of occupied spaces including paintings, tapestries, and other items of historic or cultural value; Eliminate fire hazards by removing lint and other materials that might accumulate in ductwork; Extend shelf life of perishable products by removing airborne mold and bacteria during processing operations; and Remove airborne bacteria from operating suite air to help prevent postoperative infection.

Since it can be shown that the air we breathe is frequently contaminated, the logical way to eliminate or reduce

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this contamination is by the proper application of air filters. Before considering how filtration can solve the problem, we need to define several terms: Space is a defined area, usually enclosed by walls and a ceiling or the equivalent. The walls may have openings such as doors and windows. The space can be a building, a room, or part of a building or room.

Ambient air (room air) is the air which surrounds the occupant or a process in a space.

Recirculated air is air which has been taken from the space, reconditioned (temperature, humidity, and cleanliness adjusted as necessary), and returned to the space.

Return air system is a combination of duct-work and fan (sometimes omitted) which takes air from the space and delivers it back to the conditioning equipment.

Conditioning equipment is the combination of air filters and other air cleaning devices, heating/cooling coils, and humidifiers that treat the air to be supplied to the space. Air cleaning devices utilizing ultraviolet light are available to control microorganisms. See Chapter 14 of the NAFA Guide to Air Filtration: “Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation, Photocatalytic Oxidation.”

Outdoor Air (OA) is air taken from outdoor atmospheric air.

Supply air is a mixture of recirculated air and outdoor air that has been conditioned and delivered to the space.

Supply air fan system is a combination of fan, ductwork, and diffusers which delivers supply air to the space.

Diffusers are terminal devices on the supply air fan system. They distribute the conditioned air through the space.

Aspirating diffusers mix supply air with ambient air before distributing the mixture through the space. Nonaspirating diffusers discharge supply air directly into the space without mixing with ambient air.

Exhaust air is air taken from the space and not reused therein. Exhaust air is usually ducted to the outside atmosphere.

Exhaust air fan system is a combination of fan and ductwork which removes air from the space and discharges it to the outside atmosphere.

Make-up air is outdoor air supplied to replace exhaust air. An example would be air supplied to a facility in a specific quantity to replace air removed by bathroom or kitchen hood exhaust.

Infiltration is air introduced into the space through openings between the space and its surroundings when the amount of make-up air is less than the exhaust air. The space is then said to be under negative pressure.

Exfiltration is air moved out of the space through openings between the space and its surroundings when the amount of make-up air is greater than the exhaust air. The space is then said to be under positive pressure. ■ Read more about all aspects of air filtration in The NAFA Guide to Air Filtration, 5th edition, 2014 now available in the NAFA store or by visiting NAFA Booth 5509 at the AHR Expo, Orlando, Florida.

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How Well Can Higher Efficiency Filtration Control Particles at High Ventilation Rates in Offices?

by Michael S. Waring, PhD

Ventilation rates in buildings have been traditionally defined by their minimum rates, which are the lower limits to maintain acceptable indoor air quality.

For instance, at default, occupant densities in offices, the American Society for Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Standard 62.1 recommends a minimum ventilation rate of just over 15 CFM per person.

However, newer research is beginning to demonstrate that increased ventilation rates, particularly in office settings, can have many positive effects on occupant wellbeing. For instance, higher ventilation rates up to about 60 CMF per person are associated with reduced sick building syndrome (SBS) symptoms, and higher ventilation rates are also associated with increased productivity, reduced sick leave, and lower prevalence of airborne disease infections. Furthermore, a recent study from a research team

The general purpose of this NAFAfunded research project is to conduct a series of experiments to quantify the effectiveness of higher efficiency filtration to maintain low indoor PM concentrations when high ventilation rates are used in a test building.

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led by Joseph Allen from the Harvard School of Public Health found that increased office worker cognitive performance correlated strongly to higher ventilation rates, lower carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations, and reduced exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

Increasing ventilation rates could have some negative impacts, though. The first negative impact is that it will consume more energy to condition the air to maintain thermal comfort in the space, which has both societal impacts due to greenhouse gas emissions and simply costs more money to the building tenants or owners. However, research led by William Fisk at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory evaluated the costs and benefits of higher ventilation rates over the entire U.S. office sector and demonstrated a net benefit to the business industry of about $20 billion USD when the positive productivity and absenteeism benefits were weighed against energy costs of higher ventilation.

A second negative impact of higher ventilation rates is that they can introduce more outdoor pollutants into the indoor environment. According to health and epidemiological research, the outdoor pollutant with the likeliest negative health impact is fine particulate matter (PM), which is the total PM mass with aerodynamic diameters less than 2.5 Îźm. Indeed, increased exposure to fine PM has been repeatedly associated with higher human morbidity and mortality in multi-city epidemiological studies.

Since most human exposure to PM already occurs indoors, increasing this amount substantially is not wise, even to realize other benefits from more ventilation. Fortunately, higher efficiency filtration alongside of larger

ventilation rates has the potential to control indoor PM concentrations.

Since creating indoor spaces to promote occupant performance by using high ventilation rates is gaining traction as a new design paradigm, we at Drexel University have teamed up with NAFA to explore how well PM concentrations can be controlled by using high efficiency filters at high ventilation rates.

Specifically, the general purpose of this NAFA-funded research project is to conduct a series of experiments to quantify the effectiveness of higher efficiency filtration to maintain low indoor PM concentrations when high ventilation rates are used in a test building. This field study will be performed on Drexel campus, on the third f loor of a building that is served by an independent air handing unit (AHU). An automated sampling system has been built in the AHU, and it can periodically take pollution measurements from three air streams, which are the ambient air, supply air and return air, assuming that the return airf low represents an average state of all third f loor indoor air. We will measure particles, as well as ozone and CO2 . To assess the magnitude of energy changes in using higher efficiency filtration, we have sub-metered the AHU’s supply and return fans. Also, the energy used to condition the ventilation air itself will be determined from the building automation system (BAS) readings.

The specific study objectives are to measure the indoor/outdoor ratios of the above pollutants, the PM concentration changes as the air passes through different filters, and energy usage to move and condition air by the AHU, all while systematically varying the ventilation rates and filter efficiency in the supply air stream, for three-week-

NAFA Air Media

long monitoring periods in different seasons. Ventilation rates will span the range between the minimum allowed by ASHRAE and the full amount capable of being delivered by the AHU when the outdoor air damper is fully opened. The different filters will be classified according to the Minimum Efficiency Reporting Values (MERV) defined in ASHRAE Standard 52.2, and they will be MERV 8, 14, and 15. Using the measured data, the monetary cost of using higher efficiency filters will be estimated (considering first costs and fan energy use) and placed into context of the larger amount of total energy needed to achieve the higher ventilation rates.

To augment the field-testing, we will use indoor air quality and building energy models to predict the impact

www.nafahq.org

of using higher efficiency filtration along with different ventilation rates on indoor PM concentrations and energy use for offices in 14 different climate zones. With this dataset, the impact of higher efficiency filtration on indoor PM in different cities can be calculated. Also, using the energy data, the cost of using higher efficiency filtration (from first cost and operation standpoint) can be compared to the total energy used to achieve the higher ventilation, as well as to the benefits of higher ventilation and filtration on occupant health and performance. We hypothesize that the cost needed for higher efficiency filtration will be small compared to the great benefits realized by better filtration.

The outcomes of this work are relevant for understanding the consequences of operating mechanical

systems in office buildings that have high ventilation rates with high efficiency filtration in the supply airstream. This project is directly aligned with the NAFA mission— since its findings have the potential to “educate end-users about the importance of air filtration” as building operation strategies generally undergo paradigm shifts and become centered on maximizing occupant health and productivity. ■ Michael S. Waring, PhD is Associate Professor, Director of Architectural Engineering and Associate Department Head for Undergraduates Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering at Drexel University

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Certified Personnel CAFS

Tom Justice, CAFS, NCT Zene Goldsboro, North Carolina

NCT

Deuma SRL Buenos Aires, Argentina

Robert Moss, NCT

Pure Air Filter Sales & Service Greenwood, Mississippi

Joseph R. Abbott, NCT

Daniel Peck, NCT

Cameron Bowman, NCT

Frank G. Perez Robles, NCT

Ricardo Duque Castro, NCT

Miguel Angel, NCT

Teddy J. Dowgiert, NCT

Erik Richardson, NCT

Andrea Gonzalez Prieto, NCT

Anthoney Short, NCT

Abbie Harper, NCT

Javier F. Trujillo Velascot, NCT

Jhonatan S. Hernandez C., NCT

Esteban Vargas Perez, NCT

Bentall Kennedy Vancouver, British Columbia Canada Pure Air Filter Sales & Service Greenwood, Mississippi Carvel SA Medellin, Colombia

Air Industries, Inc. North Andover, Massachusetts MKK Colombia SAS Bogota, Colombia

Bonded Filter Co. Nashville, Tennessee Proyectista HVAC Pisco, Peru

Tom Justice, CAFS, NCT Zene Goldsboro, North Carolina

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Guillermo Massucco, NCT

Pure Air Filter Sales & Service Greenwood, Mississippi PV Group, S.A. Lima, Peru

Tornado De Colombia SAS Bogota, Colombia ABM Phoenix, Arizona ABM Phoenix, Arizona

Climatizacion Eficiente Ltda.

Cali, Colombia American Air Filter Tlalnepantla Estado de Mexico, Mexico

Lauren Wilkerson, NCT Bonded Filter Co. Nashville, Tennessee

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35

Growing the Association Through Real Connections

by Michelle Czosek, CAE, NAFA Executive Director

Networking is not collecting contacts! Networking is about planting relations. – MiSha.at Reflecting on the first 60 days of the NAFA transition, there’s no quote that better sums up what I’ve witnessed at this organization. I first noticed the remarkable relationships people have built or strengthened through their involvement in NAFA as I observed interactions at the 2015 Annual Meeting in Key West.

The first person I met was Terry Driscoll and from the moment I met her, I was excited that she’d be continuing her career with NAFA. It was clear that over the years, she’s built relationships and gained knowledge of the organization that’s invaluable.

Her transition to the AMPED team has been a journey that I’m truly enjoying. I look forward to the prospect of utilizing Terry’s many strengths as we move NAFA into the future . In the interest of relationship building and helping someone that works 1,000 miles away feel like a true part of the team, Terry visited the new NAFA headquarters office in Madison. It was a wonderful opportunity for her to join us for our weekly staff meeting, get to know people she’ll be working with on a daily basis, spend time with staff members that were helping with the new membership database and

NAFA Team in Madison, Wisconsin (L-R) back row: Kristin McGuine; Lynda J. Patterson, FASAE, CAE, President and Owner of AMPED; Emily Wiseman and Michelle Czosek, CAE. Front row: Brittany Olson and Terry Driscoll.

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strengthening the NAFA brand, and even participate in our annual all staff photo. Even though she isn’t physically in the office, Terry and I connect almost daily and try our hand at Skype on a weekly basis. We’re all excited to have her on the team!

In November I attended INDA’s Filtration 2015 Conference in Chicago.

It was my first trade show as new NAFA Executive Director and I felt at home from the minute I stepped into the educational session. I was greeted with smiles from a few familiar faces and was welcomed by Tom Justice, CAFS, NCT. Thanks to Tom for all of the introductions and the opportunity to share dinner with the presenters. Booth duty brought more opportunities for relationship building, where I was able to spend time with some of you oneon-one. I appreciate the willingness of everyone to participate and help strengthen awareness of NAFA. And to those of you that took me to lunch, stopped by just to say hi and shared your knowledge of NAFA and the air filtration industry, I appreciate everything you’ve done to make this transition so smooth. Special thanks go to Julie Engelstad, CAFS, NAFA board member and my booth neighbor, for jumping in on the technical questions from booth visitors. This face-to-face time with members and potential members is the foundation that our association is built on.

In his first speech as NAFA President, Jeron Downing, CAFS, said, “Don’t let technology rule you. Be a champion of personal relationships.” I hope that as our relationships develop, we’ll do exactly that – pick up the phone and meet face-to-face as often as we can to grow relationships and, in turn, the organization through personal contact and real connections.

I look forward to seeing you at the AHR Expo and the upcoming NAFA Technical Seminar, April 6-8, 2016 in Scottsdale, Arizona! ■

NAFA Air Media

www.nafahq.org

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