EEBA Academy

Energy-efficient new homes that are built tight require appropriately sized bath and kitchen exhaust and whole house mechanical ventilation (WHMV) systems to enable good indoor air quality. ASHRAE Standard 62.2 specifies minimum airflow rates and requires verification, but there is a lack of data on installed system performance and operation and their relationship to indoor air quality in occupied homes. This session will present early findings from an ongoing Building America research study that has gathered data on mechanical ventilation systems, indoor air quality parameters, and house and household characteristics from 180+ occupied homes in CA, CO, FL, GA, IL, OR, and SC.

This presentation addresses the challenges and opportunities associated with providing healthy indoor spaces going forward into a post-COVID future. The presentation discusses filtration, ultraviolet light, and hydro-peroxides as different methods for cleaning air, as well as various products available on the market today. The authors discuss and quanitify their conclusion that a system approach is needed using a combination of all three methods in order to provide the healthiest indoor air quality possible, which will be able to heavily mitigate or even eliminate the risks associated with airborne viruses in indoor spaces.

We are excited to share with you an opportunity that EEBA is spearheading alongside Allergy Standards, Ltd, Construction Instruction, and Trane Technologies.

With increased focus on health and indoor air quality, the industry has seen a boom of low-cost indoor air quality sensor systems that measure a variety of pollutants and other substances. These sensors are being using in a wide array of applications, often being included in consumer IAQ feedback devices, and even sometimes being used to control demand-responsive ventilation. Newport and HVI will share the technical work performed to develop these standards as well as the future of industry efforts to bring certification of IAQ sensor systems to the market.