What if I told you there is another alarming statistic from the United States EPA, and that is also from the 80’s!? Truly outrageous. This one, from the T.E.A.M. study, also examined indoor air quality and found that “concentrations of some pollutants are often 2 to 5 times higher than typical outdoor concentrations,” and this was in 1987. Between our near-exclusive relationship with our places of domicile and these stats, I’m pretty sure we should never stop wearing our N-95 masks. Ah, dystopia, you’ve arrived! (1)
And what is in this air? In addition to what you might bring in by choice or accident, it includes an airborne soup of other delightfuls, including - but not limited to - the following: VOC’s (volatile organic compounds, including formaldehyde), bacteria, molds, pollen, dust mites, cleaning solutions/products, smoke/combusted elements, carbon monoxide, natural gas, radon, ozone, pesticides, asbestos, lead, arsenic, and VIRUSES. According to the CDC, “Some biologic pollutants, such as measles, chickenpox, and influenza are transmitted through the air. However, the first two are now preventable with vaccines. Influenza virus transmission, although vaccines have been developed, still remains of concern in crowded indoor conditions and can be affected by ventilation levels in the home.” (2)
This information comes to us from 2006, well prior to the current pandemic. What we do know at this time is that Covid-19, like Influenza, can be transmitted through the air, and that crowded indoor conditions can facilitate a high level of exposure and transmission. Increased ventilation, when provided by a dedicated mechanical system, improves indoor air quality by bringing in fresh outdoor air while simultaneously exhausting the unhealthy indoor air. Coupled with appropriate levels of filtration, we use controlled ventilation systems as a tool to dramatically improve the healthfulness of the interior air supply.
When designing high performance buildings, we turn to mechanical ventilation systems for several reasons. First off, a high performance building is unconventional (for now) in a number of ways. It is extremely air tight, and this limits the infiltration of air that is common in conventional construction assemblies.
Air tightness is great until you cram a room with 20 breathing bodies and a dog, and you start to generate lots of heat and vapor. Soon it is unbearable; your walls are sweating, your people are sweating, and we need active ventilation. We, as high-performance building designers, know to anticipate this - and we plan accordingly. The dedicated mechanical ventilation system manages this, and runs constantly. It is coupled with a high-efficiency recovery system that transfers heat from the warm exhausted air to the cold incoming fresh air (winter scenario, which reverses in summer), thereby further improving the efficiency of the building.
You want this in your next project, and you want your next project to be a high-performance building with mechanical ventilation. You just didn’t know why - until now. We will help guide you through the process, and will ensure that your next building is also good for your health and wellbeing.
(1) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 1987. The total exposure assessment methodology (TEAM) study: Summary and analysis. EPA/600/6-87/002a. Washington, DC.
(2) The United States Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. Healthy Housing Reference Manual, Chapter 5: Indoor Air Pollutants and Toxic Materials. 2006. https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/publications/books/housing/cha05.htm