Indoor Air Quality Services: How to Enjoy Better Air

Indoor air quality services have surged in importance and popularity due to heightened awareness of health and environmental concerns. The realization that indoor air can be significantly more polluted than outdoor air has underscored the critical role of indoor air quality in preventing respiratory diseases, allergies, and other health conditions.

The best and cleanest air is the outdoor air. Unfortunately, outdoor air is only occasionally the right temperature and humidity for us to be comfortable. So humans build enclosures where we can hunker down and stay protected from the elements. As a result, the air becomes stale. The indoor air quality (IAQ) drops, contaminants build up, and we begin to feel the effects.

This was evident during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic when everyone locked down and worried about contamination. Indoor air quality became an emergency issue for schools, public buildings, gathering spaces, and homes.

Common indications of poor indoor air quality include stuffy air, mold on surfaces, lingering odors, excessively high or low humidity, and noticeable environmental dust. The occupants may feel dizzy and tired with eye, nose, or throat irritation.

If only the solution were as simple as installing the right sterilizing light to solve all of our air quality problems. It’s never quite that easy. You’ll need indoor air quality services and a proper ventilation system in place to deliver fresh, clean air.

The Value of Indoor Air Quality

Buildings play a major role in allowing people to think clearly. Clean buildings with plenty of fresh air support cognitive function, human health, and workplace productivity.

• 90% of our time is spent indoors.
• 10% of our time is spent outdoors.
• 90% of a building’s costs are associated with people via salaries and benefits.
• 10% of a building’s costs come from energy, maintenance and rent/mortgage.

These figures come from “The Impact of Green Buildings on Cognitive Function,” a study from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Center for Health and the Global Environment, SUNY Upstate Medical University, and Syracuse University.

The study shows why it’s so important to focus more resources on keeping people safe and healthy. Rather than the 10%, focus on the 90%. Intelligence is in the air.

Good air quality is also a sound economic investment. Ventilation upgrades are proven to lower the number of sick days people use at work and increase their productivity by 8 to 11%. This is significant considering a major research study found 57% of sick leave was associated with poor ventilation.

Harvard Professor Joseph Allen put a number to the value of improving workplace air quality: For every $40 per worker per year a company invests in improving its ventilation, they can recoup between $6,000 and $7,000 per worker per year in increased productivity.

Common Indoor Air Quality Solutions

Improving indoor air quality is crucial for maintaining a healthy and comfortable living environment. Here are common solutions that are widely used to enhance IAQ in residential, commercial, and industrial settings:

• HEPA Filters: High-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters can remove at least 99.97% of dust, pollen, mold, bacteria, and any airborne particles with a size of 0.3 microns (µm).
• Activated Carbon Filters: These filters are excellent for removing gasses, odors, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the air.
• UV Germicidal Irradiation: UV light can kill bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens, making the air safer to breathe.
• Regular Cleaning and Maintenance: Ensuring that heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems are regularly serviced and filters are replaced according to manufacturer recommendations helps maintain optimal air quality.
• Monitoring Devices: Tools that measure levels of specific pollutants, such as VOCs, particulate matter, and carbon dioxide, can help identify problems and track the effectiveness of IAQ improvement measures.

Effectiveness and Efficiency in Indoor Air Filtration

Filtration is the best way to reduce indoor air pollution and enjoy better air. Are your air filters clean? Do you change your filters on a regular schedule?

Keeping the air moving through the filter is also important. Run the HVAC system’s fan continuously when your space is occupied. At home, run it throughout the day. If you find it annoying during your sleeping hours, turn it off only at night.

Use highly efficient filters. More efficient filters allow only the smallest particles to pass. A MERV 13 filter prevents contamination from most viruses and bacteria, and a HEPA filter can remove up to 99.9% of particulate matter.

How to Conduct Indoor Air Quality Testing and Make Adjustments

Increasing filter efficiency is about more than just installing a better filter. Clean filters always allow more airflow than clogged filters, so keep this in mind and use it as motivation to keep your filters clean.

Better filters are more restrictive, meaning they require more energy to push air through. Your home or business may need a higher-quality HVAC system with a more efficient flow to push air at the appropriate rate.

If you’re retro-commissioning a building and retrofitting a higher-efficiency filter into an existing system, you may need to change the filter more often to keep the system running optimally. Work with an HVAC professional to take pressure drop readings across your return air and supply air ducting. This determines how much power your system can handle.

A dedicated outside air system can bring your indoor air quality to the highest level and reduce indoor contaminants. These systems reduce the energy cost of bringing in outside air at higher than the recommended minimum levels. Higher ventilation rates reduce indoor contaminants and reduce the spread of bacteria and viruses.

A Comprehensive Indoor Air Quality Testing Plan

Are you ready to conduct testing and improve your air quality? A comprehensive indoor air quality testing plan should include most or all of the following tests.

• Air exchange and ventilation testing
• Particulate matter measurement
• Volatile organic compound (VOC) testing
• Mold and allergen assessment
• Ozone detection
• Nitrogen dioxide detection
• Formaldehyde testing
• Carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide monitoring
• Radon monitoring
• Humidity and moisture monitoring
• Follow-up filtration testing after system installation

Examples of Successful Indoor Air Quality Services

DMA Engineering has been involved in many projects to conduct indoor air quality testing and establish safe, healthy airflow in homes and commercial buildings. Here are a few examples.

Thorne Nature Experience

This large nature center in Lafayette, Colorado includes offices, a preschool, and public access. Its ultra-efficient ventilation system fills the rooms with fresh outside air and includes an energy recovery ventilator that adheres to strict ASHRAE guidelines for indoor air control.

Nederland Town Shop

At the Nederland Town Shop, DMA Engineering’s commissioning helped the property owners strive for net zero energy consumption while providing excellent air quality. The shop has energy recovery ventilators to reduce the overall building load and operate at extremely high efficiency.

Indoor Air Quality Services from DMA Engineering

As the world changes, our ways of thinking about indoor quality will change, too. People are social beings who will always interact with each other in enclosed spaces. Our buildings should be good community citizens that contribute to healthy environments.

At DMA Engineering, we believe that every home and business owner can optimize building systems for better air, health, and comfort through innovative indoor airflow design. We’re happy to make recommendations to improve the air quality in your shared spaces.