Improve Indoor Air Quality, Energy Consumption and Building Performance: Leveraging Technology to Improve All Three

Abstract

Building owners and occupants expect more from their buildings today- both better IEQ and less energy consumption. Many facilities strive to design and commission a =smart building' - one that is healthy, environmentally conscious and operating in the most efficient way possible. However, maintaining optimum indoor air quality often seems to be in conflict with minimizing operating and energy costs. Conventional wisdom says the best IAQ strategy involves increasing ventilation rates. But outdoor air comes with a cost. Even with the use of heat recovery, outdoor air must be heated, cooled, and dehumidified, which costs $2-4/cfm/yr. Further, increased ventilation is not always the best choice from an IAQ standpoint either. In most urban-and even many suburban-- locations, outdoor air is actually far more polluted than indoor air. Appropriate application of air cleaning technologies and monitoring can allow many buildings to achieve both improved IAQ and lower operating costs.