Controlling the Uncontrollable: How to Ensure Building IAQ Resiliency

While the wildfires burned in Los Angeles in January, an invisible danger was spreading across the Southwest United States. As buildings and vehicles were consumed by the Palisades and Eaton Fires, hazardous pollutants from paint, insulation, metals, and other burning materials made the air dangerous to breathe.

Today, experts are sounding the alarm that volatile organic compounds (VOCs), particulate matter and other toxins hang in the air up to 400 miles from the epicenter of the fires, posing a serious threat to public health. Of particular concern is the fact that fine particulate matter from the wildfires—that is particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns in size, called PM2.5—is up to 10 times more harmful on human health than PM2.5 from other sources.

This crisis underscores a broader challenge: indoor air quality (IAQ) is increasingly impacted by external factors beyond the control of facility managers. Whether wildfire smoke, industrial pollution, or everyday emissions, facility managers must take proactive steps to ensure that buildings remain safe havens. Fortunately, by leveraging today’s advanced technologies and IAQ best practices, protecting the health, wellbeing, and comfort of building occupants is achievable—essentially allowing you to control the uncontrollable.

Key Threats to IAQ

Wildfires may be the most visible threat today, but they’re just one of many factors that degrade indoor air quality. Each day, your building’s IAQ is impacted by:

• Industry and vehicle emissions, which are a constant source of airborne contaminants, particularly in urban areas. Buildings located near highways, industrial zones, or above underground parking garages are particularly vulnerable to pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and fine particulate matter.
• Off-gassing from materials inside buildings. Office furniture, carpeting, paint, office equipment, and building materials all release VOCs over time, contributing to indoor air pollution.
• One of the biggest IAQ considerations for the individuals who occupy buildings is the presence of allergens, molds, spores, and viruses like COVID-19 or influenza, which can have an immediate negative impact on health and well-being. 

In response to COVID-19, the ASHRAE Epidemic Task Force recommends increasing ventilation to five to six Air Changes per Hour (ACH) to enhance IAQ and reduce exposure to airborne pathogens. However, when outdoor air is polluted, improving ventilation and increasing outdoor air volume can be harmful. Instead, improving the quality of the indoor air itself is essential.

Immediate Steps to Optimize IAQ

Facility managers can take immediate, cost-effective steps to improve IAQ without major investments in new systems or equipment. The following three-pronged approach serves as a first line of defense against indoor air pollutants and lays the groundwork for an IAQ management plan before larger system upgrades are considered.

1. Utilize Air Quality Sensors

The use of air quality sensors allows for real-time monitoring of IAQ, thus empowering facility managers to understand air quality trends and respond to threats before they become serious issues. Advanced air-quality sensors can detect changes in particulates, temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide, and total VOCs, providing critical data for informed and proactive decision-making.

2. Ensure Regular System Maintenance

HVAC filters should be replaced regularly, with increased frequency during high-pollution events, such as wildfires. By supplementing HVAC systems with air purifiers equipped with medical-grade H13 True HEPA filters, building managers can dramatically improve IAQ while also providing additional air exchanges.

3. Verify Building Sealing

A well-sealed building plays a crucial role in IAQ management. Sealing gaps around windows, doors, and ductwork minimizes outdoor pollutants from infiltrating indoor spaces and ensures better air containment.

System Upgrades: The Next Level of IAQ Protection

While basic protective and maintenance steps will go a long way in improving IAQ, they have limitations. With wildfires increasing in frequency and intensity, as well as climate change and urban density further degrading outdoor air quality, facility managers must think ahead. The best way to ensure clean, healthy indoor air is to integrate advanced IAQ technologies directly into building systems.

Next-Generation IAQ Solutions

Today’s cutting edge IAQ systems go beyond filtration and ventilation. They incorporate networked, intelligent technologies that continuously monitor air quality and automatically adjust to changing conditions.

Real-Time, Data-Driven Monitoring

Modern IAQ systems feature advanced sensors that collect and respond to real-time data about contaminants, environmental conditions, and occupancy density, allowing facility teams to keep a constant pulse on IAQ. These features allow the system to conserve energy by going into standby when rooms are uninhabited and IAQ improvements are not needed.

Localized, High-Efficiency Air Purifiers

Next-generation air purification systems integrate directly into buildings and are designed to work alongside existing HVAC systems to realize energy and cost savings. Extremely scalable, these systems can grow with a building’s needs without the need for ductwork connections.

Networked, Automated Operation

In a networked IAQ system, data from integrated sensors is immediately visible to facility managers and building engineers via a cloud-based dashboard, giving them a real-time picture of building IAQ and allowing them to make informed system modifications, such as adjusting outdoor air intake. These systems automatically adjust integrated air purification units to ramp up or down as needed, cleaning the air faster and reducing energy consumption over non-networked units.

Advanced Filtration Technology

For superior particulate removal, leading IAQ systems utilize H13 True HEPA filtration, which captures 99.95% of particles down to 0.01 microns—a significant improvement over commonly utilized MERV 8 filters, which remove approximately 70% of airborne particles down to 3.0 microns and 20% of those 1.0 to 3.0 microns. Given that wildfire smoke particles can be as small as 0.01 microns, this level of filtration is critical for occupant health.

While external threats like wildfires, industrial pollution, and climate change remain beyond a facility manager’s control, indoor air quality is entirely within reach. Taking proactive measures today not only mitigates immediate air quality risks but also protects occupants from long-term health effects.

By investing in advanced IAQ solutions, facility managers can create resilient, adaptable indoor environments, ensuring their buildings remain safe havens no matter the external air quality challenges.