Like never before, facility operators are working to improve the quality of the air in their building. While ventilation – or air changes per hour inside a building – play a critical role in this effort, it’s often thought that increased ventilation is too costly. Luckily, that’s not true.
In fact, residents can simultaneously ventilate their building, reduce energy costs and future-proof the building for unforeseen pandemics. How? By incorporating energy recovery ventilation into your HVAC system.
So, let’s break down why it’s effective, how it works with other technologies, and whether it’s a good fit for the facility.
Buildings designed to exhaust air at multiple points
Traditionally, buildings were designed to exhaust air at multiple points
Traditionally, buildings were designed to exhaust air at multiple points. Those points include everything from doors and windows, to seams in the building. The problem is that’s a horribly inefficient way to regulate air exchanges and doesn’t allow to effectively manage – or increase – the air flow, both into and out of the building.
With that methodology, the thinking was to keep air in the building, in order to avoid having to re-heat or re-condition fresh air coming in from the outside – and therefore, keep energy costs down. Then, the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
Improving indoor air quality (IAQ)
Whether it’s ASHRAE or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, credible agencies have stated that improving indoor air quality (IAQ) plays a role in reducing illness caused by airborne pathogens. With an increasing focus on having ‘cleaner’ air inside facilities, engineers, facility managers and others have been tasked with figuring out how to do it in the most effective way possible.
A minimum number of air changes per hour ensure that the facility is constantly replacing potentially infected air with fresh air from the outside. Of course, the trouble with this for most facility managers is that it can become costly. Or at least that’s the perception.
Ventilation plays a critical role, as it helps dilute the air
But, ventilation plays a critical role as it helps dilute the air. Every time the air is exchanged, the amount of airborne contaminants is cut approximately by half, according to Chris Glover, an Engineer and Director of Energy Recovery Restoration at Airxchange, which makes some of the most reliable, easy-to-maintain energy recovery wheels in the world.
That knowledge is based on math from a standard dilution curve. Here’s where energy recovery ventilation becomes so important. Integrating energy recovery into the HVAC system allows for recycling 70 to 80% of heat or cooling from air leaving the building.
Reduced energy costs
The recovery system then transfers that energy into the fresh air entering the building
The recovery system then transfers that energy into the fresh air entering the building. This alone will drop energy costs roughly 40%, making ventilation viable.
Chris Glover said, “Why turn ventilation down when you have a technology that can let you achieve air changes per hour cost effectively?”
Energy Recovery – One part of the equation
A lot of attention has been given to filtration and UV disinfection. The reason, most likely, is because they’re relatively simple to incorporate into a building. For the most part, each is plug-and-play.
Both are notable and play important roles in improving air quality, but neither gets at the root problem: Needing to swap stale air for fresh air.
Incorporating proper ventilation has an additive effect
Incorporating proper ventilation has an additive effect. When combined with UV and filtration, ventilation can significantly improve air quality.
“If you strike one out of the equation, now you have to increase the others to increase indoor air quality, which is inefficient,” said Chris Glover, adding “It’s better to make sure each is optimized and working in concert, like a true system.”
Installing an energy recovery system into the facility
An energy recovery ventilator works in all geographies and climates
In general, the best time to work an energy recovery system into the facility is during a retrofit or overhaul of the existing HVAC system, or when building a new facility and starting from scratch. The reason is it’s not as simple as plugging something into the wall, but the long-term benefits are significant, when it comes to air quality and savings.
An energy recovery ventilator works in all geographies and climates, but the most savings can be seen, when conditions are extreme. That’s because energy recovery wheels – the backbone of the system – work better when the air is incredibly hot, cold or humid.
Energy recovery system helps maintain indoor conditions
Chris Glover stated, “You can place these in a range of environments and if you have dramatic swings in temperature or humidity, an energy recovery system will help you maintain consistent indoor conditions, without having to spend a ton more in energy costs.”
Lastly, one question that often pops up is: Aren’t energy recovery wheels tough to maintain within the system? That’s a misconception that Airxchange has worked to disprove for more than 30 years.
Easy and convenient maintenance
Their wheels are made of polymer, which provides multiple maintenance benefits. Debris doesn’t easily damage them, they’re truly segmented, so as to facilitate their removal and effective cleaning, and they’re built with some of the most reliable components on the market.
Chris Glover concludes, “If you’re not considering energy recovery because you think the maintenance of the wheel will be an issue, I assure you we have addressed – and solved – the issue.”