Technology & Trends - Energy Recovery Ventilators (ERV)

Advanced heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, and refrigeration (HVACR) systems have always been essential to healthcare. However, the need for clean, fresh air at the right temperature and humidity within clinical settings has never been made clearer during the COVID-19 pandemic. It illustrated the importance of effective HVACR systems in healthcare due to their ability to improve air quality, patient outcomes, and infection control measures.  The need for change  Many current...

The importance of caring for the environment has become a top priority both around the world and increasingly in the United States. As regulations and social expectations become more stringent, future-proofing our infrastructure - beginning with energy consumption in buildings - is a natural first step. There are four key strategies a building owner or facility manager can focus on to improve energy efficiency and reduce a building’s carbon footprint, all while improving building performa...

As COVID-19 becomes endemic and hybrid working becomes the norm, a great deal of time and energy is going into managing a safe return to the office and a move to new styles of working. As hard FM systems are adjusted to suit new workplace expectations and futureproof sites, Johnpaul Pearson, Business Support Director at Anabas, talks about understanding workplaces and using technology to better design and plan a workplace of the future. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, we were witnessi...

‘Energy storage holds the key to providing clean energy for heating and powering the home and reducing carbon emissions’ Carlton Cummins, CTO and Co-Founder of clean technology company Aceleron explain how this will work. As we transition away from natural gas and other fossil fuels, there is no question that we absolutely have to make better use of renewable energy. Using a battery energy storage system (BESS) combined with renewable technology such as solar means that it can be st...

Ventilation systems have never been more important as we battle against an ever-evolving pandemic, and crucially, they must be installed correctly to deliver good indoor air quality for years to come. David Millward, Group Product Manager at Elta Group, explains the practical considerations needed for contractors in charge of installing them. Good indoor air quality (IAQ) With a pandemic that has been raging for going on two years, there has never been a time where good indoor air quality (IAQ...

AI (Artificial Intelligence) is a smart buildings’ biggest ally. Without it, a building could hardly be classed as smart. For building owners and managers, AI is imperative to create a secure and comfortable experience for their occupants every day. What a building platform should do is gather data from various sources from the building management system and other smart technologies, to gather it all in one place. The data should then be fed into a flexible, scalable cloud-based platform...

With the increase in climate protests and UN reports highlighting future net-zero challenges, industries are trying to focus their business practices on principles of sustainable development and responsible investment. In the building sector specifically, landlords are gravitating towards certification schemes such as BREAM, LEED, and WELL (among others) to promote the sustainability of their assets and boost green credentials. Tenants are now demanding that the spaces they live and work in ar...

Indoor air quality (IAQ) has become an area of emphasis among those in the HVAC industry and on a national level. Homes, offices, schools, and everything in between are being reevaluated with the ambition of having the best IAQ possible. Maintaining a high level of air quality is an important factor in encouraging a cleaner indoor breathing environment, which can lead to the better overall health and well-being of our families and communities. Clean air is especially important now with more wav...

Most people spend about 90 percent of their time indoors. For home owners, indoor environmental quality (IEQ) is the most meaningful differentiator between ‘high-performance’ and ‘code-built’ homes. Indoor environmental quality  IEQ describes how well the indoor environment promotes occupant comfort and health. The components of IEQ include thermal comfort, indoor air quality (IAQ), sound and lighting. Requirements for optimal IEQ vary per occupant and household, d...

Forget the fact that heat pump installations in the average home could cost several thousand pounds more than a conventional gas boiler and that fully insulating those homes will add even greater cost to the homeowner. It’s not really the cost issue that could be the only potential bump in the road on the way to the target set by the UK Government, because a more pressing problem to solve will be the shortage of trained ‘green’ heating engineers that will be the key to delive...

With ongoing efforts from governments across the globe to reduce carbon emissions and with an ever greater focus on sustainability, it is vital that the HVAC sector does its part in becoming more environmentally conscious. And, while there have been steps to become more sustainable, there is a huge amount that still needs to be done to make sure that many of the targets that have been set are attainable. In buildings, both large and small, industrial heating accounts for roughly two thirds of i...

The education field was faced with multiple challenges this past year. Not only did the COVID-19 pandemic bring the necessity of online learning, but it has also brought up necessary changes to physical schools and universities, when reopening time arrives. The health and safety of students, staff, and faculty has become a priority for directors of school operations, who have been working to properly adapt school facilities to this new reality we are facing. Ensuring health and safety of studen...

Evolution is key. The lessons learned by navigating the COVID-19 global pandemic over the last 18 months have proven that most companies and industries must be in a constant state of evolution, or risk being left behind in favor of a quicker, more nimble innovation. As the world made strides to adopt “the new normal” across personal and professional lives, such evolution increased tenfold, from stay-at-home orders to social distancing, masks, vaccinations, and now, a slow and steady...

In what can only be described as a very turbulent year, many businesses have had to shut their doors and have all but forgotten about the general upkeep of their sites. With priorities shifted to keeping companies afloat and staff employed, maintenance and servicing has taken a backseat, and many systems will be deteriorating unnoticed. It goes without saying that one of the first tasks that employers will have to tackle when returning to work is a deep clean. As we are still in the throes of a...

According to the latest statistics, Britain now has the highest daily COVID-19 death rate in the World, following an unfortunate record month of fatalities during January 2021. While UK Government is quick to defend this statistic, the fact remains that our country has been crippled by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and now, as the population battles through yet another lockdown, it seems that the only 'way out’ is through widespread vaccination. impact of COVID-19 Though imperative, this strat...

The past six months have been busy for those in HVAC as offices are updated and made safe for people to return. In addition to the various standard checks that need to be carried out, more care is being taken in relation to air movement and filtration to prevent the spread of disease. There is evidence that at least some of the COVID-19 virus can remain suspended in the air and infectious for up to 3 hours. While this is not the main form of transmission, it is vitally important, especially as...