Published September 17, 2020
Listen to or watch our sixth episode of Urban Green Live, hosted by Urban Green Council CEO John Mandyck. This interview series features industry experts from NYC and around the globe to talk about solutions for a zero-carbon future.
On September 17, 2020, we welcomed back Dr. Joseph Allen, director of the Healthy Buildings program at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a co-author of “Healthy Buildings: How Indoor Spaces Drive Performance and Productivity.” Dr. Allen and John dive deep into the important conversation about the false choice between health and energy as it relates to the COVID-19 pandemic and answer audience questions.
Key Takeaways
The pandemic has accelerated the focus on healthy buildings.
-> There is a growing emphasis on creating indoor environments that prioritize health and safety; enhanced ventilation, better filtration, and other healthy building strategies are essential parts of a larger holistic risk reduction strategy.
-> This shift is not just about addressing Covid-19 but also encompasses broader health aspects like air and water quality.
There is an emphasis on the importance of non-pharmaceutical interventions for Covid-19.
-> Non-pharmaceutical interventions, such as universal masking, hand washing, and social distancing, have effectively reduced transmission rates.
-> These measures have also shown to significantly reduce the spread of other illnesses.
Speakers
John Mandyck
Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Joseph Allen
Assistant Professor of Exposure Assessment Science Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Q&A
John Mandyck: Given that low-to-moderate income communities feel the negative effects of both energy transition and Covid-19 disproportionately, what are some insights you can share for these communities to balance health and energy moving forwards?
Dr. Joe Allen: This is my biggest concern with the Healthy Buildings Movement. If it’s a movement for the shiny new building in Midtown New York or London, and not a movement for everybody, then it’s a failed movement.
We absolutely have to put these programs and policies in place to drive these solutions not just to the commercial real estate market, but all the way through residential and affordable housing. It’s critical that we think about not just healthy buildings in this context of, let’s say downtown New York City, but a wider lens around equity too.
John Mandyck: Hospitals have high energy intensity due to increased filtration, high air changes, tight temperature, and using in-room air cleaners and pressurization of spaces. If these strategies are applied to schools and offices, how is there not a trade-off between energy and risk mitigation?
Dr. Joe Allen: I’m not saying every building should be run like a hospital by any means. The context matters. There you have much higher risk for infectious disease transmission. The strategies we’re talking about for schools in particular could be costly, but not necessarily.
For higher ventilation rates, it could come from just opening up windows. In the case of the importance of getting kids back to school, it could be putting a portable air cleaner with a HEPA filter into every classroom. Take that against the cost of keeping kids out of school. It’s a trivial investment considering the trillions we’ve pumped into the economy.
John Mandyck: Have you looked at air changes per hour versus CFM per person based on density as well as occupancy?
Dr. Joe Allen: The CFM per person as a simplification is an area, a person per area, and per person calculation simplified as a per person based on typical occupant densities. Air change ties right into that based on the occupant density and the volume of the space and what you’re going for there. Schools target air change per hour instead of per person. It’s a simplification that we like. It’s easier and more intuitive.
John Mandyck: What about air ionization as a technology to help reduce COVID transition for new construction projects?
Dr. Joe Allen: I would start with the priorities such as higher ventilation rates, higher filtration recirculated air, and supplemental control strategies. Then, move onto the more advanced and additional control strategies. Some people are thinking about ionization. Some people are going to ultraviolet germicidal radiation (UVGI). I think there’s a place for some of these technologies in the right context.
John Mandyck: What kind of international information sharing is going on that can help move solutions forward for vaccines and other treatments?
Dr. Joe Allen: The scientific machine internationally is roaring. I have established over 50 new scientific collaborations around the country and around the world. Everyone in the field has the mindset of “I hear you’re good at this, I’m good at this, let’s get together and solve this problem fast”. This is happening across genetics, epigenetics, vaccines, therapeutics, indoor air quality, building sciences, you name it. There’s unbelievable cooperation happening which is why you see so many of these scientific breakthroughs that are happening.
John Mandyck: In school buildings with good HVAC systems, would it make sense to just open the windows? Is that enough?
Dr. Joe Allen: It depends on your system. If you have a good ventilation system and you’re bringing up outdoor air, then no, you don’t want to mess up the balancing there. But as a strategy for many of these schools in New York, opening windows is a good interim strategy.
John Mandyck: Can you recommend a publication or outline of healthy building strategies and associated costs?
Dr. Joe Allen: We have two Harvard Business Review articles. I wrote one a couple of years ago called ‘Stale Office Air is Making You Less Productive’. Second, I wrote a Harvard Business Review article with my colleague John McCumber at the Harvard Business School.
John and I also wrote a Harvard Business School case study about 425 Park Avenue right in Midtown Manhattan, where we walk through the economic argument for a healthy building.
Lastly, I have a book. The whole theme of the book is how building performance drives human performance drives business performance. I think we make a compelling argument that these building decisions are good for health.
John Mandyck: Can you speak more to the interrelationship between energy and balancing health, ventilation power, and other such tactics? What are the impacts to overall energy use, carbon, and climate change?
Dr. Joe Allen: I think what we’re talking about here is the holistic healthy building strategy. There’s no shortcuts here. Healthy buildings are not just about the people indoors, it’s also about the relationship to our natural environment.
We have to constantly take into account all of these factors, including are we doing continuous commissioning to drive? Are we being smart about when and where we’re dumping air into our buildings? Can we increase ventilation effectiveness?
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