Since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic – an epidemic of global proportions – back on March 11th, 2020 [1], discussions around health, healthcare and staying healthy have become the norm. In our domain, the topic of healthy buildings has taken centre stage, even when it has been a subject of discussion for years.
ASHRAE, the “global society advancing human well-being through sustainable technology for the built environment” [2], acted quickly and before March was over, they had established the ASHRAE Epidemic Task Force. This society-wide response to the global crisis seeks to provide guidance “as it relates to the effects of HVAC systems on disease transmission in healthcare facilities, the workplace, home, public and recreational environments.” [3] This initiative has led to numerous resources accessible through ASHRAE’s Epidemic Task Force Available Resources Infographic.
As with previous articles in this series, we first clarify key concepts, setting the foundation to help us answer the why and how an analytics platform is an essential tool in the pursuit of healthy buildings. The last section is designed to be practical, describing the implementation of analytics in response to ASHRAE’s Core Recommendations for Reducing Airborne Infectious Aerosol Exposure published by the task force in early January 2021.
What is a Healthy Building? Every built space that upholds the health and wellness of its occupants with utmost importance, and does so in ways that are environmentally-responsible, resource-efficient, and sustainable is fit to be called a healthy building.
Simply put, a healthy building refers to the built environment being conducive to good health – the physical, psychological, and social aspects – and general well-being for everyone inside. And if the results of a survey funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the early nineties are still correct, we spend approximately 90% of our time indoors. [4] Given this statistic, we certainly should be paying more attention to the health of the buildings we commonly find ourselves in. However, now that we are paying attention, we should ask, what constitutes a healthy building? Who, or what determines the health of a building?
The “9 Foundations of a Healthy Building”, a 2017 report released by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health [5], summarizes the research led by a multi-disciplinary team of experts in the public health community and presents actionable information on how to make buildings healthy. These 9 Foundations, namely, Ventilation, Air Quality, Thermal Health, Moisture, Dust and Pests, Safety and Security, Water Quality, Noise, and Lighting and Views, as illustrated in Figure 1, provide the core elements of healthy indoor environments to building owners and facility management, engineering and real estate professionals, and other key decision-makers.
Figure 1. The 9 Foundations of a Healthy Building. Source: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, The 9 Foundations of a Healthy Building Report, Page 4. [5]
The 9 Foundations are concisely explained, providing answers to key questions such as why each of them is vital to a healthy building and how it affects the health and well-being of building occupants. While this report offers the perspective of health practitioners, one must turn to building codes and standards that guide the requirements of what constitutes a healthy building.
Regarding ventilation, for instance, ASHRAE Standard 62.1-2019 for commercial and institutional buildings specifies the minimum requirements to ensure an acceptable Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) to keep gases, particulates, and microbial contaminants at acceptable levels to occupants, and to prevent adverse health conditions such as the sick building syndrome. [6]
Why Use Analytics Software in the Pursuit of Healthy Buildings? Because of its data integration capabilities – analytics software unifies disparate data sets from various sources, converting them to appropriate metrics that help achieve and maintain healthy buildings. Because it supports continuous improvement processes – analytics software continually measures and verifies performance, key characteristics of management frameworks and rating systems that incorporate health and well-being concepts.
Data Determines the Health of a Building
The uncertainty of whether a building is healthy could be solved using data from field devices monitoring building conditions and analyzing them to detect anomalies, measure performance and report compliance to building codes and standards.
IAQ is part of a more comprehensive metric known as Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ), which ASHRAE defines as “a perceived indoor experience of the building indoor environment that includes aspects of design, analysis, and operation of energy efficient, healthy, and comfortable buildings. Fields of specialization include architecture, HVAC design, thermal comfort, indoor air quality (IAQ), lighting,
acoustics, and control systems.” [7] The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) define IEQ as “the quality of a building’s environment in relation to the health and wellbeing of those who occupy space within it. IEQ is determined by many factors, including lighting, air quality, and damp conditions.” [8]
Building analytics platforms typically integrate with Building Automation Systems (BAS), central data repositories, sensor networks and metering infrastructure to acquire data such as space temperature and humidity, CO2 and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), airflow and pressure readings from ventilation systems, and building occupancy data. Once at their disposal, foundational aspects of healthy buildings including, ventilation, air quality, thermal health, and moisture can be tracked, analyzed, and reported.
Healthy Buildings Require Healthy Processes
Suitable analytics software provides features supporting continuous improvement processes that help achieve and maintain the healthfulness of a building.
ISO 50001, for instance, is an Energy Management System (EnMS) specification for a continuous improvement framework to help organizations achieve their objectives and targets in an iterative process. Although the emphasis is on energy efficiency and performance, the standard makes room for objectives related to other disciplines including, financial and environmental, as well as health and safety. [9] An earlier article covering The Role of Analytics Software in the Implementation of an EnMS may prove useful as organizations consider methodologies to not only achieve healthy buildings but also maintain them healthy throughout their lifespan.
The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system is a globally recognized certification program that evaluates building performance from the environmental and human benefit perspective. The LEED framework is also predicated on a continuous improvement process, rewarding valuable points when Enhanced and Monitoring-Based Commissioning – an ongoing commissioning process focused on continuous data analysis – are implemented as organizational strategies. [10] Another resource on The Role of Analytics Software to Help Obtain and Maintain LEED Certification offers various insights on this comprehensive standard for sustainability metrics.
How to Leverage Analytics Software to Achieve and Maintain Healthy Buildings? Focus on Fault-Detection by applying rulesets, system modelling and anomaly-detection algorithms to continuously analyze building system configurations and sequence of operations to pinpoint unhealthy issues. Prioritize with Performance Auditing via Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and other metrics to evaluate system operation, ranking scores to help prioritize maintenance, repair and optimization tasks. Evaluate for Compliance with the help of visualizations and reports tailored to validate healthy building standards, identify opportunities for improvement, and communicate findings to occupants and other stakeholders.
These three activities – focusing on fault-detection, prioritizing with performance auditing, and evaluating for compliance – are designed to help organizations either get started or continue their pursuit of healthy buildings. But… can these activities make a difference today given our current health crisis? Absolutely! And this is true whether we are living in a pandemic or post-pandemic world. The published resource from ASHRAE’s Epidemic Task Force mentioned earlier lists several recommendations designed to help reduce airborne infectious aerosol exposure.
End Notes
[1] World Health Organization. 2021. WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 – 11 March 2020
[2] ASHRAE. 2021. About ASHRAE
[3] ASHRAE. 2021. ASHRAE Epidemic Task Force Established
[4] BuildingGreen. 2021. We Spend 90% of Our Time Indoors. Says Who?
[5] Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. 2021. The 9 Foundations of a Healthy Building Page 4. For Health
[6] ASHRAE. 2021. Standards 62.1 & 62.2 – The Standards for Ventilation and Indoor Air Quality
[7] ASHRAE. 2021. ASHRAE Terminology: Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ)
[8] CDC. 2021. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Indoor Environmental Quality
[9] ISO. August 2018. ISO 50001 Energy Management System, 2nd Edition
[10] U.S. Green Building Council. 2021. LEED v4.1 BD+C Energy and Atmosphere Enhanced Commissioning
[11] ASHRAE. 2021. Core Recommendations for Reducing Airborne Infectious Aerosol Exposure. ASHRAE Epidemic Task Force.
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CopperTree Analytics
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