It’s officially springtime in my home state of Michigan! While I’m happy to see the cold and snow gone, this time of year is the worst for my seasonal allergies. Watery eyes, runny nose, constant sneezing — the whole nine yards. Ever since the pandemic, people give me the side eye and avoid me like the plague this time of year. I’m actually looking into getting a whole-home air purifier installed in my HVAC system.
A lot has changed in three years. More and more people are aware of the importance of ventilation and indoor air quality after the hyper-focus placed on health and hygiene post-pandemic. The CDC and ASHRAE have both announced the development of new IAQ standards for pathogen mitigation. But what happens when the call for increased ventilation by bringing in more outdoor air directly conflicts with the other things our industry is hyper-focused on — like sustainability and decarbonization?