Dan Diehl, CEO at Aircuity, a provider of ventilation for healthy sustainable buildings, told CERAWeek 2021 attendees last week that healthy buildings will remain a permanent part of all emerging sustainability goals in a post-COVID world. CERAWeek by IHS Markit is the world’s premier energy event with comprehensive insight into the global and regional energy future.
This marks the third year Diehl has been invited to speak at the distinguished conference. During his Agora-X session, he addressed the post-pandemic paradox of healthy and sustainable buildings. At the center of resolving this seeming tension is cutting-edge technology for maintaining and measuring ventilation and indoor air quality.
“Although the notion of healthy buildings and net-zero energy buildings do not typically go together, it is possible for ventilation to be measured to science-based healthy building parameters,” Diehl stated. “This way the ‘correct’ amount of ventilation is being provided per person, preserving health and energy costs.”
Diehl offered a perspective on doing this very cost effectively based on Aircuity’s 20 years of experience in critical environments.
“Now, with air quality coming to the forefront of keeping occupants healthy, all buildings should be considered critical,” he stated. “The future is an intelligent and integrated approach to healthy and sustainable buildings.”
To make a healthier, safer and more sustainable building possible for all owners and to facilitate building reopening after COVID-19, Aircuity last year introduced its “Air Quality as Service” (AQaaS) solution. AQaaS helps building owners create “healthy buildings” that meet COVID-19 re-entry and longer-term air-quality requirements. As an operating expenditure, Aircuity’s AQaaS requires no or low upfront capital, making it easier—and faster—to deploy in existing buildings. In many cases when labs and other energy-intensive spaces are included in the project could become cash positive.
“We appreciate the opportunity to share knowledge on healthy and sustainable ventilation at this year’s CERAWeek event,” Diehl concluded. “We look forward to helping more of our clients achieve this for their buildings.”