In order to make workers feel safe returning to the office, building owners and tenants may have to sacrifice some environmental sustainability.
The coronavirus is still such a new phenomenon that the scientific community is constantly learning new things and adjusting its recommendations. Research has begun to strongly indicate that aerosol transmission is the most common method for transmission of the virus — and that means air quality and circulation are paramount in keeping the occupants of a building safe and healthy.
“Air quality has come front and center, so enhanced filtration systems are what we’re spending the most time on,” Keystone Property Group Vice President of Leasing and Development Tom Sklow said during Bisnow’s Pennsylvania Sustainable and Healthy Buildings webinar on Thursday.
“Where we can, throughout our portfolio we’ve changed our filtration system to have a higher MERV [filtration efficiency] rating,” Sklow said. “And now, when people walk into those buildings, they feel the air move in the building; there’s a lot less of a feeling of stagnant air.”
Infectious disease researchers liken the spread of aerosolized virus molecules to cigarette smoke or e-cigarette vapor: It wisps and diffuses away slowly and can linger in the air for minutes at least in a still room. That explains why air circulation is so important, but the ways to achieve it all require additional power from a building’s climate control system.
“Buildings are not designed to run on 100% outside air,” Evolution Energy Partners Vice President Dailey Tipton said. “That’s what the recommendations have been, but that’s the equivalent of running your house’s air conditioning with all the windows open on a hot day. And that isn’t only ineffective at cooling the building down; it puts stress on the fans and filters.”
Virologists have preached bringing in outside air as the most effective weapon against the coronavirus, something many buildings designed to be as green as possible aim to avoid to maximize energy efficiency, Jacobs Director of Sustainability Jonathan Weiss said. Modern Class-A offices are often designed with windows that can’t open, and any other method of increasing a building’s air circulation involves potentially expensive renovations.