In this episode, Christian Weeks and Dr. Marwa Zaatari have a discussion with Erik Malmstrom about the recently released white paper, How to Achieve Sustainable IAQ: A Roadmap to Simultaneously Improving IAQ & Meeting Building Decarbonization and Climate Resiliency Goals. Not only do they discuss the steps outlined in the paper for achieving sustainable indoor air quality, but they also talk about the evolution of ASHRAE guidance, innovations and new technologies to achieve IAQ goals, and the bottom line of cost effectiveness of good and sustainable IAQ.

Details on the guests:

Christian Weeks is the CEO at enVerid Systems, Inc and is a leader in indoor air quality and energy efficiency. With over a decade of experience, Christian has a passion for helping buildings achieve their energy efficiency and indoor air quality goals through smart investments in HVAC systems and improving air cleaning technologies. Christian is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the Harvard Business School.

Marwa Zaatari is partner at D ZINE Partners & co-chair of enVerid Systems Advisory Board. Dr. Zaatari is a board member at the US Green Buildings Council, an ASHRAE distinguished lecturer, and a member of several ASHRAE committees. Dr. Zaatari earned a PhD in architectural and environmental engineering from the University of Texas at Austin with a focus on the built environment and a master’s degree in engineering management from the American University of Beirut Lebanon with a focus on energy management.

Keeping air safe has never been more important. Now that we are in the next normal, it is critical that the air we breathe in shared indoor spaces is healthy and safe for continued occupancy. Are we ready to face this challenge and mitigate airborne exposure risk indoors? Welcome to Healthy Air, a podcast that talks about the future of buildings and how to keep air safe and healthy. Keep up with the latest industry trends, latest technologies, and regulatory changes with your host, Erik Malmstrom, industry experts, and the SafeTraces team here on Healthy Air.

• Purpose Behind the Paper [2:09]
• Authors and Collaborators [4:18]
• The Evolution of ASHRAE Guidance [6:40]
• The Framework for Sustainable IAQ [10:12]
• Establishing Indoor Air Quality Goals [12:58]
• Increased Efficiencies of Ventilation & Filtration [16:58]
• Validating and Monitoring of IAQ [23:47]
• Market Drivers Behind Sustainable IAQ [27:31]
• Current Feedback on the White Paper [33:53]

• enVerid Systems Website: https://enverid.com/
• Christian Weeks LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-weeks-5972a21/
• D ZINE Partners Website: https://www.dzinepartners.com/
• Dr. Marwa Zaatari’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drzaatari/
• Dr. Marwa Zaatari’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/marwa_zaatari?lang=en

"Our goals at enVerid Systems with our recent white paper about sustainable indoor air quality are to deliver good indoor air quality as efficiently as we can." – Christian Weeks

"There are ways to combine cost-effective air clean technologies with optimized ventilation rates to achieve energy and indoor air quality goals." – Christian Weeks

“Our focus at enVerid is on using sorbent filters to capture gases from indoor air, and on combining these sorbent filters with particle filters and other air cleaning technologies to address the three pillars of IAQ: gases, particles, and pathogens.” – Christian Weeks

"People become very comfortable with the idea that dilution is the solution to pollution, but at enVerid, we wanted to provide a verifiable way to ensure good indoor air quality." – Christian Weeks

"The white paper How to Achieve Sustainable IAQ: A Roadmap to Simultaneously Improving IAQ & Meeting Building Decarbonization and Climate Resiliency Goals received encouraging feedback in the hopes of improving indoor air quality while saving energy as well." – Dr. Marwa Zaatari

In this episode, Sterling Laylock discusses the impact of indoor air quality in underserved communities, the new funding available to help them, and the history of the built environment and how it is progressing today.

Sterling Laylock is the Sustainable Development Director at Integrating Green Technologies. He is a graduate of the Florida A&M University School of Business and Industry. Sterling has been a sustainable development-minded behavioral economist since an early age. He believes in dramatically improving the built environment and its infrastructure by setting solutions in motion that can achieve unshakable results.

Keeping air safe has never been more important. Now that we are in the next normal, it is critical that the air we breathe in shared indoor spaces is healthy and safe for continued occupancy. Are we ready to face this challenge and mitigate airborne exposure risk indoors? Welcome to Healthy Air, a podcast that talks about the future of buildings and how to keep air safe and healthy. Keep up with the latest industry trends, latest technologies, and regulatory changes with your host, Erik Malmstrom, industry experts, and the SafeTraces team here on Healthy Air.

In this special edition episode, Simon Turner moderates a discussion between Sean McCrady, Dr. Elliott Horner, and Erik Malmstrom on the recent launch of UL’s Verified Ventilation and Filtration program, powered by SafeTraces–the first verification mark for verifying aerosol removal efficiency in the built environment. The panelists provide insights on how the program works, the technology behind it, and so much more.

Details on the panelists:

• Sean McCrady is the Director Assets & Sustainability, Real Estate & Properties at UL, the global science safety leader. With over 23 years of industry experience, Sean delivers on in-depth knowledge of the needs and concerns of building owners and managers to develop efficient, cost-effective solutions to indoor environmental issues. 
• Dr. Elliott Horner is the Lead Scientist at UL Environment. Elliott has written numerous peer-reviewed research papers and book chapters and serves on committees for ASTM and ASHRAE. He is a member of the American Society for Microbiology and the Mycological Society of America and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI). 
• Erik Malstrom is the CEO of SafeTraces, a safety technology leader focused on indoor air quality and ventilation safety. SafeTraces has developed the first commercial solution for field verifying ventilation and filtration performance for aerosol removal efficiency.
• Simon Turner is the Founder and Principal of Building Cognition, a Board Advisor to SafeTraces, and a long-term veteran in the indoor air quality field.

In this episode, Ted Bischak talks about the biggest change and the opportunity in real estate today. He shares how landlords are responsible for preparing for the re-entry into the office space and how making air quality a priority makes a difference.

Ted Bischak is a Principal and Co-Founder of Ocean West Capital Partners. He is responsible for all Property Operations including, Asset Management, Property Management, Construction Management and Physical Due Diligence, upon acquisition or disposition, of managed assets. Prior to the formation of Ocean West Capital Partners, he was Senior Vice President of Asset Management for Maguire Properties, responsible for the firm’s entire portfolio of 21 million square feet of real estate assets. Before joining Maguire Properties, Mr. Bischak served as Senior Vice President for CommonWealth Partners, where, in partnership with the CalPERS pension fund, he was responsible for all operations activities, including in-house property management, tenant improvement, operational leasing, and asset management for the $1.5 billion portfolio and directed all property-level acquisition and disposition activities. Additionally, Mr. Bischak has held senior management positions with Tooley & Company and The Irvine Company, where he was a key member of the development team on over 6 million square feet of new office development product, multiple retail and hotel projects as well as 6,000 apartment units over his 35-year career in commercial real estate.

In this episode, Dr. Nick Clements talks about how buildings need multiple modes of operation. He also shares that it is interesting to learn how humans integrate with technical systems, because we constantly interact and impact many aspects of our indoor environments.

Dr. Nick Clements earned his BS, MS, and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder while working with engineers and scientists throughout the air quality community. After completing a Postdoctoral at CU Boulder researching surge control for pandemic flu and indoor air quality, Dr. Nick relocated to Rochester, Minnesota to work at the Well Living Lab as a Senior Director. With the Well Living Lab, he helped manage sensor and building systems, perform data analysis on large sets of environmental data, plan and propose research experiments and strategy, and coordinate research investigations. At the start of this year, he returned to CU Boulder. Dr. Nick's research interests include indoor and outdoor air quality, dust emissions, hospital infection control and contamination transport, bioaerosols in the microbiome, applied statistics, and air quality data visualization.

In this episode, Nancy McClellan talks about how industrial hygiene is an art form that allows professionals to look at the larger picture of occupant health and safety. She states that industrial hygiene is well suited and well prepared for addressing pandemics. She also shares with us that as a professional she is bridging the gap between industrial hygiene know-how and controlling a biological hazard and creating tools for ABM's clients.

Nancy McClellan is the CEO of Occupational Health Management. She is an award-winning industrial hygiene and safety expert with over 25 years of broad international experience practicing, teaching, and authoring to anticipate, recognize, evaluate, control, and prevent workplace health and safety hazards in high-hazard industries. She has extensive expertise in pandemic Covid-19 response management, including facility air and surface disinfection strategies and engineering controls. Nancy has been domestically and internationally recognized for leadership service to the IH profession as the current AIHA Board of Directors Treasurer-Elect and in the recent past as a Chair and Director for the American Industrial Hygiene Association, the American Board of Industrial Hygiene, among others. She is currently Chair of the COHSE External Advisory Board, guest lecturer at the University of Michigan Graduate School of Public Health, and practicing industrial hygiene as an experienced independent consultant, subject matter expert, and sought-after international expert lecturer.

In this episode, Christian Weeks talks about buildings being a major contributor to air pollution. He addresses the need to solve this issue and speaks about cleaning and improving indoor air. He also discusses how with COVID, we've seen a heightened awareness and concern about the air quality in buildings.

Christian Weeks is the Chief Executive Officer of enVerid Systems, a pioneer and global leader in air quality and energy efficiency. Christian has over a decade of experience in energy efficiency, and indoor air quality. He is passionate about helping buildings achieve their energy efficiency and indoor air quality goals through smart investments, HVAC systems, and proven air cleaning technologies. Prior to his role at enVerid, Christian was an executive with EnerNOC, acquired by Enel X, and a management consultant with Deloitte Consulting. Christian lives in Boston and is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Business School.

In this episode, Dr. Bill Bahnfleth talks about the lessons learned from anthrax, which can also apply to COVID. Being the chair of the ASHRAE Epidemic Task Force, he shares ASHRAE’s vision for IAQ through allied fields and the rapid response of their Epidemic Task Force. He also discusses how ASHRAE Standard 62.1 does not cover infection control and suggests that it could take on a change to address infectious diseases. 

Dr. Bill Bahnfleth is a professor in the Department of Architectural Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University. He holds a doctorate in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois and is a registered professional engineer. He is a Fellow of ASHRAE, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the International Society for Indoor Air Quality and Climate, and is the author and co-author of more than 170 journal articles and 14 books/book chapters. He has served ASHRAE in a variety of capacities such as, Student Branch Advisor, Vice President, Treasurer, 2013-14 Society President, and is currently the chair of the ASHRAE Epidemic Task Force. His ASHRAE awards include the Exceptional Service Award, the Louise and Bill Holladay Distinguished Fellow Award, the E.K. Campbell Award of Merit for teaching, and the F. Paul Anderson Award–ASHRAE’s highest individual award.

In this episode, Adam talks about the clean air options for office buildings and the clean air concerns in schools. He also discusses two exciting emerging IAQ technologies, sharing his opinion on the use of bipolar ionization.

Adam Taylor is the CEO of ARM Environments and the Chief Innovation Officer for AirRated. Since completing his Mechanical Engineering degree, Adam has spent 17 years working in the HVAC industry. Early in his career, he worked as a mechanical design engineer, designing domestic heating systems and bespoke air distribution systems for high-profile projects such as venues for the 2012 London Olympic Games and preserving the Mary Rose Tudor warship. In 2016 he began promoting the adoption of the soon-to-be-released Building Bulletin (BB) 101 guidelines, a revolutionary standard designed to improve air quality and thermal comfort in schools by implementing demand-controlled heat recovery and natural ventilation solutions. Starting in 2018, Adam has been working internationally in the emerging field of indoor air cleaning technologies.

In this episode, Paul Scialla talks about the value proposition of real estate and health. He discusses the best IAQ technology for healthy classrooms and the IAQ factors in overall health and wellness. He also speaks about wellness as a defined category in real estate.

Paul is the Founder and CEO of Delos, a company merging the world’s largest asset class – real estate – with the world’s fastest growing industry – wellness. After 18 years on Wall Street, including 10 years at Goldman Sachs as a Partner, Paul Scialla’s interest in sustainability and altruistic capitalism led him to found Delos. Since the company’s inception, Paul has become a leading voice in the wellness and sustainability movements, serving as a keynote speaker at prominent green building, real estate, and technology forums and conferences around the world. Paul is also the Founder of the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI), which administers the WELL Building Standard globally to improve human health and wellbeing through the built environment, a member of the Board of Directors for the Chopra Foundation, and a founding board member of the JUST Capital Foundation. Paul graduated from New York University with a degree in finance and currently resides in New York City.