The Waterloo Filtration Institute 2020 Annual Conference (WFI 2020) will take place online via Zoom, December 15-16, 2020, 8:00-12:00 am EST. The theme of this conference is “IAQ Health and Safety Solutions Associated with COVID-19”. It will address the critical roles of facemasks and air filtration during the current pandemic for public health and safety. The virtual conference will feature the following four sessions, and we will introduce to you the speakers and their topics in the second session on this issue.
1. Emerging Challenges and Responses
2. IAQ and the Built Environment
3. Facemask Technologies and Latest Developments
4. Facemask/Air Filter Test Methods and Standards
Shifting Paradigms for the Future of Air Filtration
Hunter Most, AAF Flanders
Thinking of air quality as a matter of safety, as opposed to simply comfort, has dramatically changed the way that consumers make decisions regarding the products and services used to attain clean air. The approach to solving air quality problems has fundamentally changed as decisions have been informed by shifting paradigms with respect to almost every aspect of the technology. A previously common view of filtration as a commodity product has given way to a highly engineered, value-driven selection process. Facilities have a renewed level of focus on materials, performance verification, and cost optimization as they explore new use cases for filtration technologies. These paradigm shifts affect multiple professional disciplines. It is critical that these factors are prioritized as the filtration and HVAC industries mobilize to rise to meet these new challenges with novel and innovative solutions. A comprehensive grasp of this information is also essential across facility management, life safety, and academia. Cooperation from such a cross-sectional shared understanding will provide the best possible built environments today and ensure that the environments of tomorrow are even better.
How the onset of the Coronavirus Pandemic
has forever influenced the air filtration industry
Joe Gorman, Camfil
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization announced publicly that COVID-19 disease was officially a global pandemic. During the proceeding months, and as COVID-19 cases grew across the globe, a lot of speculation grew around the path of transmission of the SARS-CoV-virus. To this day, there is still debate around the primary path of transmission, even though there are numerous studies and research professionals who suggest the virus can in fact be transmitted through the air. In May of 2020, through the advice of ASHRAE, the Center for Disease Control announced publicly that the recommended filtration efficiency for public HVAC systems should be a minimum of MERV 13 in order to provide a safe environment. This announcement sparked an unprecedented demand for high-efficiency air filters without the preparedness of the air filtration industry, the nonwoven media suppliers and the facility engineers who were blind-sided by the HVAC system changes that would need to be made. Now that the general population is aware that high-efficiency air filtration is crucial to the overall health of the building occupants, the air filtration industry as a whole will forever be driven towards delivering high-performance air filters to the market.
A Closer Look at Air Filtration, Indoor Air Quality and Covid-19
Jim Rosenthal, Tex-Air Filters
The world of Indoor Air Quality has gone through a major transition since January of 2020. Researchers and practitioners, including those in the air filtration industry, are in high demand to provide good information on how to deal with the spread of Covid-19. Building owners and managers need answers to many questions about making their facilities safer so that they can be used productively. This presentation will focus on how air filters affect indoor air quality and how air filters can be used to limit exposure to Covid-19 aerosols. It will cover filter efficiency and explain why certain levels of filtration are being recommended. But it will also focus on filter “effectiveness” and draw on recent research to cover how and where filters should be used to obtain optimum results.
The Digital Transformation of Clean Air Management
Ellie Amirnasr, Qlair
It is no secret that our world has become rapidly digitized, and facility management is no exception. With the introduction of smart buildings and IoT devices, digital solutions are being developed every day to help facility managers save time, money, and energy. But while we attach sensors and monitors to just about every piece of equipment in our buildings, we often overlook the world’s most valuable asset... clean air. Utilizing clean air management effectively involves selecting the right sensors for your facility’s goals, compiling and analyzing the data to develop actionable insights, and ultimately using these data to make critical, informed decisions on what to do next. In doing so, your facility will realize significant energy, material, labour, and operating costs savings.
Acknowledgement of Sponsors
