The First Facility Management Blog

The StrionAir System A130 air purification product has been designed to deliver cost performance and high caliber indoor air quality. Traditionally, selecting air filtration systems has been a choice between cost effectiveness and high filtration efficiency.
However, Strion asserts that its A130 product engineers cleaner air without cost penalties, enabling the air purification system to play an important role in achieving building sustainability.

The StrionAir System A130 air purification product

Three performance parameters closed the gap between cost and filtration efficiency. First is a LEED-qualifying MERV 13 filtration efficiency at an initial pressure drop of 0.2” water gauge. That is one-half to one-third that of the nearest competitor. In a filter that loads slowly, pressure drop stays low. StrionAir’s electrically enhanced filtration technology keeps pressure drop lower through the life of the filter. This reduces required fan energy by more than 10%, compared to other filters. The technology can contribute up to three LEED points in the Energy, Indoor Environment, and Innovation categories for commercial buildings.

Second, StrionAir technology extends the effective life of the filter media relative to traditional approaches. Filters require fewer changeouts, reducing replacement costs, maintenance expenditures, and landfill burden.

Third, since the A130 is designed to be changed out at lower ending pressure drop compared to mechanical filtration technologies, engineers can specify smaller overall HVAC system components.

Less pressure drop, longer filter life, and lower energy requirements produce a payback of between two to four years.

In addition to lower operational expenses, the A130 kills the causes of infectious diseases in a way that traditional air filters cannot. It also captures such allergens as pollen, dander, and dust. Independent testing, including at the Centers for Disease Control, shows it kills more than 99% of a range of airborne pathogens.

Its modular design can be configured to fit most air handlers in both new construction and retrofit air handlers. The new A130 optimizes the filtration technology the company has installed in hundreds of buildings as part of other StrionAir products.

Online Database Uses Government Data to Track How Toxic Chemicals Affect Air at Nearly 128,000 Schools

USA TODAY is launching an investigative series today (12/8/08) called “The Smokestack Effect: Toxic Air and America’s Schools.” The special project looks at issues such as why children are vulnerable to toxic chemicals and, using the government’s own data and modeling software, points to schools which appear to be in toxic hot spots. The series took eight months to produce and will run through the month.

An interactive database of nearly 128,000 schools shows how emissions of toxic chemicals may affect the air at schools across the country. It also shows how schools rank in their exposure to cancer-causing and other toxic chemicals.

The database is modeled on information reported to the government by 20,000 industrial plants. The series also offers information on how Americans can learn more about the air outside their schools and do something about it.

In Part I of the “The Smokestack Effect,” USA TODAY compares what the model shows to what the State of Ohio found after it monitored the air outside Meredith Hitchens Elementary School in Addyston, a Cincinnati suburb. In 2005, Hitchens was closed after the Ohio EPA found levels of carcinogens 50 times higher than what the state considers acceptable. The chemicals were emitted from a plastics plant across the street from the school.

USA TODAY found that the air outside 435 schools nationwide may be even worse than the air was outside Hitchens when it closed. Those schools, identified by the government’s own data and model, extended from East Coast to West, in 170 cities across 34 states. USA TODAY also worked with the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health to take “snapshots” of the air at almost 95 schools in 30 states.

The Jasper, IN manufacturer received the certification for products in its Promise, Centennial, Revolutions, and Madera desk and casegoods lines. The products have also been found to meet the BIFMA standards for low-emitting office furniture systems and earn points for LEED Credit 4.5. (Seen here is a part of the Promises casegoods line.)

“We are pleased to welcome Indiana Furniture as a participating manufacturer in the GREENGUARD Certification Program,” stated Marilyn Black, founder of GREENGUARD Environmental Institute. “By attaining this certification, Indiana Furniture continues to show its leadership in addressing concerns of the community.”

According to the company, once cured by UV light, the finish on the products won’t emit toxins, formaldehyde, or solvents into the air. “Our investment in UV advantage is part of Indiana Furniture’s continued interest in using leading edge technology in pursuit of responsible environmental practices,” says Rich Slayton, president and CEO.

Beyond being earth friendly, adds Slayton, the UV advantage finish is earning kudos for durability—earning a 5 out of 5 rating in durability testing. It’s extremely hard—practically impervious to scratches, water stains, and most chemicals. And the finish won’t darken or yellow with age.

With the GREENGUARD certification in place, the company will expand its offering of the environmentally safe finish to further product lines. “We want to make it simple and affordable to specify products that contribute to creating more healthful places for people to work,” says Slayton.

Olympic athletes were prepared to don respirators and China was forced to seed clouds, idle factories and ban vehicles to temporarily lift a pollution fog that enveloped Beijing as recently as last month.

Very interesting (albeit ironic) for USGBC to award their “gold medal” for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design to a country recognized as one of the planet’s top polluters.  

Thus proving that the politics of “green” have circled the globe and that lucrative consulting proposals can be generated in multiple languages and paid in a variety of currencies…

Poor Richard

==========================

Beijing Air Improves, Olympic Village Earns LEED Gold

BEIJING, China, August 13, 2008 - Beijing’s air quality has improved, with the sky clearly visible today after rains on Sunday and Monday reduced the air pollution, heat and mugginess that made Olympic athletes, visitors and residents uncomfortable for days. 

Weather officials measured an Air Pollution Index of 32 on Tuesday, far below the benchmark API 100 set by the Chinese authorities. An Air Pollution Index of 50 and below is considered excellent by the World Health Organization.

To read the rest of this article, courtesy of Environment News Service, click this link.