SPARK

Discoveries, innovations, and insights that illuminate the future of the built environment

Update: HVAC Best Practices to Reduce Coronavirus Spread

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Adam Gloss revisits his post from March 31 with current information on best practices for reducing the spread of coronavirus via HVAC systems.  

With developments around the coronavirus moving quickly, there is a lot of conflicting information about whether the virus is being found in the air (becoming aerosolized). According to the latest information from the World Health Organization, while this is possible in some rare circumstances, the primary means of transmission remains through droplet and contact transmission, not airborne transmission.

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Separating fact from hype: Best practices to reduce coronavirus spread through HVAC systems

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Adam Gloss, Director and GM of Service | Air conditioning system on roof top

There will always be people who will take advantage of a crisis to sell something. Of late, we’re seeing some contractors, distributors and manufacturers touting ionization products (ozone generators, cold plasma, etc), HEPA filters, coil cleaning and UV systems as ways to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. Our customers are asking us about many of these products as a result. So, what really works and what can you do to leverage your HVAC systems to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19)?

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How energy efficiency is powering the new University of Utah Health Science Campus

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By Erick Allen and DJ Hubler

The University of Utah (U of U) Health Science Campus houses nearly 4 million square feet of critical patient care, laboratory and educational space. In 2017, the U of U broke ground on several new cutting-edge buildings—totaling nearly 800,000 square feet—transforming the campus. The university realized that their existing chilled water plant didn’t have the capacity to meet the loads of these new buildings scheduled to come online.

The U of U Planning, Design and Construction (PDC) team studied how best to meet this new cooling load—either by adding new chillers at a cost of nearly $40 million, or by significantly decreasing the cooling load in existing buildings. Reducing the load in the existing buildings could be accomplished for less than $25 million and would also result in ongoing energy savings. The choice was clear, and the university set out to find a partner to help them design, build and execute these energy-saving measures.

The PDC team chose McKinstry as its partner, with a dual goal of reducing the load on the chilled water plant by at least 2,000 tons and saving enough energy in the process to pay back the capital used to fund the project within 10 years.

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Connecting sustainable spaces with healthy places

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Did you know that the average American spends 85 percent of their time within a building?

Sarah Spencer-Workman, a Technical Services Senior Manager based in McKinstry’s Golden, Colo. office.

As a result, building industry professionals and owners have started to realize that the built environment has direct and indirect effects on human wellness and productivity—even if occupants are often unaware.

Specifically, industry health and building experts from leading institutions are making it a priority to investigate the link between indoor environmental quality, cognitive function and decision-making performance.

One particular study, known as COGfx, placed 24 participants over the course of six full work days in an environmentally-controlled office space of fluctuating ventilation conditions—ranging from conventional office buildings to green buildings and green buildings with enhanced ventilation. Subsequently, the study yielded noteworthy results demonstrating:

  • 101 percent higher cognitive performance scores in green buildings with enhanced ventilation
  • An eight percent increase in employee decision-making performance equates to approximately $6,500 improved productivity each year
  • A productivity increase that was 150 times greater than the resulting energy costs

With higher employee satisfaction, a substantial increase in productivity and minimal cost to the employer, the COGfx study has provided peer-reviewed evidence for the connection between sustainable building and occupant health.

Further, in an Urban Land Institute survey, 92 percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that health and wellness features in a real estate property can impact its market success and economic value.

Connecting studies to real-world results

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Facility improvements deliver big benefits for Larson Ice Center

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There are more than 4,000 municipal and community ice arenas currently operating across the U.S. These ice arenas offer communities a healthy way to connect and stay active. Maintaining ice arenas facilities can be challenging and improving them can be costly. Additionally, the energy and operational costs needed to run ice arenas continues to increase year after year.

Ice arenas are complex facilities. To provide a quality ice surface, they must maintain proper ice temperature with appropriate amounts of humidity, all while maintaining a comfortable environment for the athletes, coaches, spectators, facility managers and the members of the community who attend events at the facility.

McKinstry partners with ice arenas and recreational facilities across the country to develop and implement solutions to address deferred maintenance items and make improvements to the facility with the goal of reducing energy and operational spend. We are passionate about the game and committed to finding ways to make hockey and other ice activities affordable for everyone.

McKinstry works hard to drive down ice arena operating costs. Our Midwest team, in particular, grew up on the ice as players, coaches and on-ice officials at the high school, collegiate and professional level. All of us have been hockey parents and one of our teammates is a current member of the off-ice officiating staff for the NHL. My colleague Susie MacMillan operated an ice arena before joining McKinstry. That passion for hockey and ice arenas is why the Brookings City Council in South Dakota trusted McKinstry to be their partner for the Larson Ice Center renovation project.

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Building a “happy place”

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Take a moment to close your eyes and picture your “happy place.” Perhaps you’re floating in a lake or hiking through the forests of the Pacific Northwest. Let your imagination open your senses and become fully immersed in that setting. Now—open your eyes. Were you imagining yourself indoors or outside?

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Andie Doyle.

At a recent conference I attended, a panelist asked the audience this question. It was during a Smart Home lecture, and—even then—80 percent of the participants said their happy place was outside.

This highlights a major opportunity within the building industry: To make indoor spaces happier and more desirable. It’s vital for construction industry leaders to work alongside technology innovators and service providers to change the optics of how a person interacts with their surroundings.

As of now, there’s no single industry or company with the resources or motivation to create a seamlessly integrated and connected experience for people. Consider, for example, the following hypothetical living and working situation.

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Condition data can fix capital plans

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Every facility management organization has horror stories of late-night repairs or equipment failures on the worst day of the year. Teams scramble to fix the problem and work overtime to get the building back up and running.

Nobody enjoys working reactively. But small teams, tight budgets, big workloads, daily issues and a growing backlog of deferred maintenance force most facility operations teams to prioritize emergencies over prevention. This resource-constrained world is the constant reality for facility management, and it’s unlikely anyone will start being asked to do less with more any time soon.

Organizations that efficiently use what they already have, value the time and expertise of their facility teams, and look around the corner can thrive in this world of scarcity. One common factor in their success? These best-in-class organizations rely on thoughtful capital plans to help them reduce the likelihood of unexpected failures – and they use facility condition assessment information to get them there.

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Building a thriving planet in 2019…and beyond

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February is already upon us and McKinstry’s work on projects across the country is in full swing. I’m proud to say that our platform provides unique opportunities for us to explore, invent and create an ever more efficient built environment.

That efficiency takes many forms if you’re building a 40-story skyscraper, retrofitting an elementary school or servicing a boiler. But, the underlying need is always the same: Today’s built environment costs more than it should to build, operate and maintain.

There’s no shortage of strategies for making the built environment more efficient, and—when you consider that construction is one of the least productive sectors of the U.S. economy—there’s also no shortage of opportunity. So, what will this new paradigm of efficiency look like for McKinstry in 2019 and beyond?

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Steve Leonard grows McKinstry’s fire protection capabilities across the Pacific Northwest

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Back in the late 1980s, Steve Leonard was living in Southern California and thought he wanted to work for a fire department, maybe as a firefighter. When a friend asked if he would consider working in fire protection design, it changed Steve’s direction and sent him off on a 30-year journey into the world of fire protection.

“No one is born with a passion for sprinklers or alarms, it’s usually a series of twists and turns that bring people into the fire protection industry,” Steve explained. “I didn’t think about fire protection when I was a kid, but I’m glad that my career path led me into this field.”

At McKinstry, we’ve offered fire protection services for decades because identifying and installing the right protection system to prevent or reduce fire damage is fundamental to every project we undertake. McKinstry has built a national reputation for designing and installing fire protection systems for a wide variety of venues—from office, retail, and hotel buildings to stadiums, laboratories, and museums. Owners and designers come to McKinstry for our expertise on systems, costs, and knowledge of all current fire codes and compliance standards for the National Fire Protection Association.

Steve’s fire protection path has been extremely unique at McKinstry. Since joining the company in 2010, he’s lived and worked in three of McKinstry’s major Pacific Northwest offices—Portland, Spokane and Seattle.

“I sometimes joke that I’ve completed the trifecta,” Steve said. “Working in three of our Pacific Northwest offices has been a pleasure, and they all have a different atmosphere that’s still connected by the common McKinstry culture.”

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Tahoma’s powerED Green Team kicks the year in gear

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eam_tahomaThe new school year ushers in Green Team kickoffs for powerED schools across the country. Tahoma School District in Maple Valley, Wash. kicked the year in gear last week with Green Team meetings at schools like Maple View Middle.

Tahoma School District serves more than 8,200 students from pre-kindergarten to grade 12. The district is recognized as innovative in its development and use of curriculum, including a focus on sustainability across all grade levels. Test scores place Tahoma students among Washington’s top five percent on average!

To date, more than 20,500 teachers, students and family members nationwide have pledged to save energy and cut waste through McKinstry’s powerED program. That action has reduced energy consumption 17 percent district wide and avoided 918 metric tons of carbon emissions. Maple View Middle is responsible for an amazing 358 metric tons of carbon avoided—nearly 40 percent of the district’s total!

Congratulations to Tahoma School District and Maple View Middle, and best of luck for another successful Green Team year!

Join McKinstry and our clients as we celebrate Energy Action Month by pledging to take action. If you think you can’t affect the future of energy consumption, you’re wrong. It takes all of us, every day, taking actions small and big. Together, we CAN build a thriving planet.

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