BU Aims to Move More, and Cleaner, Air through Buildings

Elijah Ercolino, director of the Facilities Engineering Group, inspects an HVAC air filter on the roof of 1047 Commonwealth Ave. Photo by Benedict Awuah/Boston University Facilities Management Engineering Group
BU Aims to Move More, and Cleaner, Air through Buildings
Ventilation improvements are part of a broad campuswide strategy aimed at keeping COVID-19 from spreading
- The CDC says it’s important to improve building ventilation and air circulation
- BU is increasing the airflow in many indoor spaces and upgrading air filters in HVAC systems
- Social distancing will increase the amount of air per person in indoor spaces
As scientists continue to study ways that the coronavirus can be spread, one question involves aerosol droplets that people exhale while breathing. Can those droplets circulate in the air long enough to be picked up by a ventilation system and recirculated through building ducts? There has not been a clear answer. But what scientists and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have said—unequivocally—is that one of the most important things employers can do is to improve building ventilation and air circulation wherever possible.
That’s what Boston University’s Facilities Management & Operations staff is doing.
In one more move aimed at making the BU campus as safe as possible for the fall semester amid the coronavirus pandemic, workers are increasing the ventilation and improving air filtration in 120 campus buildings that have mechanical ventilation systems.
Specifically, two steps are being taken: workers are increasing airflow in indoor spaces by having HVAC systems in buildings run around the clock, instead of 12 to 16 hours a day, and new filters capable of capturing airborne viruses, including SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19), are being installed in the systems that recirculate air in offices and classrooms.
That still leaves 198 buildings on campus that do not have heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems (HVAC), where the airflow depends more on opening and closing windows.
For those buildings, teams from Facilities Management & Operations are following the advice of the CDC and planning to use window fans to circulate the air. In advice to employers for their office buildings, the CDC says a key step is to “increase circulation of outdoor air as much as possible by opening windows and doors if possible, and using fans.” The CDC also says an important step is to “increase outdoor air dilution of indoor air.” Facilities staff is also considering installing portable air purifiers with high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters in buildings needing additional airflow.
The steps BU is taking, combined with requiring people on campus to monitor their health symptoms daily, to wear masks, to maintain strict social distancing, and to submit to regular COVID-19 testing (while also following BU guidelines on quarantining and isolating), are all part of a broader University-wide strategy to resume residential life on campus starting in mid-August as safely as possible.
Gary Nicksa, BU senior vice president for operations, says the steps Facilities workers are taking will help move a greater volume of cleaner air through BU’s indoor spaces.
The strategies also follow the recommendations of the CDC and the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers. The CDC website says: “Consider running the HVAC system at maximum outside airflow for 2 hours before and after occupied times.”
The filter change should make a big difference, Nicksa says.
Another factor that should help the air quality in BU buildings is that fewer people will be in them. With social distancing, and with some students planning to take classes remotely in the fall, Nicksa says, classrooms should have 50 to 80 percent fewer people than they had last year. That means there will be significantly more air per person than previously. Increasing the amount of clean air per person in a room reduces the risk of exposure to COVID-19, he says, because clean air helps dilute any airborne virus, making contact with the virus far less likely. He says Facilities workers are inspecting 800 classrooms to confirm they are getting sufficient air (the standard rate is at least five cubic feet of air flow per minute, per person, based on the room’s maximum occupancy).
To oversee BU’s efforts to combat the airborne spread of COVID-19, Facilities Management & Operations created a team of the University’s engineering and building systems staff, in-house HVAC technicians, building area managers, and BU Environmental Health & Safety staff. The University has also hired engineering and consulting firm Environmental Health & Engineering, with expertise in HVAC system design and operation, to assist with the work.
To find out more about BU’s efforts to keep COVID-19 out of the air in indoor spaces, read a white paper written by Nicksa here. Watch a video presentation of Nicksa describing BU’s strategies to keep indoor air virus-free here.
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