that Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) is now aw big factor in how wew live and work. We spend a great deal of timef


With the impact of COVID on all our lives, it is clear y at


the property we live in, we work ink offices, shop and eat at restaurants… all indoor spaces. The average person spends almost 90% of ourf


day indoors, where the concentration of


some pollutants are often 2 to 5 times higher than typical outdoor concentrations.


People who are often most susceptible to the adverse effects of pollution (e.g., the very young, older adults, people with cardiovascular or respiratory disease) tend to spend even more time inside. Indoor concentrations of somef


pollutants have increased in recent decades due


to such factors as energy-efficient building construction (when it lacks sufficient mechanical ventilation to ensure adequate air exchange) and increased use of syntheticf building materials, furnishings, personal care products and household cleaners. Now add bacteria and viruses (including COVID),mold spores, pollen and odors, we can have an extremely challenging Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) situation.


In the19th and20th centuries,wehad anumberofambitious public health efforts. The United States eliminated yellow fever and malaria, with a combination of pesticides,f


wide-


scale landscape management and window screens that kept mosquitos out. One by one, the diseases that people accepted as inevitable facts of life,f


in the developing world. But after all of thisf all we’ve done to prevent the spread of diseasef


became unacceptable success, after through


water and insects, we seem to have overlooked something. We overlooked air. We’ve long accepted colds and flu as inevitable facts of life,f


but are they? What if the airflow in


buildings could prevent them, and odors, as well as other harmful particles like dust, dander, mold and pollen?


Long before the current pandemic, ionization had become very popular in eliminating the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that create odors. Ion generation breaks these odors into harmless organic compounds, leaving the air smelling fresh and clean. Ionization technology also deactivates pathogens such as the coronavirus, influenza, and colds by rendering them inactive by disrupting the pathogen’s surface proteins. This technology eliminates their ability to replicate. Ionization technology also causes the pathogenic and dust particles to bundle together, or agglomerate, into much larger particulates. This is similar to a snowball effect in which particles cluster together, where they can be caught by the HVAC system’s filter or will fall harmlessly to the ground. Note that the COVID–19 virus is .01 micron in size, so without this agglomeration, the virus can easily pass through the ventilation system’s filters.


There are a variety ofy the market today Thy. he typ device that canmonitor


ionization prod ctduc s av ilable in pe tha


va r the amoun one minute, while a posit


h t wo ksork best is an ionizatnizatioion nt of pos


sititivive and


ions in the building in real time Thi negative ions hav


ve an effect vectiv lifespa tive ion


n has an eff c


me. h s is impor ant an of app oxi f ectiive


m o tan because prox mately e liffesp


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www.cai-illinois.org • 847.301.7505 | 19


of approximatelyf


15 minutes. The ideal ratio of negativef


ions to positive ions is 2:1, so ion production needs to be variable andmeasurable to keep the air inside “in balance.” Sensors are placed throughout the building to make sure the appropriate amount of negativef active.


and positive Ions are


Byaddingpositiveand negativeionsintotheair circulatingr throughout a building, the air isr being proactively cleaned and purified, instead of justf


being cleaned as it passes


through the HVAC filter. This process results in surfaces being cleaned as well. The benefits to this method are many:


• Deactivate pathogens – by binding to the pathogen and disrupting proteins


• Cleaning the air throughr bundling for removalr


particulate removal –


• Eliminating odors – breaking odors down into harmless compounds


• Energy savings through reduction of outside air required


This technology works so well, that ComEd is offering rebates and/or incentives to help with the installation of this ionization technology (with monitoring), as it reduces the amount of energyf


used by a building annually. The


amount of thef ComEd rebate is determined by the reduction in annual energy consumption, which can be calculated prior to installation. With many properties having already upgraded their existing lighting to LEDs, ComEd now has funds available for additional energy saving projects.


Ionization technology products have beeninstalled in medical buildings, schools, colleges, hotels, businesses, and manufacturing plants for many years. The improved version of ionization,f


with real-time ion monitoring makes


IAQ a realistic possibility formulti-familyresidential communities. An association would reap the rewards of saferf


indoor air, coupled with protection from viruses,


bacteria, mold, pollen, all while reducing the amount of malodorous smells the community would share. Through h


these systems, an a iissociation can recreate h the same


ionization make-up that mirrors the air above a mountain stream, or the outside air after a spring rain. Asmore of this type of technology is implemented, it begs the question: looking forward, will this COVID-19 pandemic be the last time we need to be concerned about the inside air we breathe?


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