Systematic summary and analysis of Chinese HVAC guidelines coping with COVID-19

Because of COVID-19, the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in sports facilities has been a concern to environmental health practitioners. To develop an overall understanding of the available guidelines and standards and studies performed on IEQ in sports facilities, an extensive literature study was conducted, with the aim of identifying: (1) indicators that are being used to assess IEQ in different sports facilities; (2) indicators that are potentially interesting to be used to assess indoor air, in particular; (3) gaps in knowledge to determine whether sports facilities are safe, healthy and comfortable for people to stay and perform their activities. The outcome indicates that most current standards and previous investigations on IEQ in sports facilities mainly focused on dose-related indicators (such as ventilation rate), while building-related indicators (such as ventilation regime) and occupant-related indicators (such as IEQ preferences) were rarely considered. Little attention is given to the fact that ventilation systems may play an important role in the air quality of the location, and few investigations have been performed on the transmission of SARS-CoV-2. This study recommends more research into both occupant and building-related indicators as well as cross-modal effects between various IEQ factors for developing future standards on sports facilities.

Section: Ventilation and Sars-cov-2mentioning

confidence: 99%

A review on indoor environmental quality in sports facilities: Indoor air quality and ventilation during a pandemic

Zhang

Ortiz

Bluyssen

2022

“…The current pandemic situation caused by the COVID-19 crisis requires health systems that are efficient, clean (free of viruses and bacteria), safe and with low environmental impact. 60,61 The LCA methodology has been found to be suitable for making environmental impact comparisons of different types of HVAC air ducts in healthcare buildings. This methodology is based on the ReCiPe 2016 environmental assessment method and criteria, as well as the LCA framework shown in Figure 1.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life cycle analysis methodology for heating, ventilation and air conditioning ductwork in healthcare buildings

Botejara-Antúnez

Domínguez

García-Sanz-Calcedo

2023

The design, modelling and construction of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) facilities in healthcare buildings must aim for the users’ maximum comfort and meet sanitary criteria for indoor air quality. The environmental impact of 12 HVAC duct types was subjected to life cycle assessment, with a single-score damage category analysis carried out for the midpoint and endpoint levels. The two most favourable duct types for the different impact categories were aluminium with helical steel wire reinforcement and fibreglass insulation, and also copper sheeting with rock wool and polyurethane insulation. However, although the former presented the best environmental impact values, this type is inadvisable for healthcare buildings. This is due to its nature and the subsequent tendency of the system to lose pressure and efficiency, as well as the difficulty of cleaning this type of ductwork and its predisposition to bacterial proliferation. Thus, the copper duct type with rock wool insulation is the most suitable type for healthcare buildings. This came second overall environmentally (1.06 pt/m2), with values 2.83 times more favourable than the polyisocyanurate solution. Finally, the application of the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology to HVAC ductwork was demonstrated to reduce the impact by up to 39.88%.

“…29 • To improve the ability to prevent airborne transmission, the key sanitary components of the HVAC system, such as filters, air supply outlets, surface coolers and ducts, should be cleaned and maintained regularly. 30 For systems with recirculated air, the main components of the HVAC system should be disinfected regularly, especially during epidemics.• To prevent the spread of aerosols in toilets by maintaining a negative pressure inside is necessary, and regular monitoring of the water seals in the toilets would also be needed. 27 Toilet lids should be closed when toilets are flushed.…”

Section: Resilient Hvac Systems To Adapt To Both Normal and Epidemic ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Healthy and resilient HVAC design for public buildings in post COVID-19 pandemic era

Li,

Xu,

2023

People spend around 90% of their lifetime in buildings that serve important physiological, psychological and social functions, especially when considering public and occupants' health. 1,2 Public buildings, such as offices, hospitals, schools, shopping malls, hotels and transportation spaces, are places where people carry out various public activities with relatively large amounts of space and high flows of people, which can easily lead to airborne disease transmission. The outbreak of COVID-19 since 2019 has raised intense focus on the indoor air quality in these public buildings. Even if the COVID-19 pandemic is at an end as announced by the World Health Organization (WHO), 3 conventional heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in public buildings are still not capable of coping with potential future severe epidemic situations, and a resilient HVAC would be needed to provide a meaningful retrofit measure to cope with the future epidemics. [4][5][6][7] Back in 2012, the UN responded to natural disaster risk management by referring to the concept of 'resilience', 8,9 which referred to the ability of a system to predict, absorb, adapt and recover from changes in events in a timely and effective manner while retaining its basic structure and function. 10 With reference to this definition, the concept of 'resilient HVAC' was proposed during the pandemic of COVID-19 to develop healthy and energy-efficient HVAC systems for buildings, which aimed to increase the adaptability of buildings in response to this disease. 11 In the post-pandemic period of COVID-19, when public buildings encounter similar public health emergencies, HVAC systems should be able to timely, quickly and reasonably transform into an emergency state to cope with challenges. Flexible design and construction of these HVAC systems by considering both peacetime and epidemic periods will be an important new development direction.This special issue is a continuation of the Special Issue that was published in June 2022. 4 The special issue addresses the issues of ventilations, HVAC, distribution of airborne and droplet transmissions, restriction control to prevent the spread of COVID-19, community settlement in response to COVID-19 and effects on learning. This editorial paper focuses on the problems of HVAC systems and the resilience of HVAC systems in response to epidemic/pandemic episodes.