Covid-19 has pushed indoor air quality to the forefront of concerns that schools and universities have about their facilities. But even before the emergence of the coronavirus and the global pandemic that followed, many education institutions were taking steps to make sure that the spaces where student were spending most of their time were safe and healthful.
“Pre-Covid, some of the work we were doing in schools did focus on indoor air quality, specifically from the aspect of asthma,” says Rebecca Berry, president and director of sustainability at Finegold Alexander Architects in Boston. “Indoor air quality is a huge problem....Part of the reason is the age of our schools. So many of them were built in the 50s and the 60s. Many of them, particularly in the Northeast, were equipped with gas-fired boilers that feed radiators. They don’t even have fresh air.”
The response to Covid-19 over the last two years has persuaded many of those responsible for education facilities to focus more intently on providing facilities with good indoor air quality that are safe and healthful for students and staff.
“For a lot of years, we’ve had people beating the drum about how much time we spent indoors, the lack of indoor air quality, how it’s just plain not good for people,” Berry says. “The pandemic has definitely driven a conversation that can become as wide-ranging as it should be—about everything from viruses to forever chemicals to the materials that go into buildings. It has enabled a more open and hopefully productive dialogue about how we can all work to make the environment better.
Addressing older buildings
Upgrading older educational facilities can be more complicated improving heating and ventilation, or installing a more efficient air conditioning system.
“In the New England region, most of these campuses don’t have dedicated air systems because the buildings are not used in the summer primarily, especially the residence halls,” says Lara Pfadt, an architect and sustainability strategist at Finegold Alexander.
More recently, some college campuses have identified summer use of their facilities as a potential revenue source and are looking to improve ventilation and air quality in their buildings, Pfadt says. But at the same time, these campuses have prioritized reduction or elimination of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) on campus.
“They often have really high climate goals, so they don’t want to go immediately to air conditioning buildings,” Pfadt says.
Climate commitments have led many higher education institutions to develop plans for reducing emissions.
“It’s driving a whole series of projects on campuses where they have central energy plants and make their own electricity,” Berry says. “There’s a lot of fossil fuel input into making the steam and a lot of greenhouse gas emissions come out of it.”
Curtailing those emissions means finding a different way to generate electricity.
“They’re looking at going to different energy plant setups, looking at geothermal, at different kinds of energy centers and in many cases taking a steam loop and turning it into a low-temperature hot water loop,” says Berry.
Reducing emissions
One of those colleges with ambitious climate goals is Wellesley College in Wellesley, Mass., which has committed to substantially reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) on its campus. In pursuit of its objective to reduce GHG by 90% by 2040, Wellesley embarked on improvements that called for changing from steam and high-temperature hot water for space heating on campus to a low-temperature water loop. Finegold Alexander is the architect on the project.
The switch to low temperature water at Wellesley will support potential geothermal installations in the future and help achieve the goal of reducing carbon emissions.
Another aspect of the Wellesley work is the renovation of Severance Hall, a student residence that was built in 1926. The emphasis in the Severance Hall upgrades is on air comfort.
“The driver of this project is the energy efficiency of the building,” says Pfadt. “They are creating these cool spaces within the building that are running higher levels of air exchange.”
The areas targeted for air cooling include dining areas or other spaces where people tend to congregate.
In addition, design decisions after the Covid-19 led to providing students more space in their living areas and having bathrooms and kitchenettes that can be closed off in case students have contracted a bug or need to quarantine, Pfadt says.
As architects, Berry and Pfadt also have tried to make sure that the engineering-based solutions for improving indoor air quality in buildings are balanced with the desire to maintain the character and other architectural features of the building.
“How we change the central generation of energy is very much an engineering exercise,” Berry says. “Somebody needs to help sort out and prioritize what are the different ways we can deal with that when we get to the architecture...What we’re doing is bringing the design thinking and the holistic approach of an architect to the problem.”
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On the Agenda: Air Quality
The Biden Administration says it will continue helping schools to improve the air quality in their facilities, as part of an ongoing effort to combat the spread of Covid-19 and other airborne diseases
In a back-to-school message, the White House signaled that upgrading ventilation systems and other steps to boost air quality remains a priority. A 2020 report from the Government Accountability Office found that the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in thousands of U.S. schools were inadequate.
“Effective ventilation and air filtration are important parts of Covid-19 prevention,” the message says. “In addition to other layered prevention strategies, taking actions to improve indoor air quality can reduce the risk of exposure to particles, aerosols, and other contaminants, reduce the spread of Covid-19, and improve the health of building occupants.”
Schools can use federal Covid relief funding from the American Rescue Plan to improve ventilation by inspecting, repairing, upgrading, and replacing HVAC systems; purchasing and installing air conditioners, fans, portable air cleaners, and germicidal UV light systems; and repairing windows, doors, and dampers that let fresh air into school buildings, the White House says.
The White House plans to recognize schools that have been leaders in improving indoor air quality. The Department of Energy’s Efficient and Healthy Schools Campaign announced recognition earlier this year for several districts in four areas: HVAC inspection and maintenance for indoor air quality; efficient HVAC for indoor environmental quality; ongoing monitoring and analytics for HVAC performance; and team approach to support strategic investments in efficient and healthy schools.
Among the school systems recognized: Charleston County and Greenville County in South Carolina; Adams 12 Five Star and Boulder Valley in Colorado; Newark, N.J.; Mariposa County, Calif.; Columbia, Mo.; and Davis, Utah. The Efficient and Healthy Schools Campaign plans for recognition in the coming school year will continue to prioritize projects that accelerate indoor air quality improvements.
The Administration says it also is collaborating with organizations that provide guidance and technical support to help make indoor air quality improvements easier for schools to navigate. Those organizations HVAC professional associations, including the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers, National Energy Management Institute, and the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ National Association.
