Cuyahoga County Justice Steering Committee officials are planning to pursue a shipping container storage yard at 2700 Transport Road as the site for its new jail photographed March 30, 2022. John Kuntz, cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio — After a contentious meeting and five hours of discussion, an oversight committee guiding planning for a new Cuyahoga County jail agreed to continue pursuing a preferred location, as long as a number of other conditions are met.

The 12-member Justice Center Executive Steering Committee unanimously voted to consider a shipping container yard at 2700 Transport Road as their preferred site for a new 1900-bed jail, based on an amendment that requires a phase two environmental study be done first “to provide reasonable assurance that current environmental restrictions can be removed, and the property is safe for residential use.”

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Earth Aware, Cisco’s month-long employee celebration of sustainability and the planet is also an opportune time to focus on green buildings. But first, what is a green building?

By definition, a green or sustainable building is a building that, because of its construction and features, can maintain or even improve the quality of life of the environment in which it is located.

Green buildings conserve resources

There are several features which can make a building green, including:

• Efficient use of energy, water, and other resources
• Use of renewable energy, such as solar energy
• Pollution and waste reduction measures, and the enabling of re-use and recycling of materials
• Good indoor environmental air quality
• Use of materials that are non-toxic, ethical, and sustainable
• Consideration of the environment in design, construction, and operation
• Consideration of the quality of life of occupants in design, construction, and operation
• A design that enables adaptation to a changing environment.

Any building can be a green building, whether it’s a home, office, school, hospital, community center, or other structure, provided it includes some of the features listed above.

Green buildings improve our quality of life

Green buildings reduce or eliminate negative environmental impacts while also creating positive impacts for both people and the environment. It is worth noting that individuals spend over 90 percent of their time indoors, so that time should be spent in the most healthy space as possible. Green buildings have been connected with employee benefits, such as mitigating stress and burnout.

Simple steps, like improving air quality, increasing natural light, and introducing greenery can also have a dramatic impact on the bottom line, by improving employee productivity and reducing absenteeism, staff turnover, and medical costs.

Typically, organizations prioritizing their employees’ wellness and environmental sustainability in the construction of their buildings will follow third-party certifications, such as LEED, WELL, BREEAM, and FitWEL. These certifications focus on tangible and quantifiable sustainability measures, like reducing the consumption of energy, water, and other resources; but also, the intangible benefits, such as making improvements to layout and noise, indoor air quality, thermal comfort, and lighting.

Whatis Cisco doing?

Before the pandemic, 17 percent of our real estate space was certified through a green building standard (LEED, WELL, or equivalent). Now, we are at 19.5 percent certified through a green building standard. These are great steps forward, but we are always looking for ways to do better.

While most of our employees were working from home in 2020 and 2021, Cisco decided to pursue a new green building rating called the WELL Health-Safety Rating. This new rating was developed to help organizations and businesses adopt evidence-based measures that promote the health, safety, and well-being of their occupants. It includes 22 strategies to:

• Keep spaces clean and sanitized
• Provide essential health benefits and services
• Communicate your health and safety efforts
• Help everyone prepare for an emergency
• Assess air and water quality

As of January 2022, 55 of Cisco’s largest and/or newest buildings in San Jose, Research Triangle Park (North Carolina), Chicago, New York City, Bangalore, and London were certified to this standard.

Now that our workforce is beginning to return to the office, Cisco has decided to pursue the WELL Building Standard and LEED certification for new, large building projects. By pursuing both certifications, we know our buildings will be high performing, energy efficient spaces that positively impact the people inside them.

Spotlight on NYC and Atlanta

The renovation of our office in New York City is complete. This new space is designed to achieve LEED Silver certification and includes technologies such as Power over Ethernet (POE) connected lights, desks, and blinds. The office is designed to consume seven percent less energy and 27 percent less water than the local code requires through low flow toilet/sinks and energy efficient lighting (LEDs). Our Atlanta office will be the second completed LEED and WELL certified building in our portfolio (after Chicago) and will include Cisco technology that measures indoor air quality ratings in each room, healthy break room offerings, reflection rooms, and curated exercise programming like yoga classes.

What about our headquarters in San Jose?

We know hybrid work is here to stay. We developed our first collaboration hub in San Jose as a place for people and teams to come together for meetings, events, and volunteering opportunities. The building includes features that promote employee well-being, such as massage chairs, creativity zones, and reflection rooms, combined with mental well-being offerings and curated events for teams. As an example, one team could choose honey tasting and mental health training. Another could choose a giving back activity and a yoga class. Teams can choose what they do with their time from a catalogue of options. And yes, it will be WELL building-certified as well.

In summary, we have an opportunity through our real estate to focus on more than just how our buildings perform, but also how they impact people’s well-being. We look forward to expanding our green building portfolio, to ensure that our spaces are safe, healthy, and sustainable.

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Watching the latest footage of a solar eclipse on Mars gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “out of this world.”

Earlier this month, NASA’s Perseverance rover spotted one of Mars’ moons, Phobos, passing across the Sun. The 40-second eclipse was captured by the rover’s Mastcam-Z camera system. It is a partial solar eclipse because of the moon’s size. While Phobos is the larger of Mars’ two moons, it is still extremely small, measuring 17 x 14 x 11 miles in diameter. Its small size means that there can never be a total eclipse on Mars. No matter what, parts of the sun will always peek out from behind the shadows of Mars’ moons.

This is not the first solar eclipse spotted from Mars. Other rovers have captured eclipses from the planet’s surface many times before, including this one from 2012, as seen by the Curiosity rover:

But this new footage is the “most zoomed-in video of a Phobos solar eclipse yet – and at the highest-frame rate ever,” according to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The Mastcam-Z camera is a major upgrade to the cameras of previous rovers. It is a zoomable color camera and has a solar filter “that acts like sunglasses to reduce light intensity,” according to JPL. The result? We can see Phobos’ craggy shadow passing across the Sun, along with some sunspots dotting our star’s orange surface.

“I knew it was going to be good, but I didn’t expect it to be this amazing,” Malin Space Science Systems’ Rachel Howson, one of the people who operates the Mastcam-Z camera, said in a statement.

In addition to just being cool, the footage is also helpful to scientists studying Phobos’ orbit and its relationship to Mars. As the moon orbits the planet, the two bodies exert a gravitational pull on each other. Phobos tugs on Mars’ crust and interior, and Mars’ gravity pulls the moon toward the planet, changing its orbit. In fact, Phobos has a pretty limited lifespan. It’s getting pulled toward Mars at a rate of more than 6 feet every century, and scientists think that the moon will eventually be pulled apart in the next tens of millions of years. Fortunately for us, that still leaves plenty of time for rovers to capture gorgeous videos like the one released this week.

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MIAMI – In celebration of Earth Day (April 22) and Arbor Day (April 29), the Miami Marlins, in conjunction with the Miami Marlins Foundation, will host a Food Garden Tree and Plant Giveaway for the South Florida community on Saturday, April 30, beginning at 9 a.m. at loanDepot park. With the support from our community partner Million Trees Miami, the Marlins will be giving away 300 trees, herbs, and plants at the event.

In addition to the giveaway, the event will include representatives from Citizen for a Better South Florida at the event to showcase the Miami Marlins Foundation’s Home Plate Meals Food Garden to the community. Guests will receive tips and advice such as proper growing techniques and watering tactics. The educational component will provide guidance for those what are interested in learning more about gardening.

The organization’s on-going green efforts include the elimination of single-use plastic straws in 2019, the implementation of Free-Flow Parking in 2021, and the addition of a new LED Sports Lighting System at loanDepot park this past offseason.

–Free-Flow Parking reduces carbon emissions and fuel consumption with shorter wait times and less idling. In addition, bike share kiosks and electric vehicle charging stations were implemented in the parking garages at loanDepot park.

— The Marlins teamed with Musco on a new LED Sports Lighting System that will enhance the fan experience at loanDepot park as well as elevate the viewing experience for fans at home when watching on Bally Sports Florida. The transition to the new LED Sports Lighting System also reaffirms the Marlins commitment to sustainability with a significant reduction in energy consumption. loanDepot park now features 414 light fixtures as opposed to the 771 light fixtures in previous years, meaning that the ballpark can maintain the same lighting levels with nearly 50 percent fewer fixtures.

loanDepot park is the first retractable-roof LEED Gold Certified facility in the world. The ballpark’s environmentally friendly design incorporates conservation, sustainability and energy efficiency. During construction, the Miami Marlins recycled more than 98% of the construction waste and engaged in pollution prevention plans. The design of the ballpark and the materials selected help promote conservation, pollution prevention as well as water reduction and energy efficiency. The Marlins also engaged in an indoor air quality plan to ensure the comfort and well-being of all fans.

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Effect of air flow rate and residence time on size distribution and number concentration

Experiments were performed using an atomizer solution without virus particles. Path A of Fig. 1 was utilized in the experiments. Details of the experimental devices are presented in “Methods” section. The variables for the different types of diffusion dryers are listed in Table 1.

Figure 1

Schematic of the experimental design used to generate aerosol particles.

Table 1 Characteristics of different types of diffusion dryers used during experiments.

The residence time, τ, of the air flow in the diffusion dryers calculated using the following equation:

$$uptau =sum _{{rm i}=0}^{{rm i}=mathrm{n}}frac{uppi {mathrm{w}}_{{rm i}}^{2}{mathrm{L}}_{{rm i}}}{4{upgamma {rm Q}}}$$

(1)

where n denotes the number of diffusion dryers, ({mathrm{w}}_{{rm i}}) denotes the tube diameter of the ({mathrm{i}}_{{rm th}}) diffusion dryer, ({mathrm{L}}_{{rm i}}) denotes length of the ({mathrm{i}}_{{rm th}}) diffusion dryer, Q is the AFR (2 to 5 L/min), and (upgamma) is a constant corresponding to 1.67 × 10–5 (min m3/L s).

Figure 2A shows the number concentrations and size distributions of the aerosolized water droplets at different AFRs when using one diffusion dryer (Case 1, Table 2). The water droplet size ranged from 4 to 160 nm. When AFR increased, the residence time decreased, and the droplet number concentration increased. Figure 2B, C, D, and E shows the effects of the residence time in the diffusion dryers (Table 2) at constant AFRs corresponding to 2, 3, 4, and 5 L/min, respectively. The original water droplet size distributions right after the air stream exiting the atomizer (τ = 0) were measured. The results are shown in Fig. 2B, C, D and E. The results indicate that the concentration of aerosolized water droplets decreased as the residence time increased. Figure 2F shows that the relative humidity (RH) decreased by 10% when the AFR decreased from 5 to 2 L/min for all cases. At a constant flow rate, the RH decreased by approximately 70% in Case 4.

Figure 2

Effects of air flow rate and residence time in diffusion dryers on number concentration and size distribution of the aerosolized water droplets. (A) Case 1: one diffusion dryer is used (Table 2). (B) Air flow rate is 2 L/min, and residence time of 2.64, 4.90, 7.16, and 9.70 s represent Case 1, Case 2, Case 3, and Case 4, respectively (Table 2). (C) Air flow rate is 3 L/min, and residence time of 1.76, 3.27, 4.77, and 6.47 s represent Case 1, Case 2, Case 3, and Case 4, respectively (Table 2). (D) Air flow rate is 4 L/min, and residence time of 1.13, 2.45, 3.58, and 4.85 s represent Case 1, Case 2, Case 3, and Case 4, respectively (Table 2). (E) Air flow rate is 5 L/min, and residence time of 1.06, 1.96, 2.86, and 3.88 s represent Case 1, Case 2, Case 3, and Case 4, respectively (Table 2). (F) Effect of the air flow rate on RH is shown for each case.

Table 2 Overview of different dryer combinations, air flow rates, and corresponding residence times.

The details of the results in Fig. 2 are presented in Table S1 in Supplementary Materials. For example, when an AFR of 2 L/min was used, applying different residence times reduced the total droplet number concentrations to 5.9 × 104 cm–3 (τ = 2.64 s), 3 × 104 cm–3 (τ = 4.90 s), and 1.6 × 104 cm–3 (τ = 7.16 s), which correspond to 60%, 80%, and 89% decrease in total number concentration, respectively. Table S1 shows the changes in the total number concentration of generated droplets for different residence times and flow rates. The results indicated that the total droplet number concentration exponentially decreases when residence time increases for all tested flow rates.

Total number concentration as an exponential decay regression

Conversely, for each case (Table 2), the total number concentration increased with increases in the flow rate. Thus, the total number concentration of droplets (({mathrm{N}}_{{rm t}})) can be described as an exponential decay function of the residence time ((tau)) as follows:

$${mathrm{N}}_{{rm t}}(uptau )={mathrm{N}}_{0}mathrm{exp}(-mathrm{ktau })$$

(2)

where ({mathrm{N}}_{0}) and k denote the total number concentration of droplets at τ = 0 (cm–3) and decay constant (1/s), respectively; both are linearly proportional to the flow rate:

$${mathrm{N}}_{0}={upalpha {rm Q}}$$

(3)

$$mathrm{k}={upbeta {rm Q}}$$

(4)

where Q denotes the flow rate (L/min). The constants (alpha) and (beta) correspond to 2.31 × 105 min/L cm3 and 0.251 min/L s, respectively. The results are listed in Table 3.

Table 3 Values of ({N}_{0}) and k coefficients and R2 for the non-linear, exponential decay regression ([{N}_{t}(tau )={N}_{0}exp(-ktau )]).

Optimal residence time in diffusion dryers for maximizing droplet removal

The test results for the MS2 bacteriophage aerosols are shown in Fig. 3. Specifically, Fig. 3A shows the effect of the MS2 virus concentration on the size distribution of the aerosolized particles at an AFR of 2 L/min for Case 3 (τ = 7.16 s). The total number concentration increased when the MS2 virus concentration increased. Figure 3B shows that an increase in the residence time leads to a decrease in the number concentration of aerosolized particles at a constant AFR of 2 L/min. However, after a residence time of 7.16 s, the number concentration of the aerosolized particles remained constant (Fig. 3C), thereby indicating that this corresponds to a sufficient diffusion drying time that maximizes droplet removal at an AFR of 2 L/min.

Figure 3

Effects of different MS2 virus solution concentrations and residence times on number concentration and size distribution of the aerosolized MS2 bacteriophage. (A) Effect of different MS2 virus solution concentrations on size distribution and concentration of the aerosolized particles at (tau) = 7.16 s (Table 2). (B) Effect of different residence times on size distribution and concentration of the aerosolized particles under a constant air flow rate of 2 L/min. (C) Effects of different residence times on total number concentration of aerosolized MS2 virus. (D) Plaque analysis results for the sampled MS2 bacteriophage virus under different residence times.

While the SMPS data (Fig. 3C) showed that the total number concentration varied with residence time, it is interesting to note that the plaque assay results remained constant with an average of 2.72 × 106 plaque forming units per milliliter (PFU/mL) for each case (Fig. 3D). Virus aerosols were sampled for the plaque assay through the experiment setting shown in path B of Fig. 1. A gelatin filter was used. The virus concentration of 2.72 × 106 PFU/mL on the gelatin filter corresponded to a total virus number of 1.8 × 109 on the gelatin filter, which was obtained from the collection of aerosolized MS2 virus particles per 1 cm3 of air volume, at an AFR of 2 L/min and sampling time of 5 min (1.8 × 105 virus particles/cm3 for τ > 7.16 s, see Fig. 3C).

The collection efficiency of the filter remained constant at 97% for all the cases. However, for τ < 7.16 s, the concentration of 2.72 × 106 PFU/mL corresponded to a total virus number exceeding 1.8 × 109. This was because the SMPS data for τ < 7.16 s were affected by non-dried water droplets as opposed to virus aerosols alone. The SMPS data in Fig. 3C were used to calculate error using Eq. (5). The following equation was used to quantify the effect of water droplets on the total number concentration of virus aerosol.

$$mathrm{Error}(%)=frac{mathrm{N}-{mathrm{N}}_{{max}}}{{mathrm{N}}_{{max}}}times 100$$

(5)

where N denotes the total number concentration for a residence time (uptau), and ({mathrm{N}}_{{max}}) denotes the total number concentration for the time required for maximum droplet removal.

For example, when τ = 0 s and total number concentration is 4.55 × 105 cm−3 (N), the error in the total number concentration measurement is approximately 151% when considering 1.8 × 105 cm−3 (({mathrm{N}}_{{max}})) at a sufficient drying time (τ = 7.16 s). Similarly, for τ = 2.6 s and a total number concentration of 2.7 × 105 cm−3, the error decreases to approximately 50%.

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JAPAN: Johnson Controls-Hitachi Air Conditioning has announced the global launch of a new domestic air conditioner series focused on energy efficiency and improved indoor air quality.

Named AirHome, it is said to be equipped with a variety of smart and intuitive functions that will help users maintain a comfortable indoor environment. The first model of the series will first be available throughout Europe starting with France this month and later becoming available in Asia.

AirHome is equipped with FrostWash, an automatic self-cleaning feature that freezes the heat exchanger down to -15°C to trap pollutants and dust in ice, which then melts to flush them away. According to the manufacturer, this leaves the unit cleaner and dramatically reduces the possibility of pollutants being spread from the AC unit across the room. 

Tests are said to have shown that systems with FrostWash are three times better at maintaining airflow performance than those without the technology. Before and after airflow performance comparison tests on identical dust-laden units, with and without FrostWash, showed an 18% drop in airflow performance for the unit without FrostWash, compared to only a 6% drop in performance for the unit with FrostWatch.

Smart

AirHome also includes a Smart Eco function, which detects the human presence and adjusts the operation accordingly. Customers can also set their room to a cooler temperature while sleeping knowing that SleepSense will detect their sleep and automatically adjust the temperature to prevent the room from getting too cold.

Use of the AirCloud Home smartphone app allows customers to set up location awareness and temperature profiles to detect when users are on their way home to automatically adjust the temperature before their arrival.

Air purification

Four different air purification technologies are deployed against pollutants, viruses, allergens, bacteria, and odours depending on the model. Lab tests are said to have shown a 99.9% reduction in covid virus particles, up to 99% control on  bacteria, up to 86% elimination of odours, and up to 97.1% control of  allergens. While switched off, AirHome’s mould guard function automatically blows air through internal components to prevent the build-up of odour-causing moulds.

Johnson Controls-Hitachi

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