For Immediate Release

Governor Hochul’s 2022 executive budget unveiled last night includes a statewide ban on fossil fuels in new construction by 2027. The move is the boldest taken in any state to move off climate-warming fossil fuels and safeguard public health from building pollutants — but it does not go far enough to stave off the impending climate crisis.

Food & Water Watch Northeast Region Director Alex Beauchamp issued the following statement:

“Yesterday’s move is an undeniably big one — but Governor Hochul must go further and faster. The devil really is in the details. We simply cannot move fast enough to ban fossil fuels in buildings to lower greenhouse gas emissions, keep indoor air pollution at bay, save lives and lower utility bills.

“We call on Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins to enact the All Electric Buildings Act, S6843A/A8431, with haste, as part of the state budget due April 1. This will ensure New York’s new buildings are constructed without fossil fuels by the end of 2023. It’s time we move as fast as the crisis is moving towards us.”

Contact: Phoebe Galt, [email protected]

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If, as some virus experts have argued, we’re going to have to “learn to live” with COVID, what is the best way to do that without dying? To explain what the best mask is, and other essential factors, the virus experts behind a recent JAMA Viewpoints article appeared to discuss just that, with JAMA Associate Editor Preeti Malani, MD. Read on for 6 pieces of life-saving advice—and to ensure your health and the health of others, don’t miss these Sure Signs You’ve Already Had COVID.

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The government will begin offering free N95 masks. “I think this is a case of social norming. What is expected in society, and what are you doing as a responsible citizen?” said Dr. Zeke Emanuel, who is the Vice Provost for Global Initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania. “Unfortunately, this has become…politicized, and made a matter of a badge of culture; and that is the wrong way to look at it. It really is, as you point out, protective. It reduces transmission substantially. But in 2022, we have to be clear: wearing an N-95, KN-95, KF-94, those are the best masks, and they ought to supersede all others.” He hopes giving them out will make them “easily accessible, free, and I think much more used.”

RELATED: Genetic Risk Factor Found for COVID Smell and Taste Loss, New Study Says

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“I would say the other thing that’s very good is a mitigation measure which we have not heavily discussed, is indoor air quality. We don’t have an assurance that when we go into a building, the air quality is of a very high standard. And if we are going to really improve for the long term, as Mike points out, the public health around a respiratory viral illness, is upping the air quality indoors to MERV 13 or better, is going to be really important. And in the interim, people can use HEPA filters in school classrooms, in other public places, while we’re in the process of getting these better air filtration handling systems,” said Dr. Emanuel.

RELATED: Virus Expert Just Issued This Worldwide Warning

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“Well, I think the ‘new’ there is supposed to emphasize we’re not going back to 2019, where there was no COVID, we’re going to be in a situation where COVID is going to be around us, it’s going to be one of the multitude of respiratory viral illnesses that we face and it’s going to wax and wane just like flu does, just like RSV does, just like rhinovirus,” said Dr. Emanuel. “And so we need to take that into account. Getting there, we’re in far from that situation at the moment with about 1,600 deaths a day, but getting there is going to require reducing transmission. And that’s mainly going to be done through things like air quality improvements indoors, wearing masks, and some vaccination to get the incidents level low. Then making sure people have fewer complications. That’s partially the vaccines, which really are very, very good at reducing hospitalization and death, as well as the new therapeutics we have.”

RELATED: 8 Ways to Live a Longer Life

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If we do what Dr. Emanuel recommended—as well as get booster shots and do proper surveillance and testing—”COVID should begin looking like a flu, you get it, you stay home so you don’t infect other people and your family. When you’re feeling better, you can go into work, probably wearing a mask for a few days to again reduce the chance of infection. And that is going to be more common. We’re simply going to get back to the life that we’ve known largely with some modifications.”

RELATED: Signs You Must Lose Your Abdominal Fat Now

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“I think what really is the challenge here is we’ve lacked creative imagination to understand what a pandemic could do,” said Dr. Michael Osterholm, who’s the Director for the Center of Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. “A year ago…most people thought that we were out of the woods. Some of us said, ‘Well, with the variants, maybe we’re not, maybe the variants are going to give us some new challenges we hadn’t anticipated.’ I’m not so sure that’s not the case in the future. I hope it’s not, but hope’s not a strategy.”

He continued: “And so I think that we still have to remind the medical care system there is that you’d provide on a day-to-day basis and there’s that you provide on a day-to-day basis during the crisis. And that includes public health. And so I think if nothing else, the silver lining, if there is one to this pandemic, is it gives us every reason to go back and reevaluate what are we doing with healthcare or disease care? What are we paying for? What are we not paying for that could make a difference from a public health standpoint?”

RELATED: I’m an ER Doctor and Wish Everyone Knew This One Thing

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Follow the public health fundamentals and help end this pandemic, no matter where you live—get vaccinated or boosted ASAP; if you live in an area with low vaccination rates, wear an N95 face mask, don’t travel, social distance, avoid large crowds, don’t go indoors with people you’re not sheltering with (especially in bars), practice good hand hygiene, and to protect your life and the lives of others, don’t visit any of these 35 Places You’re Most Likely to Catch COVID.

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When the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic first arose, many governments guided citizens on how to reduce transmission. This advice commonly consisted of telling individuals to wash their hands, social distance, and wear masks. Providing proper ventilation was conspicuously missing from early advice, and while it is now more regularly recommended, this may have increased early transmission rates. Researchers have examined the implications of the increased airborne transmission from new variants.

Study: Increased airborne transmission of COVID-19 with new variants. Implications for health policies. Image Credit: Evgenia.B/Shutterstock

A preprint version of the study is available on the medRxiv* server, while the article undergoes peer review.

The study

The researchers determined that to build a probabilistic infection model, they needed to know the production rate of quanta by an infector, defined by per unit time and per infector. The production rate of quanta can be calculated using the viral load in respiratory fluid, the factor of proportionality between viral content and quanta, the pulmonary exhaled volume rate, size distribution of droplet concentration, and the microbiological characteristics of the variant.

The scientists proposed using different models of transmission for different situations. The homogeneous transmission model assumes no spatial gradient of risk in a space where both infected individuals and susceptible individuals evolve or stay in place. It essentially assumes that infectious molecules in the room are equally distributed. This model is appropriate for situations where ventilation is provided using methods designed to promote high jet induction, leading to a forced convection state. It can also happen when natural convection, individuals moving throughout the room, and doors opening and closing lead to a well-mixed room.

The second model of transmission is called inhomogeneous transmission and occurs when mechanical ventilation due to factors such as air conditioning leads to recirculation of the air. These models typically rely on computational fluid dynamic calculations of airflow stream, with micro-particle behavior estimated using various approaches.

Generally, when COVID-19 is transmitted between individuals at close range, the transmission is airborne. The closer to the expelled infectious particles a susceptible individual is, the higher the viral load they can receive, especially compared to the ambient indoor air. Distance is not the only key factor. However, the amount of time a susceptible individual is exposed to infectious particles in the air can also significantly affect the risk of infection. Generally, larger microdroplets are less worrying than smaller microdroplets, as they are only likely to pass on the infection at very small distances.

The researchers also examined the effects of different ventilation techniques and air quality on transmission. This is split into three rough categories.

1. General ventilation, where the whole volume of air is treated by introducing fresh air from outdoors – either naturally through voluntary vents, open windows, and doors, or ventilation networks throughout the building.
2. Displacement ventilation is more suitable for larger polluted volumes of air. It generates a stratification of the environment by inducing natural convection using fresh air that is colder than the ambient air, which is introduced at a low velocity near the floor.
3. Finally, there is personal ventilation, which is a local technique that treats the microclimate around an occupant in a fixed position. The scientists do not recommend a particular type of ventilation. Instead, they suggest that individuals select a specific type of ventilation that successfully keeps CO2 concentration below certain thresholds and is appropriate for their current situation.

The scientists then examine specific examples, including lecture rooms, school classrooms, and a restaurant. One lecture room, URL5, relied on air intake vents installed in window vents. These were very inefficient and regularly resulted in the CO2 concentration rising above given thresholds.

The URL20, the second lecture room, was more modern and fitted with a dynamic two-way ventilation system. Even while off, the CO2 concentration was significantly lower than in URL5. The schoolroom examined has a low ventilation rate but not nearly enough to satisfy local regulations. The restaurant was exposed to the wind, which caused significant variation in ventilation values. The restaurant did not keep the CO2 concentration below local regulations when there was no wind.

The conclusion

The authors highlight that ventilation is one of the most overlooked factors in reducing the rates of COVID-19 transmission. While many countries have updated their guidance and suggested maintaining sufficient airflow, and have started providing public buildings with new ventilation, this is not enough to prevent transmission.

They also point out that new variants are significantly more likely to be transmitted through airborne infection. They argue for new investment into ventilation methods to lower transmission further. This information could be valuable for healthcare workers and possibly inform public health policy.

*Important notice

medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.

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PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla., Jan. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — AeroClean Technologies (Nasdaq: AERC) will attend the 2022 International Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigerating (“AHR”) Expo, taking place Jan. 31 through Feb. 2, 2022 in Las Vegas. AeroClean plans to demonstrate its medical-grade air sanitization solution Pūrgo™ — designed for hospitals but suitable to protect all indoor spaces, as well as to unveil a working prototype of its new Pūrgo Lift device. Pūrgo Lift is engineered for elevators and other wall/ceiling-mounted applications and is critical to many companies’ safe return to work where elevators remain an acute point of vulnerability in office buildings, schools, hospitals and other large buildings. AeroClean plans to launch Pūrgo Lift in the first half of 2022.

Given the latest surge caused by the Omicron COVID variant, concerns around health security, business continuity, and on-going restrictions of activity in communities and businesses have intensified. Pūrgo and Pūrgo Lift filter and eliminate airborne pathogens — including viruses like influenza and any COVID variant — offering real-time protection against the close-range transmission of pathogens through person-to-person interactions, the primary way COVID and other airborne infections spread.

“Pūrgo™ solutions can be deployed safely to help stop the localized transmission of harmful aerosols where we breathe — at work, at home and other indoor spaces. In addition to showcasing our original Pūrgo room air products, we are ecstatic to demonstrate our new Pūrgo Lift elevator sanitization device for the very first time on the show floor to Expo attendees. We are proud to join industry HVACR leaders at the AHR Expo and work with experts from ASHRAE and AHRI to collectively pave the way for safer, cleaner indoor air for all,” said Jason DiBona, CEO of AeroClean.

The AHR Expo provides a unique forum where manufacturers of all sizes and specialties come together to share ideas and showcase the future of HVACR technology. The event is co-sponsored by ASHRAE and AHRI, endorsed by many industry-leading organizations and is held concurrently with ASHRAE’s Winter Conference, which AeroClean also plans to attend. 

AeroClean’s booth location at AHR Expo 2022 is N11407. Step inside to meet the team and for a SAFE AIR TECHNOLOGY Experience.

About AeroClean Technologies: AeroClean is a pathogen elimination technology company on a mission to keep work, play and life going — with continuous air sanitization products called Pūrgo™ (pure-go). We create solutions for hospitals, offices, and many shared spaces as well as elevators, aircraft and more. Pūrgo™ products feature SteriDuct™, a proprietary technology developed by our best-in-class aerospace engineers, medical scientists and innovators. Powered by SteriDuct™, our solutions are medical-grade, eradicating viral, fungal, and bacterial airborne pathogens. Our purpose is simple: to never stop innovating solutions that keep people healthy and safe, so life never stops. Learn more at aeroclean.com.

Media Contact:
AeroClean Marketing & Communications
[email protected]

Investor Relations Contact:
Ryan Tyler
Chief Financial Officer, AeroClean
[email protected]

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Image 1: AeroClean to Demonstrate Safe Air Technology at AHR Expo 2022

Find AeroClean at booth N11407.

This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com.

• AeroClean to Demonstrate Safe Air Technology at AHR Expo 2022

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BENTONVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — Some local nonprofits are given a chance to apply for American Rescue Plan funds in Benton County, which is receiving $54 million to address the economic fallout and safety issues from the pandemic.

The Boys and Girls Club of Benton County is asking for $445,000, according to a proposal, which will help the facility upgrade its indoor air filtration systems and add some shade and rubber flooring to its playgrounds.

“These are the two biggest things we thought we could improve for the safety of our kids,” said CEO Matt Taliaferro. Especially given with what’s going on with COVID, these were two things that without the county’s help we wouldn’t be able to do these things by ourselves.”

Nonprofits can present their requests for funding to the Benton County Quorum Court over the next couple of weeks.

It will then make a decision once everyone has had a chance to present.

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UBC Okanagan Assistant Professor Dr. Sepideh Pakpour, along with student researchers Enrique Calderon and Rita Lam, examine a sample beside the natural light experimentation chamber. Their research suggests light through smart windows can work as a natural disinfectant against many illnesses including E.Coli and methicillin-resistance Staphylococcus aureus.

Daylight passing through smart windows results in almost complete disinfection of surfaces within 24 hours while still blocking harmful ultraviolet (UV) light, according to new research from UBC’s Okanagan campus.

Dr. Sepideh Pakpour is an Assistant Professor at UBC Okanagan’s School of Engineering. For this research, she tested four strains of hazardous bacteria—methicillin-resistance Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, E. coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa—using a mini-living lab set-up. The lab had smart windows, which tint dynamically based on outdoor conditions, and traditional windows with blinds. The researchers found that, compared to windows with blinds, the smart windows significantly reduce bacterial growth rate and their viability.

In their darkest tint state, Dr. Pakpour says smart windows blocked more than 99.9 per cent of UV light, but still let in short-wavelength, high-energy daylight which acts as a disinfectant. This shorter wavelength light effectively eliminated contamination on glass, plastic and fabric surfaces.

In contrast, traditional window blinds blocked almost all daylight, preventing surfaces from being disinfected. Blinds also collect dust and germs that get resuspended into the air whenever adjusted, with Dr. Pakpour noting previous research has shown 92 per cent of hospital curtains can get contaminated within a week of being cleaned.

“We know that daylight kills bacteria and fungi,” she says. “But the question is, are there ways to harness that benefit in buildings, while still protecting us from glare and UV radiation? Our findings demonstrate the benefits of smart windows for disinfection, and have implications for infectious disease transmission in laboratories, health-care facilities and the buildings in which we live and work.”

The pandemic has elevated concerns about how buildings might influence the health of the people inside. While particular attention has been paid to ventilation, cleaning and filtration, the importance of daylight has been ignored. According to research shared in a recent Harvard Business Review, office workers are pushing for “healthy buildings” as part of the return to work and consistently rank access to daylight and views among their most desired amenities.

“Our buildings need to go beyond sustainable and smart to become healthy and safe environments first and foremost,” says Dr. Rao Mulpuri, Chairman and CEO at View, the company partnering with UBC for this research. “Companies are grappling with how to bring their people back to the office in a safe way. This research provides yet another reason why increased access to natural light needs to be part of the equation.”

The research was sponsored with joint funding from View Inc. and the Canadian government through MITACS, a not-for-profit organization that fosters growth and innovation in Canada by solving business challenges with research solutions from academic institutions.

The results of the research are particularly important for laboratories and health-care facilities. Sterile spaces are critical in labs, where sensitive materials must be protected from UV radiation and environmental contamination.

Extensive studies have shown that pathogenic bacteria and fungi can persist on inanimate surfaces for prolonged periods, leading to disease transmission. This is especially concerning in health-care settings, says Dr. Pakpour, where health-care-associated infections and outbreaks are often linked to contamination of curtains, windows, medical devices and other high touch surfaces despite current cleaning protocols.

“With the rise of antimicrobial resistance, antibiotics are no longer a silver bullet in treating health-care-associated infections, which cause tens of thousands of deaths in the US each year,” says Dr. Tex Kissoon, Vice Chair of the Global Sepsis Alliance, UBC Children’s Hospital Endowed Chair in Acute and Critical Care for Global Child Health. “The potential for daylight to sterilize surfaces and avoid these infections altogether is promising and should be factored into health-care facility design.”

Dr. Pakpour presented her findings earlier today at the international Healthy Buildings Conference, organized by the International Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate. The research paper will be published shortly in Life Sciences and can be accessed at: biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.01.14.476401v1

“Passive environmental strategies, like allowing daylight through windows without blinds, can help keep the risk of infections down,” says Dr. Pakpour. “Our findings demonstrate the benefits of smart windows for disinfection, and have implications for infectious disease transmission in laboratories, health care facilities and the buildings in which we live and work.”

About Mitacs

Mitacs is a not-for-profit organization that fosters growth and innovation in Canada by solving business challenges with research solutions from academic institutions.

About View

View is the leader in smart building technologies that transform buildings to improve human health and experience, reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions, and generate additional revenue for building owners. View Smart Windows use artificial intelligence to automatically adjust in response to the sun, increasing access to natural light and unobstructed views while eliminating the need for blinds and minimizing heat and glare. Every View installation includes a cloud-connected smart building platform that can be extended to reimagine the occupant experience. View is installed and designed in over 90 million square feet of buildings including offices, hospitals, airports, educational facilities, hotels and multifamily residences. For more information, please visit view.com.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has presented education with challenges and opportunities. On one hand, the massive move to digital learning and one-to-one programs has accelerated districts’ plans for edtech adoption. On the other, state and district leaders must ensure safe learning environments as schools strive to remain open—and paying attention to indoor air quality is critical.

Mandatory mask mandates, social distancing, routine handwashing, hybrid learning—schools are juggling a number of safety protocols. And while these steps are important, COVID-19 is airborne, meaning air purification and indoor air quality are of the utmost importance.

Providing healthier air can significantly reduce the anxiety levels of students, faculty, and staff—and students who are less stressed are able to learn better.

A layered approach to protection is recommended and can help school leaders ensure safe learning environments, according to Brooke Pitcher, Director of Facilities at Marin Country Day School, and Kelly Hayes of Surgically Clean Air.

Air quality was always a concern at Pitcher’s school, which has a mix of buildings from mid-1950’s and new buildings. But the pandemic escalated that concern.

“It was never on the forefront as far as an urgent concern, then obviously, like everybody else, the pandemic hit and we were swamped,” he said during an eSchool News webinar. “All of a sudden that secondary air quality conversation immediately came to the forefront.

A layered approach to clean and healthy air, focusing on air purification and indoor air quality, includes:

• Using portable HEPA fans and filtration systems to enhance air cleaning
• Using ultraviolet germicidal irradiation as a supplemental treatment
• Using filters with higher MERV ratings
• Realizing that HEPA filters are effective in removing 99.97 percent (or better) of all particle sizes

And while HVAC improvements and attention to indoor air quality are important, school leaders also need to focus on the classroom at the “source” of potential infections and outbreaks. Portable air cleaners give schools flexibility to increase air purification whenever and wherever needed.

Each school should evaluate its specific needs based on its number of classrooms, shared areas, capacity, etc.

Watch the full eSchool News webinar for more.

Laura Ascione is the Editorial Director at eSchool Media. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland’s prestigious Philip Merrill College of Journalism.

Latest posts by Laura Ascione (see all)

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BEVERLY — Shore Country Day School has hired an outside consultant to assess the potential health risks caused by contamination coming from the former Varian site.

Head of School Clair Ward said the school decided it needed an independent expert to keep an eye on the environmental cleanup being conducted by Varian, the company that is responsible for the toxic chemicals that have spread underground into the nearby neighborhood, which includes Shore Country Day School.

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection is overseeing the cleanup, but Ward said the state agency is “under-resourced” and has several other projects around the state to monitor.

“Right now we’re relying on other folks who have many different things to think about and projects to consider,” Ward said. “We at Shore have only one project we’re concerned about, and that’s this one.”

Varian and the DEP say there are no known health risks to residents or schoolchildren due to the Varian chemicals, which include cancer-causing trichloroethylene, that were dumped years ago and have spread in the groundwater. The company and the state have conducted several tests over the last year inside homes and businesses and have concluded that the underground chemicals are not getting into the indoor air.

Ward said Shore Country Day School trusts Varian and the DEP, but school officials decided they needed their own experts to monitor the situation. She said the school has hired Brown and Caldwell, an environmental engineering firm based in California.

“We really need professionals to look over our shoulder and help,” Ward said. “It’s not like we believe that anyone is not presenting the right picture. I don’t actually expect the results to yield anything sensational. We just want to be secure.”

Shore Country Day is a private school with about 400 students from pre-K to ninth grade. It is located at 545 Cabot St. on a 17-acre campus, across the railroad tracks and downhill from the former Varian site at 150 Sohier Road.

Varian has been conducting a state-ordered cleanup of underground chemicals for decades, but residents and local officials have expressed concern that high levels remain in the groundwater. A plume of chemicals underlies the neighborhood and Shore Country Day School, although the exact extent of the plume is unknown.

In a statement, Varian said its testing last summer at Shore Country Day School’s fields and surrounding shallow water found no contamination in those areas.

“Not just findings within normal standards, but no contamination at all,” the statement said.

The company said it will issue a report with results of new tests around Jan. 31. It said the newer tests also showed no contamination.

Varian said Shore hired the consultant “out of an abundance of caution.” The company said it is committed to working closely with the consultant, as well as with DEP and the community.

Last year Shore closed two of its fields and an outdoor classroom over concerns about contamination from Varian. It has since reopened the fields, but the outdoor classroom remains closed.

Ward said the threat of contamination has not hurt enrollment at Shore.

“My families are in a fine place,” she said. “They were hoping that we would consider hiring a neutral consultant to look at all of this through our lens. The fact that we’ve done this is a relief.”

Ward said the assessments that will be conducted by the outside consultant will benefit the entire neighborhood as well as the school.

“We don’t function independently from the neighborhood,” she said. “Whatever health those fields are in directly relates to the state of health for the neighborhood.”

“I don’t want to cast aspersions on anyone else,” Ward added. “Varian has to do Varian and our neighborhood has to do our neighborhood. We don’t have that technical expertise on our side. It’s only fair that we have that expertise.”

Voices of Concern North Beverly, the neighborhood group that formed in response to the Varian contamination, is “supportive and appreciative” of Shore’s decision to bring in an outside consultant, group member Laurel Lucrezia said.

“We have always viewed Shore as an important part of our community,” Lucrezia said. “The path of contamination doesn’t discern by property line. We are all neighbors and in this together to ensure a safe environment for our homes, families and environment, and that includes the staff and students at Shore.”

A spokesman for DEP said the agency is working closely with city officials and local residents on the site, but had no further comment.

Staff Writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2535, by email at [email protected], or on Twitter at @heardinbeverly.

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MORENCI — If it wasn’t for the parts shortage brought on by the pandemic, Morenci Area Schools would be further along in the district’s project to install more energy-efficient lighting and heating and cooling equipment and it would be seeing lower utility bills.

Still, the district is expecting to complete the project by the end of 2022. The upgrades are expected to save more than $1.4 million in energy and operational costs over 10 years.

The $1.4 million in improvements are being funded by a state of Michigan energy bond, district general funds and federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds. The ESSER funds are part of the federal COVID-19 relief funds approved by Congress in 2020. The bond has a 13-year payback schedule.

“The district is going to see those savings way past the payback schedule, so the general fund is going to be better because of it,” district finance director Erica Metcalf said.

That will free up funds to pay for other things down the road.

The district had about $500,000 in general fund and ESSER funds to put toward the project and Metcalf worked with Standard & Poors to improve the district’s bond rating, Superintendent Mike McAran said. Both helped lower the bond amount.

Planned districtwide improvements include lighting controls, LED lighting upgrades, new building automation controls and an energy management system to enable heating and cooling systems upgrades.

The district is working with Trane Technologies on the work.

Some of the upgrades, like the lighting upgrades, will be readily apparent to visitors to the schools. Now, the hallways, restrooms and most of the classrooms have fluorescent lighting, and the bulbs aren’t always the same. Some might be made to give off light more like daylight, while others may be less yellow and more white. The new lighting will be more even and brighter, and the light-emitting diodes in the fixtures will use much less electricity.

Other changes will be less visible, such as the new boilers, rooftop air conditioning units and control valves. The new boilers in the high school will replace models that are 18 years old, and the new, stainless steel valves will replace old, galvanized valves. McAran said the new valves should be less susceptible to corrosion.

The upgrades also will create efficiencies for the district’s maintenance staff, Metcalf said.

“Putting those valves in will allow them to work on units without having to take the system down,” she said.

The new systems also will have modern controls.

“Not only are we able to install more efficient boilers, we’re able to run them more efficiently with the updated controls,” Metcalf said. “… What they’re able to do with the new program is really neat.”

For example, rooms that aren’t being used will be kept at cooler temperatures during the winter.

In the elementary school, wall air conditioning units in the classrooms will have ultraviolet air filters to improve indoor air quality, McAran and Metcalf said.

Trane works with local contractors, such as Adrian Electric and Generator Co. and Adrian Mechanical Services to do the work, Metcalf said.

The pandemic has, of course, caused problems with the work schedule. The boilers for the elementary school have been delivered, but they’re waiting on the controls to arrive before the boilers can be installed, McAran said.

“We’re the same as every other industry,” Metcalf said. “We’re waiting on parts and materials so they can come in and start. Before the pandemic and all the supply shortage had started, we as well as Trane had anticipated we would be well into replacing our lights by now. But simply because of the material shortage we’re having to postpone that.”

The work will be done after hours, room by room, Metcalf said, to both let the district sign off on each room and to cause less disruption during the school day.

Parts are starting to trickle in, Metcalf said.

They’ve also had to take COVID-19 exposures into account when negotiating with Trane about the project.

“If we close because of COVID and they can’t work, who takes the loss? That was a big issue,” McAran said. “Our issue was, if we add time to what they have to do because we had COVID and had to shut, then we take the loss. But if they can’t get the workers because of COVID on their end or their subcontractors, why should we take the loss on that? That was like a week’s negotiated agreement. But you could be talking $100,000.”

Metcalf said she asked if Trane could bring people in to work if the district had to switch to remote learning and there wouldn’t be students in the building.

“I was shot down because they do not have all of the material yet,” she said.

The high school gym’s lighting was switched to LED about five years ago, McAran said, but those lights might also be switched to newer models.

“We’ll be looking at whether we can save money by redoing those lights,” he said.

The administrators are looking forward to having the more-efficient equipment installed.

“We’re hoping as soon as they get started we can save money on energy costs,” McAran said. “But right now, by not starting …

“… We’re delaying those cost savings,” Metcalf said.

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Daikin Applied Focuses On Decarbonization, Indoor Air Quality, and Digitalization | 2021-09-30 | ACHR News

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