News analysis with BESA
Game, set and match to air quality
Building safe havens from pollution is an increasingly urgent task facing politicians and engineers, according to BESA chief executive officer David Frise
T
he sight of professional tennis players doubled up and gasping for breath during the qualification tournament for last month’s Australian Open has brought air pollution to the attention of the sporting world.
Ironically, spectators could be seen wearing face masks while the players were expected to exert themselves without any protection. Many of the residents of Melbourne, where the tournament is being held, had been advised by environmental safety experts to stay inside and shut their windows because of the high levels of pollution caused by the bush fires raging across the state. Later, many of the remaining matches were moved to indoor courts. So, on the plus side, the city’s safety officers and the organisers of the tournament clearly have confidence that those courts inside buildings, are ‘safe havens’ from air pollution. This means they must be airtight, but well ventilated and protected by properly specified and maintained filtration and air purification systems.
If they are not, then many of the outdoor problems will simply have been transferred inside into a more confined space with potentially even more serious consequences for residents and players.
Danger
Getting the relevant authorities to address an obvious danger from bush fires or the record breaking smog experienced by the residents of Delhi last month is much more straightforward than persuading governments to act in the face of a growing, but largely invisible threat – such as the air quality here in the UK. Although many of us have stood on the pavement and tasted the diesel from passing vehicles, that is not the same as understanding how diesel particulates (NOx) are causing long term damage
to your body that may not manifest itself in lung disease or cancers or other related disorders such as dementia until 20 or 30 years in the future. Ninety per cent of us spend, on average, 90% of our time inside a building. Therefore, that building should be a safe haven from the growing outdoor threat posed by polluted air. The tennis players in Melbourne were able to continue on indoor courts thanks to a ventilation system that provides filtered air, which is – at least in theory – clean and safe. We have, for a long time, had this rather perverse notion that natural ventilation i.e. opening a window, is the right thing to do because the air we introduce from outside is in some way ‘fresh’ and ‘organic’, while if we pass it through a filter and a fan somehow it becomes
genetically modified and therefore impure. The truth is starting to dawn on people that, in this case, the technology we use to protect building occupants from increasingly harmful outdoor air is good for you. We should be able to take it for granted that the air inside homes, schools, hospitals and offices is clean and safe to breathe.
When we enter a building on a hot day, we expect the air to be cooled by technology to a comfortable level. During winter we expect it to be heated. Why, therefore, do we not expect the same thing from air quality i.e. we leave the polluted street and enter an indoor clean air zone – a safe haven? The truth is that there is a reluctance to invest in the necessary quality of equipment and, equally
BESA chief executive officer David Frise
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February 2020
www.heatingandventilating.net
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