The webinar features Aaron Morris, a sales engineer with LONG’s Colorado Springs office, focusing on ASHRAE Standard 62.1, specifically the Indoor Air Quality Procedure (IAQP). The purpose of the presentation is to explain how the IAQP can be used as an alternative to traditional ventilation design methods and how recent updates to the standard make this approach more practical and defensible for engineers.

ASHRAE Standard 62.1 defines what constitutes acceptable IAQ in commercial buildings. First published in 1981 and adopted into building codes around 2000, the standard has long served as the basis for ventilation design. The 2022 update represents a significant milestone, especially for those interested in using the IAQP.

The standard outlines three methods for determining required ventilation rates:

  1. Natural Ventilation – Relies on infiltration through building openings. While simple, this method is generally inefficient and unreliable for maintaining consistent indoor air quality.
  2. Ventilation Rate Procedure (VRP) – The most commonly used method in commercial buildings. It establishes outside air requirements based on occupancy and floor area, using prescriptive airflow values tied to building type.
  3. Indoor Air Quality Procedure (IAQP) – A performance-based approach that focuses on specific contaminants of concern and allows designers to use air-cleaning technologies to control those contaminants while potentially reducing the required amount of outdoor air.

Historically, the IAQP was underutilized because it lacked concrete data and clear guidance. Engineers were required to identify contaminants, set acceptable concentration limits, and justify their assumptions largely on their own, which introduced risk and uncertainty.

The 2022 update to ASHRAE 62.1 addressed these concerns by:

  • Defining 14 specific contaminants of concern
  • Establishing design concentration limits for each contaminant
  • Referencing objective testing standards, particularly ASHRAE 145.2, which allows manufacturers to quantify the effectiveness of their air-cleaning technologies

These updates significantly reduce ambiguity and provide engineers with standardized, defensible data when applying the IAQP.

Aaron then highlights several advantages of using the IAQP:

  • Improved energy efficiency: By reducing the amount of outside air required, buildings consume less energy to heat or cool incoming air, which is an especially important benefit in cold climates like Colorado.
  • Enhanced indoor air quality: Instead of relying solely on dilution through ventilation, IAQP targets contaminants directly using filtration or air purification technologies.
  • Design flexibility: Lower ventilation requirements can reduce the size of dedicated outdoor air systems (DOAS), making it easier to fit equipment into space-constrained buildings.
  • Compatibility with demand control ventilation (DCV): IAQP can be used to reduce minimum ventilation rates while still allowing systems to respond dynamically to CO₂ sensors as occupancy changes.

The webinar discusses a range of contaminants typically addressed under IAQP, including:

  • Carbon dioxide (CO₂) for occupancy-related control
  • Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as formaldehyde and benzene, which often off gas from building materials and furnishings
  • Particulate matter
  • Other potential contaminants depending on building use, such as ozone, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen dioxide

The importance of understanding how building type and usage affect contaminant profiles is emphasized, particularly in relation to standards like LEED, which prioritize low-VOC materials.

Aaron explains that IAQP is especially valuable for buildings where traditional ventilation assumptions may not align with actual use. Examples include:

  • Data centers and conditioned self-storage facilities, which have large floor areas but very low occupancy. Using the VRP in these cases can lead to excessive ventilation.
  • Gymnasiums, which experience fluctuating occupancy and high contaminant loads during peak use. IAQP can reduce minimum ventilation during low-use periods while still working alongside DCV strategies during peak occupancy.

To implement IAQP effectively, designers must model building scenarios based on selected treatment strategies. The ASHRAE 62.1 User’s Manual is highlighted as a key resource, providing step-by-step guidance for all three ventilation methods. In addition to ASHRAE’s tools, manufacturers offer simplified calculators that integrate their product performance data, making compliance easier to evaluate.

The webinar concludes with an overview of several technologies supported by LONG, all tested under ASHRAE 145.2:

  • Casper: UV-based technology that generates hydrogen peroxide to disinfect air and surfaces
  • American Air Filter (AAF): Particulate, HEPA, gas-phase, and activated carbon filtration
  • UVDI: High-intensity UV grids for in-duct pathogen control
  • AtmosAir: Bipolar ionization systems for contaminant neutralization
  • Daikin Sorbent Ventilation Technology: Uses sorbent media to capture and regenerate contaminants such as CO₂ and VOCs, reducing outdoor air requirements