President's Message

The Northern Nevada ASHRAE Chapter leadership has been closely monitoring the COVID-19 situation throughout our area. Due to the Nevada Governor’s orders being extended through May 15th, we feel that the appropriate response at this time not to have face-to-face meetings and events until we know more about the spread of the virus to maintain the safety and health of our members.

The BOG met by teleconference on May 4, 2020 and decided to cancel the spring Clay Shoot. The club is closed and all group shoots for the month of May have been cancelled and with June being uncertain for group gatherings we unfortunately determined we could not keep postponing the shoot. 

This decision was not made lightly as it is a very popular event for our chapter and a major fund raiser. We would greatly appreciate any donations you can send to help the chapter maintain annual funding for scholarships and other cost in the absence of the shoot.

If you choose to donate to the chapter, please send money to:

Reno, NV 89515

Or pay using PayPal at www.paypal.com to [email protected]

We are not having a face-to-face meeting in May but Alec is working on a seminar or ASHRAE speaker. Alec will send details for you to register. Let’s hope we can start off our next fiscal year in August with our “normal” meetings.

And thank you again for all you do for ASHRAE and our chapter.

Stay safe and healthy!

Adrienne

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Membership Promotions Chair Report

MP Chair:  Diane Mitchell

It has truly been an honor to serve each and every one of you and what a challenge!  I am happy to say we have some new members to introduce.

Please take a moment to welcome the following NEW Chapter Members:

Armahn Soltani – Kimley-Horn

John Ransdell – RF MacDonald

Jesse Jensen – BCS

Orion Vasquez – ATC

Brian Biersdorff – CR Engineering

Congrats to all for joining!  I am very happy that you are part of our chapter and look forward to seeing you soon.  As of today, we are 106 members strong!

The following statistical information was provided by Society regarding our Chapter's membership, updating where we we stood at the end ASHRAE's third quarter (March 31).  This information shows the tremendous growth we have seen in the Chapter this year!

93          Start total: Total that your chapter started the year with. (Total includes paid and unpaid members, and does not include students.)

2            Goal: Goal for number of new members, as set by your MP Regional Vice Chair.

95          Net growth goal: Total growth goal to reach by year’s end.

102        Third quarter totals: Your chapter’s membership total of paid and unpaid members at the end of the third quarter (3/31/2020).

As always, I would like to thank all the members of Northern Nevada ASHRAE for helping to make it such a GREAT Chapter and spreading the word about the value in membership. Please think about who you know that could benefit by joining ASHRAE!

Here are some quick links to information and membership materials:

https://www.ashrae.org/membership/join/membership-applications

Thank you for supporting YOUR Northern Nevada ASHRAE Chapter!

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Historian's Report

Historian: Dean Borges

Hi Everyone,

Northern Nevada Chapter cancelled all face-to-face activities for May, per the Governor’s direction to “Stay at Home” policies. We have had a “Go-to-Meeting” event for the Board of Governor’s which discussed our financial and event conditions which you can read in the President’s message. Even our Regional and Society events have been cancelled until further notice (no President-elect training, no Regional Planning, no Society meeting in Austin, Texas).

To mitigate the lack of face-to-face meetings I’m suggesting a solution by asking for your help. Please fill out the following form questions about you so we can know more about you and may lead to a formal interview for publication (with your approval only) called “Leadership Voices” and email the results to me at [email protected] easy-peasy quick responses. Thanks.

LEADERSHIP VOICES INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

1. Would you give a brief biographical sketch of your life. (Place of birth, family size, early schooling, higher education, employment background outside of the HVAC industry, current family—spouse, children.)

2. What attracted you to engineering and/or the HVAC industry?

3. What was your first job in the HVAC industry and where did it lead?

4. Describe the industry at that time.   What were the challenges that you and your colleagues were facing?

5. How and when did you get started in ASHRAE?

6. What was your ASHRAE chapter and/or regional and Society experience?

7. What were the major issues facing the industry at that time?

8. How was ASHRAE interacting with the public?

9. On what ASHRAE committees did you serve?

10. What people stand out as influences on you?

11. What events changed ASHRAE?

12. What events changed the industry?

13. What has ASHRAE meant to the industry’s growth?

14. What advice would you give to a young person entering the HVAC field?

15. Did any humorous events take place during your association with ASHRAE?

16. What other interests and/or hobbies do you have?

17. Any other comments you would like to make?

Please feel free to add-to, re-fashion or delete any of these questions.  THANK YOU!

Best regards,

Dean S. Borges, Historian, 2019-20          

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Government Activities Chair Report

GAC Chair-Dave Wyllie

ASHRAE Members Featured in Department of Energy's Better Buildings Program COVID-19 Webinars

ASHRAE members led two webinars with the Department of Energy's Better Buildings Program:

• On May 1, a webinar was held on "Managing Buildings During a Shutdown and Bringing Them Back Online." George DuBose and Mead Russert were featured in the webinar and delivered presentations.
• On May 4, a webinar was held on "Managing HVAC Systems to Reduce Infectious Disease Transmission." The webinar was delivered by ASHRAE Presidential Member Dr. Bill Bahnfleth of Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Bahnfleth provided a comprehensive overview of disease transmission, the role of HVAC systems in managing transmission, and presented ASHRAE's Epidemic Task Force, which Dr. Bahnfleth chairs.

Coronavirus Causes Greatest Drop in Global Energy Demand Since World War II

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), energy demand in the U.S. is projected to decrease by 9% this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Global energy demand is expected to fall by 6%, equivalent to losing all of India's energy consumption within a single year. This will mean a record decline in annual carbon emissions and renewable energy is likely to be the only energy source to make gains this year, though growth will be lower than in previous years. The pandemic is the biggest shock to global energy demand since World War II and oil demand has fallen by the largest amount in history. Find out more from the IEA's Global Energy Review report here. 

2020 Better Buildings, Better Plants Summit is Virtual! 

DOE's 2020 Better Buildings, Better Plants Summit will be held virtually June 8-11. View the full schedule here.

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Classified

Message from the ASHRAE Society President

Dear ASHRAE Members and Friends:

As we work together to navigate these unprecedented times, it is evident that the global COVID-19 pandemic has extended into the heart of our personal and professional lives. With guidance from our ASHRAE leadership, the 2020 Annual Conference and concurrent committee, council and Board of Directors meetings will no longer take place in Austin this June 27 – July 1. 

We are working hard to create a platform to offer the business meetings, technical program and important Society updates in a new and convenient virtual format that complies with social distancing requirements and reflects the travel restrictions many of us are facing. While virtual interactions will never replace the hallmarks of our face-to-face conference, it will hopefully give many more members of our global community the opportunity to participate.

Our staff, working remotely as required by their local jurisdictions, have been able to maintain seamless operations and communications, as many of you have noted. They are working tirelessly to ensure the uncertain days ahead do not interrupt the mission of our Society. 

I will miss the warm handshakes and friendly side conversations, however, the health and safety of our members, families, friends and colleagues comes first.

Additional details will be provided in the coming weeks. If you have immediate questions, please contact [email protected].  

Stay safe and healthy.  We will get through this together.

Darryl K. Boyce, P. Eng. 
2019-20 ASHRAE President
 
For a full list of ASHRAE's available resources on COVID–19 visit ashrae.org/covid19

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Technical Article

Technical Article

Mitigating Airborne Infection Transmission With HVAC Systems

From ASHRAE Journal Newsletter, March 24, 2020 

  Much is still unknown about the transmission of SARS-CoV-2—the virus that causes COVID-19. A recent National Institute of Health study analyzed the virus’ stability in aerosols and on surfaces. Researchers found the virus remained variable in aerosols for hours and also found the virus was more stable on plastic and stainless than on copper and cardboard. More studies need to be done to understand how it behaves when airborne.

   From airflow paths to where supply air and exhaust air are located in hospitals, ASHRAE Journal has addressed best practices for improving ventilation systems in health care environments.

“Patient Room HVAC: Airflow Path Matters.” ASHRAE Journal, June 2016

   The airflow path matters because air is the primary carrier of heat, moisture, contaminant, and airborne particulates in buildings, including health-care facilities, said Kishor Khankari, Ph.D., Fellow ASHRAE, president at AnSight LLC in Ann Arbor, Mich.

   “Air takes the path of least resistance,” said Khankari, whose article “Patient Room HVAC: Airflow Path Matters” from the June 2016 ASHRAE Journal addresses how computational fluid dynamics analysis demonstrates the importance of the location of a return in a patient room.

   “While designing the patient isolation zones it is important to understand the airflow patterns,” he said. “Ideally the supply air should sweep the patients and exit through return grilles without recirculation.”

“Improved Ventilation System for Removal of Airborne Contamination in Airborne Infectious Isolation Rooms.” ASHRAE Journal, February 2019

   The risk of virus diffusion mainly depends on airflow behavior and changes in direction caused by supply air and exhaust air locations in hospitals, said Jinkyun Cho, Associate Member ASHRAE and a professor at Hanbat National University in South Korea.

   Cho’s "Improved Ventilation System for Removal of Airborne Contamination in Airborne Infectious Isolation Rooms" from the February 2019 ASHRAE Journal presents technical information on how to operate and use healthcare services in negative pressure isolation rooms to prevent the spread of viruses depending on ventilation systems-related factors.

   The article, which is practice-based learning in a real hospital build project, evaluates the ventilation performance of three strategies in the protection of health-care workers and HVAC control for airborne infectious diseases induced by contaminated exhaled air from patients in a negative pressure isolation room. The study examines airflow path and airborne pollutant distribution by computational fluid dynamics modeling and field measurement.

   “An improved isolation room ventilation strategy has been suggested and is found to be the most efficient in removing contaminants based on the observations and simulation results from three ventilation systems,” said Cho. “The results show that ventilation systems utilizing the ‘low-level extraction’ technique are very effective at removing pollutants in the human breathing zone.”

   Cho said a new clean isolation room ventilation strategy has been developed that uses exhaust air grilles on the wall behind the bed at low floor level and has the highest pollutant removal efficiency.

“A Brief History Of Health-Care Ventilation.” ASHRAE Journal, June 2016

   Understanding the history of health-care ventilation, including the fundamentals, where and how HVAC provides value and, more importantly, where it does not, have never been more important, said Travis English, P.Eng., Member ASHRAE.

   “We need to use HVAC systems to provide protections where they matter, while patiently and kindly dispelling those myths that would send emergency resources down unproductive pathways,” said English, the national director of engineering and chief design engineer for Kaiser Permanente.

   He said he has talked with lots of hospitals recently about pressures, filters, air changes, droplet-borne and airborne diseases. The hospitals have limited resources and want the right things, said English, who wrote “A Brief History of Health-Care Ventilation,” published in the June 2016 ASHRAE Journal. The article provides a brief history of ventilation rates and concludes that using air change rates instead of ventilation rates per person is hindering the adoption of proven indoor air quality technology, most notably demand-control ventilation.

“IEQ Applications: Designing for Airborne Infection Control.” ASHRAE Journal, July 2019

   ASHRAE engineers also need to understand the basis and limitations of the design ventilation rates they use, said Jovan Pantelic, Ph.D., Associate Member ASHRAE, a researcher at the University of California Berkeley.

   “I believe that it is essential to keep design engineers informed about advancements in the field that have the potential of making designs more efficient. To take a new step in the right direction, we need all the support from the design community because, in a pandemic situation like we currently have, we can truly appreciate the importance of the infection control,” said Pantelic, whose article “IEQ Applications: Designing for Airborne Infection Control” ran in the July 2019 ASHRAE Journal. Pantelic’s article reviews ASHRAE’s HVAC Design Manual for Hospital and Clinics and HVAC from the perspective of infectious source strength and air change rate, which is one of the key parameters in healthcare design.

   He said some aspects of airborne infection control have to be an integral part of ventilation design for commercial buildings, and now is the perfect time to think beyond ventilation for comfort.

“Bioaerosols in Health-Care Environments.” ASHRAE Journal, August 2014

   Kevin Grosskopf, Ph.D, a professor at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, said facility design and management professionals will need to rely on the science and standards that have prepared them for this pandemic.

   “While COVID-19 is almost certainly droplet-transmittable and potentially airborne, creating physical air barriers and negative pressure containment zones will be paramount to reduce health-care-acquired disease,” he said. 

   Attention must also be given to containment zone entrance and egress procedures to avoid potential transport of contaminated air across containment boundaries, said Grosskopf, whose “Bioaerosols in Health-Care Environments” article ran in the August 2014 ASHRAE Journal. His article discusses a series of tests that were conducted in an actual hospital to observe containment and removal of synthetic respiratory aerosols with respect to directional airflow and air change rate within a general patient room, an airborne infection isolation room and a patient corridor.

Designing and Operating High-Performing Healthcare HVAC Systems

   In addition to ASHRAE Journal articles on the subject, an ASHRAE online course addresses the role of HVAC systems in infection control in hospitals. “Designing and Operating High-Performing Healthcare HVAC Systems” is a three-hour course that focuses on the design and operation of HVAC systems in healthcare facilities.                     

   “Infection control is a primary purpose of HVAC systems in hospitals,” said course instructor, Dan Koenigshofer, P.E., MS Public Health, HFDP, Member ASHRAE. “Although COVID-19 is not considered an airborne contagion, the design and operation strategies described in this course may be helpful during the current pandemic. It appears that COVID-19 can be transmitted through aerosols. The movement and concentration of aerosols can be influenced by the HVAC system. Thus, it’s important for hospital engineers to understand the methods to remove and reduce airborne aerosols, using the HVAC system.”

   The course covers topics including engineering methods to maintain proper temperature and humidity, air change rates and levels of filtration. It addresses the relationship of infection control and HVAC design, including the application of ASHRAE's HVAC Design Manual for Hospitals and Clinics, Second Edition, and ANSI/ASHRAE/ASHE Standard 170-2017, Ventilation of Health Care Facilities.

   Koenigshofer is scheduled to teach the online course on April 7. Click here to register.

More ASHRAE Resources

   ASHRAE’s COVID-19 Preparedness Resources webpage provides resources for building industry professionals and includes ASHRAE's position document on Airborne Infectious Diseases. 

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