IAQ Radio

Erik Malmstrom - Christian Weeks - How to Achieve Sustainable Indoor Air Quality – Part 2

This week we welcome Erik Malmstrom and Christian Weeks to discuss a new document on How to Achieve Sustainable Indoor Air Quality: Part 2 A Roadmap to Simultaneously Improving Indoor Air Quality & Meeting Building Decarbonization and Climate Resiliency Goals. This is a multi layered “Clean First” approach to IAQ which they feel is the key to the low-energy, high-IAQ, climate resilient buildings of the future. 
Erik Malmstrom is CEO of SafeTraces, a Bay Area-based provider of the only indoor air quality verification that actively measures pathogen risk, via patented aerosol tracing technology, in order to optimize safety and sustainability for enterprise real estate clients. Previously, he held senior roles at the White House, Farmers Business Network, and Cargill, is a co-founder of CrossBoundary - a leading frontier market investment advisor, and is a combat veteran and graduate of U.S. Army Ranger and Airborne Schools. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a joint M.B.A. – M.P.P. from Harvard Business and Kennedy Schools.
Christian Weeks is the CEO of enVerid Systems, a leading provider of sustainable indoor air quality (IAQ) solutions. Christian has over a decade of experience in energy efficiency and IAQ. Spurred by the lessons gleaned from the pandemic and the pressing need to reduce carbon emissions and make buildings more resilient, Christian is passionate about helping commercial buildings attain the traditionally conflicting goals of healthy indoor air and energy efficiency.
Christian advocates that buildings take a system-level approach to achieving these goals, what he terms Sustainable IAQ. He recently spearheaded a collaboration with other leading IAQ and energy efficiency organizations to detail the Clean First framework, a four-step process for achieving low energy, high-IAQ, climate resilient buildings. The seven collaborators – 75F, Awair, enVerid, GIGA, Oxygen8, Planled and SafeTraces – published in August 2022 a white paper geared for building owners and operators, architects, energy efficiency consultants, mechanical engineers and contractors called
“How to Achieve Sustainable IAQ: A Roadmap to Simultaneously Improving IAQ, and Meeting Building Decarbonization and Climate Resiliency Goals.”

Marwa Zaatari, PhD & Christian Weeks - How to Achieve Sustainable Indoor Air Quality

This week we welcome Marwa Zaatari, PhD and Christian Weeks to discuss a new document on How to Achieve Sustainable Indoor Air Quality: A Roadmap to Simultaneously Improving Indoor Air Quality & Meeting Building Decarbonization and Climate Resiliency Goals. The document was a collaboration between a group of industry companies that want to promote a layered, system-level "Clean First" approach which they feel is the key to the low-energy, high-IAQ, climate resilient buildings of the future.
 
Dr. Zaatari is an ASHRAE Distinguished Lecturer, a member of the ASHRAE Epidemic Task Force Commercial team and will serve on the USGBC board of directors starting January 2021. She is a member of several ASHRAE Committees, voting member of Standard 62.1, Chair for TRG4 Indoor Air Quality Procedure, Vice Chair of MTG.HWBE Health and Wellness in the built environment, Vice Chair of TC2.3 gaseous removal contaminants, Voting Member Standard 145.2 laboratory test method for gas-phase air cleaning systems, IAQ2020 Conference organizer, LEED Committee member, and ex-Chair of LEED IAQP Working Group.
Dr. Marwa Zaatari is Partner at D ZINE Partners. She leads the research of “Air as a Service” around indoor air quality, filtration and air cleaning systems, and IAQ measurements to design and operate buildings for optimal energy and people efficiency.
Dr. Zaatari has extensive experience in identifying and quantifying the sources, fate, and transport of indoor air pollutants, building energy and environmental management, assessing performance-based procedures of HVAC ventilation and air cleaning, and developing and applying models for energy efficiency, indoor air quality, exposure assessment, and economic impacts of indoor air pollution.
Prior to founding D ZINE Partners, Dr. Zaatari was Vice President of Building Solutions at enVerid Systems since 2015, and currently serves on the Board of Advisors. She leads the design of ventilation and filtration/sorption systems in buildings, integration into HVAC systems, and was responsible for managing customer-site installation and ongoing operations and field service.
Dr. Zaatari earned a PhD in Architectural and Environmental Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin with a focus on the built environment and a master’s degree in engineering management from The American University of Beirut, Lebanon with a focus on energy management.
 
Christian Weeks is the CEO of enVerid Systems, a leading provider of sustainable indoor air quality (IAQ) solutions. Christian has over a decade of experience in energy efficiency and IAQ. Spurred by the lessons gleaned from the pandemic and the pressing need to reduce carbon emissions and make buildings more resilient, Christian is passionate about helping commercial buildings attain the traditionally conflicting goals of healthy indoor air and energy efficiency.
Christian advocates that buildings take a system-level approach to achieving these goals, what he terms Sustainable IAQ. He recently spearheaded a collaboration with other leading IAQ and energy efficiency organizations to detail the Clean First framework, a four-step process for achieving low energy, high-IAQ, climate resilient buildings. The seven collaborators – 75F, Awair, enVerid, GIGA, Oxygen8, Planled and SafeTraces – published in August 2022 a white paper geared for building owners and operators, architects, energy efficiency consultants, mechanical engineers and contractors called
“How to Achieve Sustainable IAQ: A Roadmap to Simultaneously Improving IAQ, and Meeting Building Decarbonization and Climate Resiliency Goals.”

Ruth Ann Norton - Green and Healthy Homes Initiative - What Success Looks Like

This week we welcome Ruth Ann Norton President & CEO of the Green & Healthy Homes Initiative for a discussion on healthy homes, the new funding in the Inflation Reduction Act and what a successful organization looks like.
Ruth Ann Norton, President & CEO of the Green & Healthy Homes Initiative, joined the organization in 1993 and has led its development into one of the nation’s most effective and foremost authorities on healthy housing and its impact on the social determinants of health and racial equity. An expert on lead poisoning prevention, healthy homes and the intersection of climate, energy and health, Ruth Ann directs GHHI’s national strategy, policy framework and services to integrate climate, healthcare and healthy housing as a platform for improved health, economic, educational and social outcomes for low-income communities.
She broadened the organization’s mission by designing the GHHI comprehensive model in 2009 in partnership with HUD and CDC that is built on a framework of cross-sector collaboration. GHHI works in over 75 partner jurisdictions to implement its model that effectively integrates resources to comprehensively deliver lead hazard reduction, healthy homes, energy efficiency and housing rehabilitation interventions. She has been at the forefront in building the business case for healthcare investments in housing to address the social determinants of health and racial equity.
Ms. Norton serves as a member of: the EPA Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee, the National Leadership Academy for the Public’s Health, the National Council of State Housing Agencies’ National Advisory Group, the Ohio Asthma Council, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center For Population Health Information Technology Advisory Board. She is Chair of the Maryland Lead Poisoning Prevention Commission and is also a federally appointed Liaison Member to the CDC’s Lead Exposure and Prevention Advisory Committee.
 

Tom Peter, MS, CIH & Trent Darden - Joining Forces

Good Day and welcome to IAQ Radio+ episode 672. This week we welcome Tom Peter and Trent Darden for a show we are calling Joining Forces. Trent and Tom are part of the management team at First Onsite. Each has unique skills and experience that our audience will benefit from hearing about.
Trent Darden is SVP of Operations, US East at First Onsite Property Restoration. He was formerly the COO and spent 20 years working at Rolyn Companies of Rockville, MD. Trent started with Rolyn in 2000 as a Project Manager, where he worked exclusively on large loss insurance claims, handling all related estimating and general project management. In 2007, he was named the Vice President of Rolyn’s Estimating and Consulting Department. As Rolyn’s Chief Operating Officer, Trent worked with all of their offices to ensure delivery of the quality service our clients know and expect. A Virginia native, Mr. Darden has lived in the Tidewater area for over forty years. He began working in construction immediately following high school, and throughout his college career at Tidewater Community College and Old Dominion University where he pursued a degree in business.
Tom Peter, MS, CIH is Senior Vice President – Regulatory Business Practice at First Onsite Property Restoration. He was formerly the CEO of Insurance Restoration Specialists of East Brunswick, NJ. Tom has supervised just about every type of hazardous waste, indoor environmental quality, mold remediation, water damage restoration project there is and all while in the shoes of a Certified Industrial Hygienist. His vast experience in the field and education make him the go-to guy in the restoration world for everyday and emerging issues in the restoration industry. Tom is also a CIH working as a contractor, something unique in the disaster restoration industry. He sees himself as someone with a scientific and technical background but with realistic and practical solutions.

Bill Bahnfleth, PhD, PE - Dustin Poppendieck, PhD - Alison Savage, MPH - Why Indoor Chemistry Matters! Part 2 Management of Chemicals in Indoor Environments

This week we welcome Penn State Prof. Dr. Bill Bahnfleth, Dr. Dustin Poppendieck from NIST and Alison Savage from EPA’s indoor environments division for part 2 of our series on the NASEM document Why Indoor Chemistry Matters! This week we focus on the Management of Chemicals in Indoor Environments.
 
William Bahnfleth is a professor of architectural engineering at the Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) in University Park, PA, where he has been employed since 1994. Previously, he was a Senior Consultant for ZBA, Inc. in Cincinnati, OH and a Principal Investigator at the U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory in Champaign, IL. He holds BS, MS, and PhD degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois, where he also earned a bachelor of music degree in instrumental performance. His is a registered professional engineer. Dr. Bahnfeth is the author or co-author of more than 170 technical papers and articles and 14 books and book chapters. He consults on the design of chilled water thermal energy storage systems and has been involved in more than 20 projects world-wide. Dr. Bahnfleth is a fellow of ASHRAE, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the International Society for Indoor Air Quality and Climate (ISIAQ). He has served ASHRAE in a variety of capacities, including Student Branch Advisor, Chapter Governor, Technical Committee and Standing Committee Chair, and as Director-at-Large, Vice President, Treasurer, and 2013-14 Society President. His honors include a 1st place ASHRAE Technology Award, Transactions Paper Award, Distinguished Service and Exceptional Service Awards, The Louise and Bill Holladay Distinguished Fellow Award, the E.K. Campbell Award of Merit and the F. Paul Anderson Award. He is also a recipient of the Penn State Engineering Alumni Society’s World-Class Engineering Faculty Award.
 
Dustin Poppendieck is a environmental engineer at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). He received his PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 2002. He is a fellow of the International Society for Indoor Air Quality and Climate (ISIAQ). Dustin has been investigating indoor air chemistry since 2002. Most of his efforts have involved characterizing primary emission sources and heterogenous reactions at material surfaces. He has investigated emissions from kerosene can lamps used by nearly a billion people throughout the developing world, spray polyurethane foam, non-smoldering cigarette butts and indoor air cleaning devices. In addition, Dustin has studied the disinfection of biologically contaminated building materials (i.e., anthrax) using high concentrations of ozone, chlorine dioxide, hydrogen peroxide and methyl bromide. 
 
Alison Savage, M.P.H., is a Biologist in the Indoor Environments Division (IED) in the Office of Radiation and Indoor Air (ORIA) at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and is the current team leader of the Scientific Analysis Team. Since joining IED in 2018, she has worked on a wide variety of indoor air quality (IAQ) issues including reducing exposure to wildfire smoke in indoor environments, air cleaning and filtration, indoor chemistry , indoor exposure to particulate matter, and low-cost air sensors for IAQ, as well as IAQ issues related to emergency preparedness, response, and recovery for wildfires and floods. Ms. Savage manages the EPA task order that supported the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) Emerging Science on Indoor Chemistry consensus study. She also manages the task order supporting the ongoing NASEM consensus study on the Health Risks of Indoor Exposures to Fine Particulate Matter and Practical Mitigation Solutions. Prior to joining EPA, she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Peru. She holds an M.P.H. in Global Environmental Health from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University and a B.S. in Biology from the University of Michigan.
 
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Charles J. Weschler, PhD - Ozone, Hydroxyl Radicals and Indoor Environments; What Inspection and Remediation Pros Should Know

 
This week we welcome Dr. Charles Weschler for a show about a topic of great interest to IEQ and restoration professionals. Restoration contractors are inundated with claims about equipment to help on projects when fires, wildfires and other odor events affect indoor environments. What should practitioners know about ozone, hydroxyls, TI02 and other technologies when investigating or remediating indoor environments? We talk to a world renowned professor about this issue.
 
Charles J. Weschler -After completing his Ph.D. in Chemistry at University of Chicago (1974), Dr. Weschler did postdoctoral studies with Fred Basolo at Northwestern University. In 1975 he joined Bell Laboratories (Physical Chemistry Division) and was made a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff in 1986. He worked at Bell Labs and its successor institutions for twenty-five years. In 2001 he accepted positions at the Environmental & Occupational Health Science Institute, Rutgers University, and the International Centre for Indoor Environment and Energy, Technical University of Denmark, and in 2010 joined the Building Science department at Tsinghua University as an ongoing Visiting Professor. He continues in those positions. His research interests include chemicals in indoor environments, their sources, their chemistry, and their interactions with building occupants. From 1999-2005 Weschler served on the US EPA’s Science Advisory Board. He has also served on four committees for the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. From 2012 to the present, he has been an advisor to the Sloan Foundation’s program on Chemistry in Indoor Environments. He was elected to the International Academy of Indoor Air Sciences in 1999 and received the Pettenkofer Award, its highest honor, in 2014. Weschler has also received the 2017 Haagen-Smit Prize from Atmospheric Environment; been made “Distinguished Visiting Professor” at Tsinghua University (2018); awarded “Doctor Technices Honoris Causa” from the Technical University of Denmark (2018); and was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2020). His h-index is 69 (Web of Science) and 79 (Google Scholar). http://eohsi.rutgers.edu/eohsi-directory/name/charles-weschler/
 
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Dave Dorman, DVM, PhD - Rima Habre, ScD - Megan Harries, PhD - NASEM - Why Indoor Chemistry Matters; What the Findings Mean for Practitioners

This week we welcome Dr. Dave Dorman, Dr. Rima Habre, and Dr. Megan Harries for Part 1 of our 2 part show on the National Academy of Sciences Report called “Why Indoor Chemistry Matters”. We will focus on what the findings mean for practitioners!
 
David C. Dorman, DVM, PhD is a professor of toxicology in the Department of Molecular Biomedical Sciences at North Carolina State University. Dr. Dorman’s research interests include neurotoxicology, nasal toxicology, pharmacokinetics, and cognition and olfaction in animals. Dr. Dorman is an elected fellow of the Academy of Toxicological Sciences and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences. Dr. Dorman is a diplomate of the American Board of Veterinary Toxicology and the American Board of Toxicology. He has chaired or served on several National Research Council committees and is a National Associate of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. He completed a combined PhD and veterinary toxicology residency program at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and holds a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Colorado State University.
 
Rima Habre, ScD is an associate professor of environmental health and spatial sciences at the University of Southern California (USC). She leads the Exposure Sciences Research Program in the USC National Institute of Environmental Health P30 Center. Her expertise lies in environmental health, air pollution, and exposure sciences. Her research aims to understand the effects of complex air pollution mixtures in the indoor and outdoor environment on the health of vulnerable populations across the life course. Dr. Habre’s expertise spans measurement, spatiotemporal and geographic information system–based modeling, and mobile health approaches to assessing personal exposures and health risk. She co-chairs the Geospatial Working Group in the nationwide National Institute of Health’s Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes program. Dr. Habre received her ScD in environmental health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
 
Megan E. Harries, PhD is a program officer with the Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. She is the director of the Committee on Emerging Science on Indoor Chemistry, which authored the recently released report on Why Indoor Chemistry Matters. Trained as an analytical chemist, Dr. Harries received a BA from Fordham University and a PhD from the University of Colorado Boulder. Prior to joining the National Academies, she was the recipient of a National Research Council Research Associateship, which she spent at the National Institute of Standards and Technology developing methods for more sensitive and repeatable chemical characterization of trace forensic evidence.
 
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Bill Sothern, DrPH, CIH, LEED AP - Chris Mikrut - Michael Berg, PhD - Misalignment between Clinical Mold Antigen Extracts and Airborne Molds Found in Water-damaged Homes

This week we welcome Dr. Bill Sothern, Chris Mikrut and Dr. Michael Berg to discuss their recent paper called Misalignment between Clinical Mold Antigen Extracts and Airborne Molds Found in Water-damaged Homes. We will look at the current antigen testing being done for mold allergies then discuss their results and what changes could be beneficial. The authors have collected a great deal of data from the real world that will be of interest to our audience and hopefully the medical community. LEARN MORE this week on IAQ Radio+
 
Dr. Bill Sothern is a Certified Industrial Hygienist, LEED AP, and Chief Operating Officer of Microecologies, Inc., a NYC-based indoor environmental consulting firm he founded in 1993. He earned his Doctorate in Public Health from CUNY, and is a recognized contributor to NYC DOHMH, NIEHS, HUD and WHO guidance documents. Bill is an active advocate for changes in law and policy that can improve health outcomes at the population level. He is the primary author of NYC Local Law 13 - 2014 that prohibits the use of paper-faced gypsum boards in moisture-prone building areas, which serves to reduce the occurrence of mold growth and the incidence of asthma. Bill is an active health researcher and is the lead author of the article Misalignment between Clinical Mold Antigen Extracts and Airborne Molds Found in Water-Damaged Homes published in the May 2022 issue of the Annals of the American Thoracic Society. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, he has conducted environmental assessments for schools, NGO's and businesses throughout NYC to assess HVAC systems and implement ventilation controls to reduce airborne concentration levels of SARS-CoV-2 and thereby reduce risk of transmission of COVID-19 in schools and workplaces. Bill currently serves as a court-appointed independent consultant on mold, water damage and ventilation issues to the NYC Public Housing Authority (NYCHA).
 
Chris Mikrut is a Senior Investigator at Microecologies, Inc., an indoor environmental consulting firm in New York City. He earned his Masters Degree in Environmental and Occupational Health Science from Hunter College where he was awarded the prestigious National Institute of Safety and Health’s (NIOSH) Scholarship. Chris is an EPA Certified Lead Risk Assessor and NYS Certified Mold Assessor, and over the past 10 years has conducted over 1,000 indoor air quality and indoor environmental inspections in residential and commercial settings involving water damage and mold growth conditions, chemical vapor emissions, construction dust and crystalline silica infiltration, lead-based paint hazards, and other indoor environmental exposure factors. Chris has been a key contributor to program development for response to mold, water damage, and exhaust ventilation issues in NYC Public Housing Authority's (NYCHA) and administration of classroom and field training for NYCHA staff. Chris has also collaborated on several projects as part of Microecologies' research team and is a co-author of the article Misalignment between Clinical Mold Antigen Extracts and Airborne Molds Found in Water-Damaged Homes published in the May 2022 issue of the Annals of the American Thoracic Society.
 
Dr. Michael Berg joined Eurofins EMLab P&K in 2005 and worked as Department Manager, Regional Director and Technical Director. He holds a Ph.D. in Biology from the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany. Dr. Berg researched plant pathology and plant genetics as postdoctoral fellow at Oklahoma State University. He also worked in fungicide research for BASF in Germany. Dr. Berg engages in training and other educational events with focus on the topics of infection control, water risk management
and molecular biology.

Bradley Prezant, MBA, MSPH, CIH, COH, CAQP - Assessing Risk of Infection & Air Exchange – CO2 Pitfalls, SF6 Benefits

This week we welcome back Brad Prezant to discuss Assessing Risk Infection and Air Exchange. We will also focus on different methods for doing this type of assessment along with the pitfalls and benefits of different methods.
 
Brad Prezant is an evidence-based public health scientist with a background in epidemiology, occupational health & hygiene, and ergonomics. Until the company was sold in 2007, he operated Prezant Associates, Inc. in Seattle, providing consulting, training, and laboratory services for 20+ years. He is currently Principal Consultant at PREZANT Environmental in Melbourne, Australia. After migrating to New Zealand in 2008, Mr. Prezant spent 3 years at Massey University researching a variety of occupational health issues including solvent exposure to auto body painters, fumigant and VOC exposures from shipping containers, and dust exposures to woodworkers. He previously was Chief Editor of AIHA’s first edition of Recognition, Evaluation, and Control of Indoor Mold, an author of several other standard of care documents, and is the Past Vice President for Practice of ISIAQ (International Society of Indoor Air Quality & Climate). He is involved in a wide variety of indoor air quality and occupational health issues, from indoor moisture and mould to ventilation, traditional IH exposure assessment, and infection transmission indoors. He recently managed the hotel quarantine program in Victoria, Australia.
 
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Robert Bean, FASHRAE - Adam Muggleton - The Edifice Complex Hosts & Radio Joe Team Up to Solve the Worlds IAQ & Building Science Problems

This week we have a little change of pace for our audience. We are playing back a new show that Radio Joe recorded recently with the hosts of the Edifice Complex Podcast, Robert Bean and Adam Muggleton. It was a wide ranging show on the podcasting, IAQ, building science and disaster restoration. We may not have solved all the world’s problems but we did at least start to define what’s needed. This thought provoking show with two worldly Canadians, one of whom is a transplant from the UK, was entertaining and informative. It was a broad discussion about the past, present and future of the built environment. Radio Joe will be on live to answer questions during the playback.
 
Robert Bean is a retired engineering technology professional having practiced in building construction engineering technology and mechanical engineering. He specialized in the design of indoor environments and high-performance building systems. Bean is a third term ASHRAE Distinguished Lecturer, recipient of the Lou Flagg Award, and Distinguished Service Award. He has authored numerous papers, articles, and course curriculums and serves on several technical committees related to indoor environmental quality, building, and thermal energy systems.
 
Motto: Design for People, Good Buildings Follow
 
Adam Muggleton has been immersed in property and construction for 37 years. Having worked in 20 countries and held leadership positions at several firms, Adam has a unique skill set derived from experience in property development, design team management, project management, and building commissioning. Adam is passionate about promoting the concept of Commissioning Management as an effective project management tool, to hand over buildings that actually work. He devises and delivers successful project, leadership and testing strategies that achieve optimum outcomes for those involved and affected.
 
As an industry leader, Adam served on the CIBSE Commissioning Code “A” committee for the 1996 code re-write and the UK BSRIA steering group for Application Guide 16/2002 Variable Flow Water Systems. Adam also served as an international board member for the USA Building Commissioning Association.
 
Adam’s focus is on property development as a:
Property Industry Blogger, Podcaster, and Philosopher
Chartered Project Management Surveyor (RICS)
Qualified Building Commissioning Professional
 
Philosophically, the question is this, “why are zero defect, high-performance buildings not normally delivered?”