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U.S. Commercial Building Stock Analysis of COVID-19 Mitigation Strategies

Conference ·

The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the importance of improving building indoor air quality to reduce occupants' chances of contracting airborne illness. The ASHRAE Epidemic Task Force (ASHRAE-ETF) released several COVID-19 mitigation strategies at the onset of the pandemic. This study explores four of those recommendations for reducing transmission of COVID-19 inside buildings: (1) 100% outdoor air ventilation, (2) MERV-13 or better filters, (3) demand control ventilation removal, and (4) HVAC flushing mode. These recommendations were simulated and assessed using ComStock, a model of the U.S. commercial building stock. The study showed the 100% outdoor air ventilation recommendation had the largest impact on energy consumption, noncoincident peak demand, and thermostat violations. Removing demand control ventilation had the smallest national aggregate impact, installing MERV-13 filters led to slight increases in energy use and peak demand, and HVAC outdoor air flushing led to modest energy use and peak demand increases.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Energy Efficiency Office. Building Technologies Office
DOE Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308
OSTI ID:
2203911
Report Number(s):
NREL/CP-5500-87850; MainId:88625; UUID:fb3c942a-af9f-4ebf-b93c-907fd1330f1d; MainAdminID:70947
Resource Relation:
Conference: Presented at the 5th International Conference on Building Energy and Environment (COBEE2022), 25-29 July 2022, Montreal, Canada; Related Information: 82515
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (1)

The relationship between filter pressure drop, indoor air quality, and energy consumption in rooftop HVAC units journal March 2014