Dinner September

September 10, 2008

The presentation will address the development of the Indoor Air Quality Guide: Best Practices for Design, Construction, and Commissioning.

Building owners and developers, and the designers and contractors they employ, are faced with a variety of requirements related to building function, regulations, and environmental impacts. These professionals often address indoor air quality (IAQ) through compliance with minimum codes or regulations. Others attempt to improve IAQ through measures such as increased outdoor air ventilation rates or specification of low emitting materials, but often without a consistent technical basis for these measures. Based on these motivations, the AIA, USGBC, BOMA, SMACNA, and EPA are collaborating to develop an Indoor Air Quality Guide for commercial and institutional buildings. The goals of this effort are to delineate best practices for IAQ, while recognizing the constraints of building design, construction, and operating processes, and to simplify adoption of these practices through integrated design processes. The primary users of the guide are expected to be the architects, design engineers, product specifiers and contractors who will apply the guidance to specific projects.

Speaker: Andrew K. Persily

Dr. Andrew Persily is Leader of the Indoor Air Quality and Ventilation Group, Building Environment Division at the National Institute of Standards and Technologies (NIST), Building and Fire Research Laboratory.

Dr. Persily's work includes the development and application of measurement techniques to evaluate airflow and air quality characteristics in a variety of building types, including large, mechanically ventilated buildings and single-family dwellings. The evaluation procedures include tracer gas techniques for measuring air change rates and air distribution effectiveness, contaminant concentration measurements, and envelope airtightness. He is also involved with the development and application of multi-zone airflow and contaminant dispersal models.

Dr. Persily is currently a Vice President of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), and is past chair of ASHRAE SSPC 62.1, responsible for maintaining ASHRAE's Ventilation Standard 62.1. He is a past Chair of ASTM Subcommittee E6.41 on Air Leakage and Ventilation Performance and Vice Chair of subcommittee D22.05 on Indoor Air Quality.

Dr. Persily's first two years at the National Bureau of Standards were as a National Research Council Postdoctoral Research Associate, working on air infiltration in homes and large buildings. He received the Department of Commerce Bronze Medal in December 1989, and was named Young Engineer of the Year by the D.C. Council of Engineering and Architectural Societies in 1990. He was named an ASTM Fellow in 2002 and an ASHRAE Fellow in 2004.

Dr. Persily's education includes a B.A. in Physics and Mathematics from Beloit College, 1976; M.A. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University, 1979; and a Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University, 1982.