Category: Blogs

Defeating Pink Mold: Prevention, Removal, and Recommended Products

Pink mold, scientifically known as Serratia marcescens, is not actually a mold but a type of bacteria that commonly appears as pink or reddish-pink slimy growth on surfaces. It thrives in damp and warm environments, particularly in areas with mineral deposits. Pink mold is often found in bathrooms, showers, and other moist areas where it can feed on soap residues, shampoo, and other organic matter. While not harmful to most healthy individuals, it can be a concern for people with weakened immune systems or respiratory issues. Proper cleaning and prevention measures are important to manage and eliminate pink mold growth.   How to Get Rid of Pink Mold: To effectively eliminate pink mold, you can create a mixture of bleach and water in a 1 to 1 ratio. This solution works well for cleaning and disinfecting surfaces affected by mold, including pink mold commonly found in showers and on tiles. Additionally, for surfaces like tile grout where pink mold may be stubborn, a scrub using a combination of dish soap and baking soda can be effective.   What Causes Pink Mold: Pink mold is caused by a bacteria known as Serratia Marcescens. It thrives in damp and warm environments, especially where mineral deposits are present. Bathrooms and showers are particularly susceptible to pink mold growth due to the combination of moisture, warmth, and mineral residues found in products like shampoos and conditioners.   Prevention and Removal Strategies: To prevent pink mold, it’s essential to keep surfaces dry as much as possible, as both molds and bacteria require moisture to survive and proliferate. Regular cleaning with a bleach and water solution can serve as an effective disinfectant to clean and prevent pink mold growth.   Recommended Products: For cleaning and preventing pink mold, common household items like bleach, baking soda, and dish soap are sufficient. However, for enhanced air and surface disinfection to prevent airborne molds and bacteria, consider using active air purification systems like AtmosAir Bi-Polar Ionization. These systems help disinfect the air and surfaces, contributing to a healthier indoor environment. You can find more information about AtmosAir products on their website at www.atmosair.com.   By following these strategies and using recommended products, you can effectively tackle pink mold issues and maintain a cleaner and healthier living space.

Measles Outbreaks on the Rise

According to the CDC, there has been an increased report of Measles cases in the US recently. Measles is spread from coughing or sneezing, etc from an infected person. It can be contracted airborne or if a person touches a surface where the virus has fallen. Measles can live up to 2 hours in the air even after the infected person leaves the area. It is a highly contagious virus, if one person has it, 90% of people close to that person will become infected unless they have immunity. Infected people can spread the virus four days before a rash appears and up to four days after. Symptoms include fever, red watery eyes, similar to pink eye, cough and runny nose. Eventually, a rash will appear. Measles can be prevented with the MMR vaccine, which also protects against mumps and rubella. Some ways to protect against the spread of an infected person include: Be conscious of people showing the symptoms described above and keep your distance if possible. Wear a mask if you can. Wash hands often and/or use hand sanitizer. Disinfect high-touch surfaces like handrails, doorknobs, desks, keyboards, etc. using EPA-certified disinfecting products. Disinfect the air using technology like bi-polar air ionization, which is highly effective against enveloped viruses, like measles and can actively disinfect airborne measles and protect against airborne spread.   Click here to learn more from the CDC.

ASHRAE Updates Energy Efficiency Standard for Existing Buildings

Dive Brief: ASHRAE released the latest edition of its energy efficiency standard for existing buildings Jan. 17, expanding its focus on building decarbonization. Updates in Standard 100-2024, the Energy and Emissions Building Performance Standard for Existing Buildings, include new metrics for setting greenhouse gas emissions targets, requirements to establish energy management plans and achieve energy and emissions performance goals, and a “simple compliance mechanism” for energy-efficient and low-emission buildings, ASHRAE said in a press release. The updates align with expanding commitments by U.S. cities and states to implement benchmarking and building performance standards and to mandate energy and emissions reductions in existing buildings.   Dive Insight: U.S. municipalities commonly adopt the professional society’s standards as part of their building and energy codes. The new updates to Standard 100, last revised in 2017, come as building owners and operators face growing pressures to decarbonize their buildings. Historically, once buildings were constructed, there was no obligation to make them better, even when new building energy codes and standards were adopted. That is changing, however, as cities and states continue to mandate energy and emissions benchmarking and building performance standards, according to Marshall Duer-Balkind, director of policy programs at the Institute for Market Transformation. As of late 2023, “12 local and state governments have passed building performance standards that specify a minimum level of energy/climate performance for all buildings over a certain size, with fixed deadlines over the next three to 10 years. The National Building Performance Standards Coalition has more than 40 jurisdictions signed on to pass similar policies,” Duer-Balkind said in a Jan. 2 article in Smart Cities Dive. Standard 100 could play a role in those regulations as states integrate the standard into their own legislation and reporting frameworks. Prior to this update, ASHRAE partnered with Washington state to build a custom version of Standard 100-2018 that incorporated state-specific changes meant to facilitate an early adoption pathway for building owners and facilities managers. That custom standard, published in July 2021, followed Washington’s passage of the country’s first statewide building performance standards in 2019. In addition to meeting state and local mandates, building operators across the country are reducing their energy consumption and implementing renewable energy to attract tenants, satisfy occupier demands and command green premiums for commercial office space. “​​As the demand grows for reduced energy use and carbon emission in existing [buildings], there has been heightened interest in Standard 100 within the past year for its potential to shape building regulations on an expanded level,” ASHRAE President Ginger Scoggins said in the release. “The development of this revised standard underscores our commitment to advancing sustainability measures and responding to the evolving needs of the industry.”   ASHRAE released the latest edition of its energy efficiency standard for existing buildings Jan. 17, expanding its focus on building decarbonization. Updates in Standard 100-2024, the Energy and Emissions Building Performance Standard for Existing Buildings, include new metrics for setting greenhouse gas emissions targets, requirements to establish energy management plans and achieve energy and emissions performance goals, and a “simple compliance mechanism” for energy-efficient and low-emission buildings, ASHRAE said in a press release.

IFMA Releases New North America Operations & Maintenance Benchmarking Report

As the most trusted global provider of benchmarking metrics for the facility management (FM) industry, the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) today released its latest North America Operations and Maintenance (O&M) Benchmarking Report. The report provides benchmarks in three major facility categories: janitorial, maintenance and utilities, as well as detailed performance benchmarks by a number of demographic factors including industry sector served by the facility, facility use, single buildings versus portfolio sites, U.S. climate zone, ownership profile, facility age, size and geographic location. “IFMA’s North America O&M Benchmarking report brings new insights into the FM industry and is one of the first on the market to examine costs associated with social distancing. With elevated focus worldwide on health and safety improvements, cost and service efficiency, sustainability goals and more, utilizing the report’s findings can bolster an FM’s ability to effectively manage resources today, and plan for the future,” said IFMA President and CEO Don Gilpin. In 2020, facility professionals from across North America provided IFMA with data on the costs of the nearly 40,000 facilities (2.2 billion gross square feet) they managed for the 12 months leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic. The report contains facility data for all 50 US states and 9 of the 13 Canadian provinces and territories In addition to the in-depth performance metrics for total cost per square foot across several demographic factors, this year’s report also includes a new section which provides detailed information of the impacts from COVID-19 on janitorial, maintenance and utility costs. Other new metrics provided include the number of buildings in the sample size, historical comparisons of energy management practices, and space management allocations for maintenance technicians and supervisory personnel. And with rising urgency for FMs and the wider built environment to meet global sustainability goals, energy management and sustainable O&M practices (including green cleaning) are also covered. Gilpin added, “Worldwide markets have drastically fluctuated over the past few years underscoring the importance of optimizing operations for compliance and competitiveness. Using this report as a guide allows FMs to justify increased resources, recommend changes to increase efficiencies, describe the benefits of O&M improvements and ultimately position themselves for career advancement.” On October 29th, 2023, CBS 60 Minutes aired and highlighted Indoor Air Quality. The indoor air quality segment showed that respondents were asked what indoor air purification strategy they incorporated into their buildings. 91% responded they had implemented bi-polar ionization (BPI) air purification technology. Watch the segment here. To see more content and profiles on AtmosAir’s products and insights, visit our media page.

ASHRAE’s Standard 241: A Health & Wellness Game Changer for Building Owners

By Tony Abate Few events had more impact on commercial building owners than the Coronavirus pandemic. In 2020 as the COVID pandemic rapidly expanded into all parts of daily life, many building operators were left uninformed and unaware of what to do to help protect occupants from the spread of airborne illness. So, for many, the decision was to keep people out of the building entirely. That is why ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers) saw the need for better guidance and with urging from the US White House developed a standard for controlling infectious aerosols, to help provide pathogen free air to occupants. ASHRAE Standard 241 was published in June 2023 to address the guidance needed. The development of Standard 241 is a multi-faceted approach to address all types of environments, commercial buildings, residential, retail, healthcare, institutional and many others. The standard touches on many aspects of enhancing indoor environments to reduce the spread of infectious aerosols including: Infection Risk Management Mode (IRMM)– Establishes requirements for an infection risk management mode (IRMM), which applies during identified periods of elevated disease transmission risk. Authorities having jurisdiction can determine when the enhanced protections of Standard 241 are required. Resilience (the ability to respond to extreme circumstances outside normal conditions) in indoor air quality control design and operations is introduced. Requirements for Equivalent Clean Airflow Rate– Sets requirements for equivalent clean airflow rate target per occupant of pathogen free airflow, reducing the risk of infection. Requirements for Use of Filtration and Air Cleaning Technology– Provides extensive requirements for use of filtration and air cleaning (such as HEPA filters, air ionizers, or UV lights) to achieve equivalent clean airflow requirements and be cost effective and operate effectively and safely. Planning and Commissioning– Provides assessment and planning requirements for being ready for the times when there is an event with increased disease-causing pathogen transmissions. The standard has a building readiness plan, that documents procedure for assessing existing or new HVAC systems to determine if they are working properly and attributing to the equivalent clean air delivered to spaces. The minimum ventilation requirements are those published in Standards 62.1, 62.2 and 170. Also, a minimum filtration requirement is set for MERV A-11. A centerpiece of this new standard is the establishment of a calculation called Equivalent Clean Air for Infection (ECAi). This calculation allows for compliance to the enhanced values referenced in the standard to be accomplished by not just increasing volumes of outside air, but also by using air cleaning to provide the delivery of equivalent clean air. In Table 5.1 of the standard, ECAi rates are established for all types of indoor environments. These would require significant increases if using outside ventilation alone. For example, in 62.1 2022, an office environment is required to bring in 17 cfm per person of outside air. In the 241 Standard, the requirement is 30 cfm per person of ECAi. If relying on just outside air, HVAC capacity would have to be increased significantly along with operating costs to condition the additional outside air. As a result, air cleaning and air disinfection technologies are critical to comply with the standard while also keeping up with sustainability goals and the reduction of carbon and greenhouse gas emissions. A strong air cleaning technology that can deliver this performance is bi-polar air ionization (BPI). While there are many forms of BPI the most studied and performance tested is Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) BPI. Many may know this as tube BPI. This technology has tested proven capability to deactivate organisms like bacteria and viruses. DBD BPI will also cause particles to agglomerate, becoming bigger and heavier and better caught by less air restrictive filters. The best part of all is that this technology uses little power and doesn’t require costly mechanical re-design or replacement. It can retrofit into most existing air systems, residing on the air supply side. AtmosAir technology is extremely beneficial to meeting the ECAi compliance requirements of Standard 241. AtmosAir has laboratory-tested effectiveness against infectious aerosols, and complies with UL safety standards, UL 867, and UL 2998. AtmosAir systems very little power than other alternatives and impose negligible restriction to airflow, thereby contributing to Standard 241 ECAi requirements in a cost-effective way. AtmosAir systems are low maintenance, and only require attention every 2 years. In addition to reduction of infectious aerosols, AtmosAir has been tested to reduce PM 0.3- micron particles and has achieved a 125 CADR (Clean Air Delivery Rate) as tested to ANSI/ AHAM AC-1, which is referenced in Standard 241. AtmosAir technology is also effective on VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) and has been used in many applications showing measured effectiveness. Lastly, the ASHRAE committee who created Standard 241, SPC 241 was voted to become SSPC 241 and will now act as a continuous maintenance committee with ASHRAE to further refine and develop this standard. As identified in 241, most buildings will need to take measures to comply with the enhanced values for the delivery of equivalent clean air required. This can be done by increasing outside air introduction or using air cleaning or a combination of both. For most buildings, looking purely at increasing outside air to meet the values listed in 241 for IRMM, (Infection Risk Mitigation Mode) will require significant investment. AC equipment may need to be larger to accommodate needed outside air, ducting may need to be enlarged, operating costs will increase, and AC run time will increase. Also engineering costs will be incurred to design what would be needed. This would be incurred for use that may sporadic. As 241 details, increased outside air is not the only path to compliance. Air cleaning or systems that remove and / or deactivate pathogens, can be utilized to contribute to the ECAi values needed for Standard 241 compliance. This path can be a very advantageous path, most air cleaning systems do not require mechanical system re-design and do not use significant energy. Also, air cleaning systems can enable the

Brief on ASHRAE’s Standard 241

In late 2022, the White House contacted ASHRAE to help prepare for the upcoming expiration of Title 42 (in May 2023) and the end of the COVID public health emergency. The government tasked ASHRAE with the job of creating guidance on how to operate buildings in a way to help prevent the spread of airborne infectious illnesses.  During the pandemic, operators of indoor spaces were completely unprepared on how to mitigate and combat the spread of COVID. Proper guidance on how to make indoor spaces safe from the spread of the virus was inconsistent, and many people used untested technologies and inadequate products which were deemed to be ineffective. As a result, a new standard on how to protect people from the spread of infectious airborne illnesses in indoor spaces was needed and ASHRAE became the guiding force behind this initiative.  By December 2022, ASHRAE assembled a SPC (Special Project Committee) under the leadership of William Bahnfleth, a former ASHRAE president, to serve as the leadership behind establishing the framework for the standard. By invitation only, a committee of industry experts and thought leaders, including Tony Abate, the CTO of AtmosAir, came together to work on outlining the standard.  The committee started working on developing the framework of a standard in February 2023 and finished producing this standard in record-breaking time with its publication in June 2023.  The development of Standard 241 is a multi-faceted approach to address all types of environments, commercial buildings, residential, retail, healthcare, institutional and many others. The standard touches on many aspects of enhancing indoor environments to reduce the spread of infectious aerosols including:  Infection Risk Management Mode (IRMM) – Establishes requirements for an infection risk management mode (IRMM), which applies during identified periods of elevated disease transmission risk. Authorities having jurisdiction can determine when the enhanced protections of Standard 241 are required. Resilience (the ability to respond to extreme circumstances outside normal conditions) in indoor air quality control design and operations is introduced.  Requirements for Equivalent Clean Airflow Rate – Sets requirements for equivalent clean airflow rate target per occupant of pathogen free airflow, reducing the risk of infection.  Requirements for Use of Filtration and Air Cleaning Technology – Provides extensive requirements for use of filtration and air cleaning (such as HEPA filters, air ionizers, or UV lights) to achieve equivalent clean airflow requirements and be cost effective and operate effectively and safely.  Planning and Commissioning – Provides assessment and planning requirements for being ready for the times when there is an event with increased disease-causing pathogen transmissions. The standard has a building readiness plan, that documents procedure for assessing existing or new HVAC systems to determine if they are working properly and attributing to the equivalent clean air delivered to spaces.  The minimum ventilation requirements are those as published in Standards 62.1, 62.2 and 170. Also, a minimum filtration requirement is set for MERV A-11.  A centerpiece of this new standard is the establishment of a calculation called Equivalent Clean Air for Infection (ECAi). This calculation allows for compliance to the enhanced values referenced in the standard to be accomplished by not just increasing volumes of outside air, but also by using air cleaning to provide the delivery of equivalent clean air. In Table 5.1 of the standard, ECAi rates are established for all types of indoor environments. These would require significant increases if using outside ventilation alone. For example, in 62.1 2022, an office environment is required to bring in 5 cfm per person of outside air. In the 241 Standard, the requirement is 30 cfm per person of ECAi. If relying on just outside air, HVAC capacity would have to be increased significantly along with operating costs to condition the additional outside air. As a result, air cleaning and air disinfection technologies are critical to comply with the standard while also keeping up with sustainability goals and the reduction of carbon and greenhouse gas emissions.  AtmosAir technology is extremely beneficial to meeting the ECAi compliance requirements of Standard 241.  AtmosAir has laboratory-tested effectiveness against infectious aerosols, and complies with UL safety standards, UL 867 and UL 2998.  AtmosAir systems very little power than other alternatives and impose negligible restriction to airflow, thereby contributing to Standard 241 ECAi requirements in a cost-effective way.  AtmosAir systems are low maintenance, and only require attention every 2 years.  In addition to reduction of infectious aerosols, AtmosAir has been tested to reduce PM 0.3- micron particles and has achieved a 125 CADR (Clean Air Delivery Rate) as tested to ANSI/ AHAM AC-1, which is referenced in Standard 241. AtmosAir technology is also effective on VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) and has been used in many applications showing measured effectiveness.  Lastly, the ASHRAE committee who created Standard 241, SPC 241 was voted to become SSPC 241 and will now act as a continuous maintenance committee with ASHRAE to further refine and develop this standard.  For ASHRAE’s press release link on Standard 241 click here.