Reconciling Airborne Disease Transmission Concerns with Energy Saving Requirements: The Potential of UV-C Pathogen Deactivation and Air Distribution Optimization

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a paradigm shift in our way of using heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems in buildings. In the early stages of the pandemic, it was indeed advised to reduce the reuse and thus the recirculation of indoor air to minimize the risk of contamination through inhalation of virus-laden aerosol particles emitted by humans when coughing, sneezing, speaking, or breathing. However, such recommendations are not compatible with energy saving requirements stemming from climate change and energy price increase concerns, especially in winter and summer when the fraction of outdoor air supplied to the building needs to be significantly heated or cooled down. In this experimental study, we aim at providing low-cost and low-energy solutions to modify the ventilation strategies currently used in many buildings to reduce the risk of respiratory disease transmission. Measurements of the indoor air bacterial concentration in a typical office building reveal that ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) modules added to the HVAC system are very efficient at inactivating pathogens present in aerosols, leading to indoor concentrations as low as outdoor concentrations, even with significant indoor air recirculation. Moreover, measurements of the CO2 and aerosol air concentration reveal that, with air supply vents placed in the ceiling, placing the air exhaust vents near the floor instead of on the ceiling can improve the ventilation capacity in terms of effective flow rate, with significant consequences in terms of energy savings.