Actual Hope for the Holidays... and Beyond

Despite the exhausting daily drama that seems to animate our federal government, even during this fall’s record 43-day shutdown, the design and construction industry has continued to chug toward 2026 with surprising resilience.

Of course, economists and financial planners have been understandably anxious about trying to forecast for the new year without data they normally rely upon. But even with that unusual hurdle, there continues to be a palpable sense of optimism among HVACR thought leaders this winter.

And specifically on indoor environmental quality, as our cover story intones, and our November podcast echoes, many believe this post-pandemic moment offers “a new hope” for real positive change in building design.

“Ventilation and conditioning air account for 30–50% of total building energy use,” 
writes Dr. Stephanie Taylor in our new issue. As both a medical doctor and an architect, she brings an eminently rare and respected perspective to these matters. 

“The traditional response to IAQ concerns—increase ventilation—often conflicts with energy and carbon goals and can introduce harmful outdoor contaminants,” she adds. “New, affordable sensors and data integration allow ‘smart ventilation,’ where airflow is determined by demand-controlled ventilation. Visibility into indoor and outdoor contaminant levels allow airflow adjustments based on pollutant loads rather than fixed schedules. These integrated strategies make ‘healthy efficiency’ achievable—where energy conservation and air quality enhancement reinforce rather than oppose each other. Our next step in IAQ management will hopefully merge technology with biology.”

ASHRAE President Bill McQuade agrees.

In our November episode of HPAC On The Air, the mechanical engineer turned indoor air evangelist says he is determined to turn the spotlight on indoor environmental quality (IEQ) before building owners "forget the lessons of the recent pandemic."

Expounding on the theme of his Society presidential year, Healthy Buildings: Designing for Life, McQuade explains how ASHRAE is now working with several other industry 
groups, both here and abroad, to elevate the cause of improving IEQ for the benefit of 
building occupant health.

And for the moment, those groups still include the federal government.

In late September, the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announced that four R&D teams would be receiving awards from the Building Resilient Environments for Air and Total Health (BREATHE) program. 

“BREATHE is intended to advance the next generation of smart and healthy buildings by developing integrated systems that will provide continual measurement and risk assessment of IAQ and deploy real-time interventions, like extra ventilation or disinfection, to reduce airborne threats to human health,” explained Jason Roos, PhD, ARPA-H Acting Director. The agency’s initial total commitment to these teams is up to $156 million over five years.

The four teams are each developing various types of IAQ biosensors and they are led 
respectively by the Mayo Clinic in Rochester MN; Poppy Health Inc., in Winter Park, FL; SafeTraces Inc., in Pleasanton, CA; and Virginia Tech, in Blacksburg, VA. The team at 
Virginia Tech is led by Dr. Linsey C. Marr, a professor of civil engineering and a previous HPAC On The Air guest during the pandemic.

“The knowledge that comes out of this project will mean that when you go into a classroom, office, restaurant, or other building that has adopted the solutions from this 
research, the air is going to be cleaner and safer than it was before,” said Marr. “That will mean that you have fewer days of (occupant) illness, fewer missed workdays, and a better quality of life.” 

So, despite everything disconcerting in our lives this holiday season, engineers like you have injected some genuine hope into the air for 2026. May that help us all to breathe just a little bit easier.

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