Embedding IAQ system designs in buildings is the way forward for clean air

Abhinav Gupta, CEO and Co-Founder, ActiveBuildings, in an interview with Megha Iyer of TCBU, talks about the changing pattern and thriving demand for IAQ and clean air at commercial, public and residential spaces.

Can you walk us through your company’s journey in brief?

ActiveBuildings, is a venture of me and Priyans, my co-founder 2017-18. We have been involved in the various businesses including developing sensors and systems. We started out thinking about ways to save energy in the ventilation systems; but eventually, we learned that indoor air quality is probably a much bigger problem than energy efficiency. The impact of energy efficiency is not visible on people directly as it’s majorly on indoor air quality. We wanted to bring about efficiency in the way air quality was provided to people, along with finding ways to reduce energy consumption. Considering the same, we have developed sensor, indoor air quality monitors, and data analytics platform and started looking out for solutions in the market that can really help to deal with IAQ related issues. So, here we are today, and you can see our work in the industry. After three years of our hard work, we have successfully expanded to more than 5 million square feet in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. And we continue to see how air quality shaping in India and how building owners are now demanding better air quality in India.

How do you differentiate the demand for air filters and clean air in the pre and post-pandemic time?

Pandemic has redrafted the market conditions. Earlier we used to primarily deal with buildings owned or operated by MNC, people from companies that are not native to India. They were the ones who thought that let’s look into air quality because they have a very strong culture that talks about air quality, well being, employee productivity, and when this stuff comes from that thought process, the air quality becomes an important decision-making point.

Post pandemic, not immediately in 2020 but after a significant period of time, when people realised that this disease spreads through the air, we saw increasing demand from the restaurant owners and hospitality side. So not just them but also smaller offices, Indian companies, small scale companies and studios, these started becoming extremely alert because they suffered through a phase where the business was down due to COVID, and they realised that it’s time to figure out ways to cut the chain. And when they approached us, we complained to them how filtration reduces the risk significantly, what they can do to minimise that risk and the concern came because it goes directly impacting businesses, and impacting the bottom line. And because of that, we’ve seen adoption, even in places where you could not imagine, for example, in railway station’s waiting room areas seeing people being interested in the air quality, and how to fight it with filters and ventilation.

When it comes to IAQ, how do you deal with the cost complications and design challenges?

Increased prices are always looked at as a deterrent. And we have observed this deterrence in adoption because of the elevated cost of equipment, but there are more business models coming out in the market. For example, there is a pay as you save model, where we have deployed certain solutions, wherein the client did not pay for the equipment costs, but rather, paid per month for clean air. So, on one side there is deterrence because of rising costs, but it also keeps businesses like us that bring a scope to be innovative with the pricing and finds a way to finance the project and the burden on the consumer is reduced from capital intensive to more operational payments on a per month, per quarter basis.

Air-conditioning and HVAC systems consume almost 40 percent of the total energy consumption. What is your organisation’s contribution to reduce the energy consumption in buildings?

There are three ways in which we help to reduce the cost. One is the orchestrate ventilations system to reduce any inefficiencies. An example of this is, the way we were installed in the building, which is quarters, having more than 20 floors, and we’re talking about more than 15,000 people moving in and out of the building, on a daily basis. So, the ventilation system was running on a single programmed input, and therefore it was costlier to cool the air on the settings at work programme. When we come into the building, we manage the settings based on what is required. So demand control ventilation is very important, and we have found a way to provide demand control ventilation, without having expensive equipment. So, that is the first place and the most important place where we provide 5 to 15 percent energy saving, just by running the ventilation system like a well oiled machine, which means reducing the temperature and managing fresh air at the right times of the day brings in positive impacts on the air quality.

The second way, where we help our clients in reducing the costs is downtime reduction. This is typically observed in hospitality, healthcare and pharmaceutical settings, where the air-conditioner is operational for almost 24 hours, and any downtime on the equipment has a severe cost on both maintenance, as well as the business side. Here, we provide predictive alerts during a system leak and signs of inefficiencies when the maintenance is due.

The third way, we use our air quality sensors to determine things like growth of fungal matters and growth of mould in the ventilation system because of excess moisture, which then takes more energy for the system to cool the air. And using our analytics, a lot of customers have been able to predict mould growth, and then remove them from their facility at the right time, before it starts exerting a lot of energy on to the ventilation systems.

What are your views on having embedded the IAQ and HVAC system at the initial stages of designing a building?

This is our company’s motto to have an embedded IAQ system while designing buildings. Today, we don’t see a lot of data on indoor air quality taken into designs, but we do see certain research projects with architects who reached out to us and said, “I am going to do a refurbishment of this space, so I need to understand how the air quality is, and where should I be installing the new designs.” So, we have seen this trend in the refurbishment, redevelopment space and renovation space. But in the new constructions, it is still limited to few architects. So, we have very few consultants who think about IAQ and ventilation designs before commencement of construction.

The future of this industry is going to be where facilities management and designers will exchange information. Architects need the data from the facilities manager about air quality to make certain changes in their designs.

What are your suggestions to improve the air quality and try to get more clean air?

Anyone who is looking for better air quality in their offices should test their indoor air quality, especially if they can’t invest in sensors. The first thing we offer to our client is, get your air quality tested, as its cheap and you can understand your problem, and see if you can revaluate and rectify it on your own.

Suggestions are: having adequate ventilation, with at least 20 cubic metres, 20 cfm of fresh air for a person in the offices is 100 percent required. Secondly, ensure that your PM 2.5 levels or your aerosol levels are contained as this further restricts movement of any virus into your ambient levels. If you have no aerosols in the air or very minimal aerosols in the air, then the virus will not spread from one end of the office to another.