As operators work to unlock efficiency in their buildings, while maintaining occupant safety and comfort, HVAC systems play a key role in ensuring effective operations. To that end, ASHRAE provides a number of standards, guidelines and sequences that can help facilities managers and system operators test and optimize their systems, automate controls and ensure indoor air quality in the face of climate-related events like wildfires.
Guideline 44 targets wildfire smoke impacts
Last week, ASHRAE released guidance aimed at mitigating the impacts of smoke on indoor air quality. The guideline outlines best practices for building design, operation and maintenance to reduce health risks from prolonged exposure to wildfire and prescribed burn smoke.
Guideline 44 provides facilities managers and building operators with considerations during the design phase for new buildings and retrofits, as well as the installation, commissioning, operation and maintenance of building envelopes, ventilation systems, and air-cleaning technologies, according to a Dec. 12 news release.
“The frequency, intensity and duration of wildland fire events have grown significantly in recent years, threatening air quality and public health,” ASHRAE 2024-25 President Dennis Knight said in a statement. “This guideline equips building professionals with comprehensive recommendations to mitigate smoke intrusion and maintain healthier indoor environments.”
Year to date through Dec. 13, 54,769 wildfires have burned more than 8.5 million acres in the U.S. This is about two million acres more than the average amount of land burned over the past 10 years, but lower than the 10-year-average for the total number of wildfires over the same period, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
“Protecting building occupants from the harmful effects of wildfire smoke is critical to preserving their health and overall wellbeing,” Knight said.
Protection from the indoor air impacts of wildfires starts with planning and preparation, according to Michael Gallagher, president of mechanical systems contractor Western Allied Corp. and a voting member of the subcommittee that created ASHRAE’s Guideline 44: Protecting Building Occupants From Smoke during Wildfire and Prescribed Burn Events.
“You’re going to have to decide what needs to be done and who’s going to do it. ... And then, very importantly, you need site-specific research,” Gallagher said during a seminar at the 2024 ASHRAE Annual Conference, noting that Guideline 44 can act as a reference point for this planning.
Standard 111 updates testing protocols
ASHRAE also published ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 111-2024 — Measurement, Testing, Adjusting, and Balancing of Building HVAC Systems. The standard updates testing procedures for air hydronics and control verification; identifies new instrumentation; and incorporates research providing new ideas and methods of testing, according to a Dec. 17 note emailed to Facilities Dive.
ASHRAE states that the standard can help building owners determine and monitor system performance to ensure proper operation. Testing, adjusting and balancing can document existing conditions; compare periodic tests with original conditions to identify system deterioration or reduced efficiency; and establish operating conditions following changes to HVAC systems, according to its note.
These procedures can also determine existing baseline conditions for calculations in energy conservation programs and generate procedures that can be used to verify energy conservation, ASHRAE says.
Guideline 36 promises boost to automation
Guideline 36 is another resource by ASHRAE that can be particularly useful for facilities managers looking to advance automation in their buildings, according to Tyler Haak, vice president of sustainability and services at Schneider Electric. Guideline 36, or High-Performance Sequences of Operation for HVAC Systems, includes uniform sequences of operation for HVAC systems aimed at providing control stability and assisting with real-time fault detection and diagnostics, according to ASHRAE.
“Guideline 36 is best-in-class, portable sequences of operations for how to use your building automation systems,” Haak said in an interview. “So, how can we take those systems that are in place and allow them to follow those best-in-class systems, so that we can find optimization for customers and facility managers?”
As operators increasingly look to leverage building-level data to achieve operational efficiency and meet sustainability targets, “There will be ample interest in leveraging data and ASHRAE Guideline 36 in particular is “an example of where people can take some of this information. What we're looking to do is provide standardized control sequences that optimize HVAC system performance,” Haak said. “So, we have HVAC systems and … control systems in place. What are some standards that we can run to be as optimal as possible?”
“What's beautiful about ASHRAE Guideline 36 is that it's something that can be adopted by anyone,” Haak added. “Everybody gets onto a standard path. If they move from one organization to another, they're able to …pick up where they left off. We can learn from successes. And that's the name of the game with automation.”
