Building designers, contractors, owners and managers have long been challenged with providing quality indoor environments at a reasonable energy cost. Current efforts to improve building energy efficiency, including goals of sustainability and net-zero energy use, are bringing more focus on simultaneously achieving energy efficiency and good indoor air quality (IAQ). While energy efficiency and IAQ are sometimes viewed as incompatible, there are many strategies that support both ends.

This training delves into many elements of healthy, productive, energy-efficient, and sustainable buildings. Multiple strategies, specially formulated for the tropics, will be discussed. These strategies bring benefits of good indoor environmental conditions, energy savings, water savings and protection of building occupants from pandemic threats.

The launch of the Singapore Green Plan 2030 by the Singapore government highlights the importance of galvanising a whole-of-nation movement to advance Singapore's national agenda on sustainable development. This compact training programme shares fundamental concepts and principles on holistic building design – a cornerstone for creating infrastructure that supports occupant well-being.

Objectives

The participants of this course will acquire the following skills:

• Understanding of various factors which impact IAQ.
• Fundamental knowledge of building-related illnesses, their causes and effects.
• Adopting a holistic integrated approach to designing building systems to improve occupant health and well-being.
• Development of creative HVAC system design skills to maximize IAQ and energy performance.
• Understanding COVID-19 pathology and transmission pathways and deployment of cost-effective mitigation strategies.

Programme Outline

IAQ: Basic Concepts and Relevance to Building Functionality and Economics

• Economic value of good IAQ
• Collaborative integrated building design approach
• Indoor air pollutants and health effects
• Environmental contaminants: Organic Compounds, Inorganic Compounds, Particulate Matter and Biological Contaminants
• Sick Building Syndrome/Building Related Illnesses/Environmental Sensitivity

Effective HVAC System Design for Healthy Indoor Air

• Strategies to reduce "environmental footprint"
• Techniques to control indoor humidity and moisture and mould growth
• Establishing proper pressure relationships with outdoors and between spaces
• Design of outdoor intakes and exhaust outlets
• IAQ Code of Practice SS 554:2016+A1:2021
• Workplace Safety and Health Act: Your responsibilities and liabilities
• Strategies for effective ventilation, air filtration and air cleaning
• Strategies to counter infectious pandemics and bioterrorism
• Demand-Controlled Ventilation
• Special HVAC design concepts: Displacement Ventilation, Radiant Cooling, Chilled Beams, AHU with Face & Bypass Damper, Dedicated Outdoor Air Systems (DOAS)
• Energy Recovery Ventilation: Run-Around Systems, Heat Pipes, Fixed-Plate Air-to-Air Devices and Rotary Air-to-Air Energy Exchangers

Air Cleaning Technologies

• Particulate Filtration and Gas-Phase Air Cleaning
• Adsorption and Chemisorption technologies
• Air filtration efficiency testing standards: ASHRAE Standard 52.1 and 52.2, IEST-RP CC001.4
• Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value (MERV) parameters
• Energetic Filtration Technologies: Active Electric Fields, Ionization, Surface Irradiation, Catalytic Activation and other Electron Manipulation

Certificate

All participants will receive a Certificate of Attendance from SEAS upon completion.

SCEM Participants will be awarded with 7 PDU Points