Tom Betteridge, P.E., Vice President and Mechanical Engineer with Turner Building Science & Design, LLC, was recently featured in an article in Business NH Magazine titled, "Engineering the Air We Breathe" by Judi Currie. 

Here's an excerpt:

From the time a heating and air conditioning (HVAC) system is installed to the end of its useful lifespan, some building owners may never give that system a second thought other than to change the filters, unless it breaks down... or there's a pandemic.

...It's not uncommon to find the ventilation units within heating and cooling systems bringing in little to no outside air, says Tom Betteridge, P.E., principal and Vice President of  Turner Building Science & Design in Concord. It's an easy fix in some cases by just opening a damper or changing a setting in the control system. He adds that often the building owner or occupant is surprised to learn they were not ventilating their building.

"We had one client who mentioned that they used to feel lethargic in the afternoon, and they thought it was just people getting tired" says Betteridge. After they provided proper ventilation, CO2 was no longer building up in the space, and people felt better.

The possibility of a buildup of virus particles raises the stakes. "Looking at how the current pandemic is spread, increasing the ventilation air--the clean air that's brought in and then exhausted out of the space--seems to be one of the most effective ways to reduce the risk of contracting COVID-19. That's been our main focus," says Betteridge. "Our secondary focus has been on increasing the filtration levels so that you can filter out the virus particles from the air that remains in the space."

The full article is available in the April 2021 issue of Business NH Magazine.