Air Filtration in Buildings

Air filtration gets a whole lot more attention than it used to. Over the past two years, the health concerns of those working or living near Ground Zero after the destruction of the World Trade Center and the anthrax attacks that followed in Washington, D.C., have given air filtration a high profile. Add to this the rising incidence of asthma and other respiratory illness, growing concern about mold, and the LEED™ Rating System’s focus on filtration as a component of construction indoor air quality (IAQ) management, and we can be fairly certain that air filtration will be an increasingly important component of building design, construction, and operation.

Clearly, air filtration has an important place in buildings—both commercial and residential—but just how far should we take it? How significant are the benefits, what are the costs, and how does air filtration relate to other IAQ priorities? How do commercial and residential strategies differ, and what’s new in the filtration industry? You won’t emerge from this article an expert in air filtration, but perhaps you will learn some of the questions to ask in planning, designing, or implementing an air filtration strategy.