Air filters can be adapted to the needs of your commercial building or home, and your needs may change with the seasons. Working with these changes can be beneficial to balancing efficiency and quality of air you get. 

Today we’re diving further into future standards and developments with Kathleen Owen. We get into the imbalance between indoor and outdoor air quality standards, along with ASHRAE Standard 241, which will be official from January 1, 2025, and how that will affect filter requirements.

Our expert guest has over 30 years experience working in the field and is considered the OG of indoor air quality, Kathleen Owen. 

GUEST DETAILS
Kathleen Owen, ASHRAE Fellow, has extensive experience in gaseous and particulate matter air cleaning, determining air cleaning efficiency, and developing test methods to evaluate various air cleaning technologies.

Prior to starting her own company, Kathleen spent 33 years at RTI International where she worked on the ASHRAE and EPA projects that developed ASHRAE air cleaner efficiency test methods 52.2 (for particles), 145.2 (gases), and 185.1 (UV-bioaerosol). She also developed chamber test methods for gas and bioaerosol removal by in-room air cleaners based, in large part, on the AHAM CADR test method. EPA, DOD, ASHRAE and other projects she has worked on included air cleaning, air quality, contaminant transport modelling, technology development, and aerosol penetration of protective garments. Also, after working in the lab for several years, she ran the RTI commercial air cleaner test lab for over 20 years with over 100 different companies as customers over the years. She now works for various customers as a consultant.

Kathleen earned a BS in chemical engineering from NCSU and an MS in Air Pollution Control Engineering from UNC-CH.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathleen-owen-4381a21a/ 

https://dl.ashrae.org/Profile?lectIdx=4166a637-bfd5-45fa-9fc1-00dab658a36d  

The Chief Airgonomics Officer initiative was started by Camfil, a leading manufacturer in premium clean air solutions and an advocate for access to clean air.

The Chief Airgonomics initiative is being driven at a time of urgency: sensitivities over air have heightened due to the COVID-19 pandemic, air pollutants are well known to damage the environment and the newly published WHO Air Quality Guidelines show us that air pollution is more damaging to human health than previously understood.

The initiative is a direct response to these realities while also bringing to life Camfil’s mission of protecting people, processes and the environment. It also puts into practice Camfil’s knowledge and expertise built over more than half a century and that it is eager to share with its peers and wider audiences to improve people’s lives.

Our Vision : Clean and healthy Indoor Air should be a Human right

Our Mission: We want all companies and organisations to put clean and healthy indoor air on the agenda

Camfil believes that real change can only happen through collaborative effort and wants your organisation to join the clean air movement and community. Start your clean indoor air journey today!

CAO Website: https://www.chiefairgonomicsofficer.com/ 

CAO Linkedin Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12679402/ 

Let’s Talk Clean Air is produced for Camfil by Dustpod.io

On January 1, 2025, the MERV-A requirement kicks in. The standard itself, other than that, stays the same. - Kathleen Owen

You can change what you're doing and still meet that need for clean air. - Kathleen Owen

The first thing to do is to get your system working the way you thought it was working. - Kathleen Owen

A lot of the effects are, ‘oh, that kid has asthma’ instead of maybe that house has too much something in it. - Kathleen Owen

There are a lot of VOCs that are used in houses and commercial buildings that people want. Perfume, bug spray, cleansers, a lot of them have VOC emissions. - Kathleen Owen

I do know that we're gradually getting more data and more awareness of what the different gases in the air can do to people, but I hope we find more answers and assume that we will. - Kathleen Owen 

I think it's critical that we first get air cleaners that put bad stuff into the air off the market. - Kathleen Owen

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