From Presidency to Practice: Bill McQuade on Putting People at the Center of Buildings - #122

This week, we sit down with Bill McQuade, outgoing President of ASHRAE, to explore a question that fundamentally challenges how we think about progress in the built environment: What if the single biggest barrier to transforming buildings isn't our lack of technical knowledge—but our failure to put human health and wellbeing at the centre of every design, maintenance, and policy decision we make? So a reflective conversation in many respects. A look at the year gone, but also a forward looking one full of optimism with a good dose of reality. He's put some big ideas forward this year. So a great opportunity to chat about these and what's next. Key Topics Discussed: Designing for Life: The IEQ Mandate: Post pandemic, manufacturers had already developed air cleaning and IEQ products, but there was no demand for them. We reverted back to bad behaviors almost immediately. Bill wanted to codify those lessons learned and make sure indoor environmental quality doesn't get buried again in economic calculations. We build buildings for people, not for pretty plaques on the wall. We've done a great job on energy efficiency and carbon emission reductions. But we haven't focused on making buildings excellent from an indoor environmental quality standpoint. That's about the people in the building, not the building itself. The Five Pillars of IEQ: Air quality, thermal comfort, acoustics, lighting, and water quality. Water quality doesn't get enough attention. We assume the water coming into our buildings is safe and clean. It's not. The incidence of waterborne disease has continued to increase almost exponentially. Aging infrastructure, changes from chlorine to chloramines, and reduced water use in buildings without downsizing piping means water stays in pipes longer. Water age has been shown to be tied to increased incidence of waterborne disease because water spends more time in contact with biofilms. Without performance testing, these issues would never be found. The Center of Excellence for Indoor Environmental Quality: One of the first projects is developing a comprehensive IEQ standard that could be referenced in code or regulation. Existing Buildings Are the Real Challenge: New buildings are easy. We have the tools and approaches. Existing buildings are the challenge. There are very basic things we can do from an operational and maintenance standpoint that can make a big difference without infrastructure upgrades. But there's a real lack of knowledge by building operators and maintainers. Performance, Validation, and Accountability: AI is going to take building controls to a whole new level where buildings can adapt to changes in occupancy, notice when it's off its baseline, and alert you. Fault detection has been talked about for years, but AI will identify failures before they become faults. Low cost sensors for CO2, VOCs, water quality, acoustics, and lighting paired with AI will give accountability. If you're made aware things aren't right and you don't do anything, that's on you. GUEST: Bill McQuade Outgoing President, ASHRAE | Global Vice President of Government Affairs and Sustainability, Baltimore Air Coil Company   / william-mcquade-a54b749   ASHRAE https://www.ashrae.org/ The Air Quality Matters Podcast in Partnership with Particles Plus https://particlesplus.com/ Eurovent (https://www.eurovent.eu/) - Aico (https://www.aico.co.uk/) - Lindab (https://www.lindab.ie/) - S&P UK (https://www.solerpalau.com/en-uk/) The One Take Podcast in Partnership with SafeTraces (https://www.safetraces.com/) - Inbiot (https://www.inbiot.es/?utm_campaign=s...) - Farmwood (https://farmwood.co.uk/) - iE Electronics (https://www.eielectronics.ie/) and iAir Group (https://iair-group.com/) Zehnder https://www.zehndergroup.com/en Do check them out in the links and on the Air Quality Matters Website. (https://www.airqualitymatters.net/pod...) If you haven't checked out the YouTube channel its here (   / @airqualitymatters-simonjones  . Do subscribe if you can, lots more content is coming soon. 00:00:00 Introduction: Meeting ASHRAE's Outgoing President Bill McQuade 00:02:19 Data Centers: The Energy and Infrastructure Challenge 00:13:23 Designing for Life: The Indoor Environmental Quality Mission 00:16:43 The Five Pillars: Air Quality, Thermal Comfort, Acoustics, Lighting, and Water 00:24:40 The Center of Excellence for Indoor Environmental Quality 00:27:19 The Scale of Complexity: From Science to Practical Implementation 00:36:08 Beyond Capital Investment: Health Outcomes and Societal Costs 00:40:40 Measuring Success: Feedback Loops and Performance Validation 01:02:14 Global Perspectives: Lessons from Traveling the World 01:23:22 The Future: AI, Innovation, and the Workforce Challenge