Rapid population growth and urbanization are currently colliding with two opposing problems: on the one hand, both climate change and the energy crisis demand that serious efforts are made to reduce energy use. Globally, buildings are responsible for 40% of energy consumption and 33% of greenhouse gas emissions. Majority of this footprint is attributed to indoor climate control through heating, cooling and ventilation. On the other hand, the COVID19 pandemic has focused attention on the importance of maintaining well-ventilated or -purified indoor air to reduce the airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and other diseases such as influenza or measles. Yet, extensive ventilation leads to high energy use and cost.
In this interdisciplinary project, we will apply a combined experimental and modeling approaches to fundamentally understand dynamics and persistence of indoor airborne pathogens, and to identify strategies that optimize indoor climate control at low energy use.
Collaborator: Dusan Licina, EPFL