Indoor air quality is at the forefront of the public consciousness more than ever as facilities of all types continue to be reoccupied after pausing operations due to Covid-19. Once a passing thought for many facility managers, air filtration is now extremely important as they strive to address the concerns of occupants. Thinking of air quality as a matter of safety, as opposed to simply comfort, has dramatically changed the way that consumers make decisions regarding the products and services used to attain clean air.

The approach to solving air quality problems has fundamentally changed as decisions have been informed by shifting paradigms with respect to almost every aspect of the technology. A previously common view of filtration as a commodity product has given way to a highly engineered, value-driven selection process. Facilities have a renewed level of focus on materials, performance verification, and cost optimization as they explore new use cases for filtration technologies.

These paradigm shifts affect multiple professional disciplines. It is critical that these factors are prioritized as the filtration and HVAC industries mobilize to rise meet these new challenges with novel and innovative solutions. A comprehensive grasp of this information is also essential across facility management, life safety, and academia. Cooperation from such a cross-sectional shared understanding will provide the best possible built environments today and ensure that the environments of tomorrow are even better.