ASHRAE Standard 62.1-2004, "Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality," contains many changes, including the revised ventilation rate procedure. Bohanon said the procedure makes it more straightforward for designers to determine rates and reduces the potential for overventilation in some densely occupied spaces. It bases ventilation requirements on the number of people a space is expected to hold, as well as the space's floor area. The procedure is used to calculate minimum outdoor ventilation requirements for a building ventilation system.

While some have indicated that the new procedure is harder to use, Bohanon said that while it is more detailed, it results in more uniform IAQ, which benefits occupants. "For many ventilation systems, the procedure is similar to the methods in Standard 62-1989," he said. "For more complicated systems, requirements for applying adjustment factors are more clearly specified within the new standard." Much of the course focuses on the procedure and also includes a case study of how to use the standard's requirements in an office building.

Publication date: 05/30/2005