We were presented the NAFA LEED award for making the UIA building in Miami the first GREEN building! This article supports how important it is to have safer and healthier indoor air quality and how it can help you save on energy costs as well.

1. UV and a filter overhaul team up to clean up IAQ in
Miami
Posted: December 1, 2008
Miami’s South Beach is the epitome of chic. It’s
fabulous beaches, trendy restaurants, Art Deco
hotels, and pulsating nightclubs attract throngs of
locals and tourists alike. But there are other
elements largely unseen, but often felt in the air
attracted by the area’s humid climate: mold,
spores, and bacteria, as well as airborne
contaminants.
Five rows of four, 40-
in UV lamps were
installed from top to
bottom in front of the
return side of the A/C
coil in this South
Beach building, saving
up to $10,000 in coil-cleaning
costs.
Walter Chung noticed it. As the assistant property manager and chief
engineer for the SunTrust building on Lincoln Road in the heart of
South Beach, it’s his job to pick up issues that affect the eight -story
concrete office building, its tenants, and the approximately 350 people
who work there.
Dirty A/C coil creates problems
UAI Management LLC, for whom Chung works, had purchased the
SunTrust building three years earlier. They wanted to make sure that
the building’s air-handling system produced and circulated clean, fresh
air, and operated at peak efficiency. When he took a look at its filters
and coil, he quickly realized that there were problems.
It was really nasty, he said of the old Roll-O-Matic filter system with an
oil base that was located on the roof of the building. Fourteen feet in
height and 30 to 40 ft around, the filter was dirty. It was old and
messy and it rolled down unevenly Chung said, adding that the A/C
coil was moldy as well.
To Chung, this discovery made sense. After all, the air inside the
SunTrust building never seemed quite right to him. There was a
slightly musty odor and the dust was everywhere. The coil and filter
were cleaned twice a year, but it wouldn’t be long before mold would
reappear. Chung estimates that his annual coil cleaning cost was
$8,000 to $10,000.

2. The tenants, which range from the headquarters for MTV Latin
America, law offices, and an advertising firm to dentist offices, an
architecture firm, and a casting company as well as SunTrust bank,
didn’t complain, but Chung recognized that they had probably gotten
used to poor IAQ. They took little notice to the dust and particulate
matter that settled on the walls and the furniture because the cleaning
crew took care of the mess after hours.
For Chung, a continuous cycle of cleaning the air-handling system that
could not get the crisp, clean air that he wanted was not good enough.
There had to be another solution.
Ultraviolet lamps to improve air quality?
He visited the South Florida Facilities Expo to explore what type of
filters and filter system might work best for the SunTrust building.
That’s where he met Daryl McIntosh, the owner of A-One Filters and
Josee Osborne of Sanuvox Technologies. After speaking with McIntosh
and Osborne, it was clear to Chung that his building needed more than
new filters.
A series of high-performance filters would take away the airborne
contaminants, but what would eliminate the mold, bacteria and
spores? They talked to Chung about ultraviolet (UV) Coil Cleaners from
Sanuvox. UV Coil Cleaners shine on the coil 24/7, destroying bacteria,
viruses, mold, chemicals, and its associated odors.
UV technology is highly recommended to keep your coils clean and
eliminate bacteria floating in the air. With this, they can have 99.99%
clean air said McIntosh. It helps reduce sickness in the workplace, plus
there are savings on energy costs.
In fact, several studies have concluded that ultraviolet lamps kill
germs and other bacteria in ventilation systems. The Lancet Medical
Journal published the findings of McGill University scientists in which
shining ultraviolet purifiers manufactured by Sanuvox Technologies on
air conditioning coils reduced overall sickness by 20%, reduced
respiratory symptoms by 40% and resulted in a 99% reduction of
microbial and endotoxin concentrations on irradiated surfaces within
the ventilation system.
Chung didn’t know about these studies. He had some experience with
UV lights as a way to eliminate algae from pools and promote plant life

3. in ponds, but he did not expect that such technology could improve
the IAQ of his building.
High-efficiency filters + UV technology
Knowing that UAI Management LLC wanted its building to be a first-class
facility in every respect, Chung invited Sanuvox; the Filtration
Group, the manufacturer of filters; and A-One Filters, which installs
systems, to take a look for themselves.
The team photographed and inspected the exterior of the eight-story
concrete building as well as the 140,000 sq ft of interior space to
determine how the outside environment affected the indoor air. They
also inspected the filtration system.
The team clearly had their work cut out for them. They set about a
two-pronged strategy of treating the coil with the UV air purification
technology and capturing the particulates with a series of energy-efficient
filters.
Under the direction of Sanuvox’s Osborne, McIntosh measured the A/C
coil’s height, width, and thickness. By inputting all of this information
into a Sanuvox computer program, they were able to determine that
the number of UV lamps that would be required for the system as well
as the owner’s return on investment.
They determined that this system would require five rows of four, 40-
in UV Coil Clean In Line UV lamps which were installed from top to
bottom in front of the return side of the coil. McIntosh needed
additional rows because the 20-ft-long A/C coil was actually cut and
offset into two 10-foot sections. This required him to weld brackets to
a metal beam to fit the required number of lamps.
On the filter side, Brewer recommended the Filtration Group’s GeoPleat
High Efficiency Air Filters. The filters would reduce energy consumption
while providing high levels of air filtration and indoor air quality,
Brewer said. In this case, Brewer said the filters would more than
double the efficiency of the previous filter, and still require less energy
to push the air through.
A total of 98 24-by-24-in. filter pads were installed. When completed,
the filter measured 14 ft in height and 28 ft in length. Each filter is 4-
in. thick with a MERV 13 rating. Because of the building girders, they

4. could not use filter pads that were any thicker.
The project took four weekends ; two weekends to install the UV
system, and two weekends for the filters. Osborne explained that the
UV installation normally takes one weekend, but the coil’s design
required extra time to build the metal rack that housed the UV lamps.
A cleaner, greener building that is saving money
For Chung and his tenants, the results have been, in a word,
breathtaking. I noticed the air is crisper, he said. And there are no
odors. It’s just cleaner, fresher air. And his cleaning crew reports that
they do much less dusting. There are fewer airborne particulates in the
air to clean up after.
The reaction of tenants has been equally as positive. A few of the
tenants noticed and after we sent out a memo about our new system
and its benefits, and they thanked me for being able to breathe
cleaner air, he says.
Because innovative technologies were used, the building earned not
only LEED certification but also won a prestigious national award for
creating a cleaner, healthier indoor environment.
Additionally, the installation was also recognized by the National Air
Filtration Association with a 2008 National Clean Air Award. The
SunTrust building was one of only 15 projects nationwide to receive
the award, and it is the first time that a project from Florida has been
selected for this honor.
Chung is also reaping economic benefits as well. He’s saving up to
$10,000 in coil-cleaning costs, and then there are the energy savings.
This new system has cut my electric bills by 35%, he says.