Clearing the Air

Panorama Idea Home is designed to ensure homeowners have plenty of fresh filtered air and a comfortable living space.

Clear skies, clean water, and fresh air are the hallmarks of high-country living in Breckenridge, Colo., where Thrive Home Builders are building the Panorama Idea Home. Yet as the increasing threat of wildfire smoke darkens the horizon, maintaining healthy indoor air starts with more than just ventilation.

“We used to say the solution to pollution is dilution, meaning if you want to improve indoor air quality just bring in a bunch of air from the outside,” says Gene Myers, founder and Chief Sustainability Officer of Thrive. “But what happens if the air outside is so bad you don’t even want it in your house? In August of 2021, Denver had the worst air quality of any city in the world because of smoke from wildfires.”

Thrive Home Builder’s strategy with the Panorama Idea Home was to super-filter fresh air and circulate it to maintain a healthy environment, but also monitor the quality of the air in the return, Myers says. 

The company was an early adopter of the EPA’s Indoor airPLUS standard. “It’s now a standard that we sell as part of health in the home,” he says.

Putting technology to work

A wide range of technologies are installed in the heating and cooling system of the Panorama Idea Home to ensure fresh healthy air year-round. 

Starting with the intake, air is drawn through a energy recovery ventilator for warming or cooling before conditioning. Unlike standard heat recovery systems, the enthalpy system in Panorama is capable of capturing heat energy from the home’s exhaust in the winter and also cooling incoming air in the warm summer months, saving energy in all seasons.

Several advanced filtration technologies are employed in the ducts including a MERV 16 filter and a UV antimicrobial unit with activated carbon. Activated carbon helps strip the air of ozone, a common by-product of wildfire smoke and a known carcinogen.

Filtration may not be the first thing on a homebuyer’s mind, but health effects always demand attention, Myers says. “Now there’s research out there that health in the home is the number one consideration for home buyers,” he adds. “So that’s the motive for Thrive – really focusing on the indoor air quality in our homes and taking good care of our customers. We’ve built the system to remove everything down to the coronavirus level of filtration.” 

The HVAC system utilizes a central air monitor and controller system from Greenheck that measures whole-house airflow in real time. Sensors monitor pollutants in the home, including particles, CO2, VOC chemicals, temperature, and relative humidity, and inform the controller to temporarily initiate air exchanges to maintain a healthy indoor air quality (IAQ).

Covering all the bases

Along with protecting occupants from wildfire smoke, the Panorama Idea Home is designed to address all potential IAQ risks.

An active radon monitoring system is installed to track and evaluate fluctuating radon levels – a common concern in the Rocky Mountain West. The home’s radon collection system installed in the crawl space has active fans that evacuate radon out three stacks.

To ensure comfort and protect wood finishes, an inline humidifier is installed. Still, occupants can drive moisture levels above 60 percent especially in winter months, so the Panorama Idea Home has active humidity monitors in the HVAC system as well as in bathroom fans that automatically maintain a healthy and comfortable relative 40 percent humidity.

Low and no-VOC materials are another strategy of enhanced IAQ for the Panorama Idea Home. Wood ceiling material is pre-finished with water-based stains, ensuring all off-gassing is done before installation.

By Andrew Hunt

Citations and resources

Denver worst air quality in 2021 https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/08/weather/us-western-wildfires-sunday/index.html#:~:text=Denver%20experienced%20the%20worst%20air%20quality%20of%20any%20city%20in,Air%20Quality%20Index%20of%20167.

Wildfires https://www.epa.gov/air-quality/wildfires-and-smoke

Indoor airPLUS https://www.epa.gov/indoorairplus/about-indoor-airplus

Ozone https://iaqscience.lbl.gov/ozone

Ultraviolet (UV) germicidal lights https://iaqscience.lbl.gov/using-uv-germicidal-lights-air-cleaning

Humidity https://www.weather-us.com/en/colorado-usa/breckenridge-climate, https://www.nationalasthma.org.au/news/2016/indoor-humidity