RenewAire, manufacturer of HVAC and indoor air quality (IAQ) products, received a Brilliance Award on Nov. 7 at the TecHome/Builder and Housing Transformation Summit in Phoenix. RenewAire’s residential and light commercial building energy recovery ventilator (ERV) entry, the EV Premium Series won the Automated Ventilation System (HRV and ERV) section in the HVAC/IAQ category.
A panel of single and multi-family housing industry members judged dozens of the year’s most innovative and technologically advanced housing products, services and solutions, according to John Galante, president, AE Ventures, Boston, who announced the awards and hosted the event. The EV Premium Series’ MH, LH and SH models’ details are now posted online. Winners in other categories span all the building trades and include some of the housing industry’s most prestigious brands, such as General Electric, Panasonic, Dish, Eaton and others.
The hard-wired EV Premium Series’ innovations align with the seventh-annual Brilliance Awards’ underlying automation technology theme. The residential and light commercial ERVs use energy efficient electronically commutated (EC) motors as they replace stale, contaminated indoor air with fresh outdoor air. Static plate enthalpy cores transfer energy from exhaust air to efficiently precondition outdoor air for optimum cooling, heating and humidity control. The variable speed fan automatically adjusts to remove airborne contaminants. The Boost Mode’s demand-ventilation strategy is activated by occupancy sensors, or a space’s manual remote push-button to maintain safe levels of CO2, VOC and other airborne contaminants.
Besides easy installation, the ERV’s Dial-A-Flow digital controller allows contractors to make quick and easy outdoor/indoor air balance and system airflow adjustments. This field adjustability is particularly advantageous during pandemics. The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers’ (ASHRAE) new Standard 241 “Control of Infectious Aerosols” recommends higher amounts of outdoor air to dilute infectious pathogens during pandemics. ERVs help buildings achieve these higher rates of air changes, but without an energy penalty because of their heat recovery capabilities.
