Cost Considerations

At a glance

  • Ventilation improvement options in the workplace come with varying cost considerations.
  • Cost considerations include up-front purchasing costs as well as ongoing maintenance and energy expenses.
  • Ventilation improvements with higher up-front costs will often pay for themselves within a short period of time due to lower energy costs compared to other improvement options.
A scale weighs price versus value.

Overview

The ventilation interventions considered below come with a range of initial costs and operating costs, which, along with risk assessment factors – such as community incidence rates and the adoption of other interventions – may affect the selection of ventilation mitigation strategies. The following are examples of cost estimates for different strategies:

Intervention Strategy
Considerations such as up-front costs, ongoing interactions, maintenance, and usage
Opening windows
  • No up-front cost
  • Requires ongoing daily interaction
  • No ongoing maintenance requirements
  • Incremental energy usage varies, depending on ambient outdoor conditions
Expanded operation of dedicated exhaust ventilation
  • No up-front cost
  • No need for ongoing daily interactions
  • Periodic preventive maintenance required
  • Incremental energy usage varies, depending on exhaust system capacity and ambient outdoor conditions
Repositioning HVAC outdoor air dampers
  • No up-front cost
  • No need for ongoing daily interactions
  • Periodic preventive maintenance required
  • Incremental energy usage varies, depending on HVAC system capacity and ambient outdoor conditions
Switching thermostats from “Auto” to “On” or adjusting building HVAC control systems to disable Demand Controlled Ventilation (DCV)
  • No up-front cost
  • No need for ongoing daily interactions
  • Periodic preventive maintenance required
  • Incremental energy usage varies, depending upon fan energy consumption
Using fans to increase effectiveness of open windows
  • Less than $100 in up-front costs
  • Requires ongoing daily interaction
  • No ongoing maintenance requirements
  • Incremental energy usage varies, depending on HVAC system capacity and ambient outdoor conditions
Repositioning supply/exhaust diffusers to create directional airflow
  • Less than $100 in up-front costs
  • No need for ongoing daily interactions
  • No ongoing maintenance requirements
  • No incremental energy usage
Adding in-room HEPA fan/filter systems
  • $500 (approximately) up-front costs
  • Requires ongoing daily interaction
  • Must inspect/replace HEPA filter per manufacturer instructions
  • Low incremental energy usage
Adding upper room GUV [Typical classroom requires 2-3 fixtures]
  • Roughly $3.30 per sq-ft of treated area upfront cost.
  • No need for ongoing daily interactions (unless manually activated)
  • Must clean/inspect/replace GUV lamps per manufacturer instructions
  • Low incremental energy usage
Adding in-duct GUV to treat moving air
  • Varied up-front costs, more cost-effective (<$0.25/cfm) with larger systems
  • No need for ongoing daily interactions
  • Must clean/inspect/replace GUV lamps per manufacturer instructions
  • Low incremental energy usage
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Content Source:
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health