Josh Lewis, CEM, CMVP, is the Engineering Manager at Nerva Energy Group, an energy advisory firm and specialty contractor providing smart building optimization by leveraging niche expertise with leading IoT technologies to ensure buildings function more intuitively and efficiently, creating energy earning & carbon reduction opportunities, and fostering a positive impact on occupancy, quality of life and the overall environment.
As an award-winning leader in the energy sector, including being recognized as the AEE International Energy Innovator of the Year in 2019, and cutting-edge business development strategist with a wide knowledge base in green buildings, energy conservation, carbon reduction, and environmental sustainability, his delivery of projects is with a commitment to continuous improvement and lean principles which leads toward world-class levels of performance through multi-tiered approaches.
Josh joined Nerva in January 2019 as he saw it as an ideal opportunity to leverage his knowledge, experience, and passion for energy efficiency in a way that would benefit the wider ecosystem of professionals in the building sector, including architects, engineers, developers, owners, and operators. Through a mandate to make education a top priority, Josh is continuously learning about the newest advancements in practices and technology, and then sorting through the chaff to ensure that he can deliver the best information to Nerva’s clients and the public in order to help catalyze both incremental and systematic improvements to our built environment.
Outline
When COVID-19 became a pandemic in 2020, there was an immediate realization that the risk of transmission within buildings was likely very high due to the aerosolization of viral particles. This forced buildings owners and operators to quickly implement strategies to improve indoor air quality and reduce the risk of disease transmission.
However, many of the strategies to improve indoor quality can lead us down a path of reducing the energy efficiency and increasing the carbon emissions of our buildings. At the same time, in our just society, it is impossible to put a price on the health and well-being of any person. On average, we spend 90% of our life indoors – so maintaining air quality has and will always be critical. But we must achieve a balance between efficiency, air quality, and comfort.
Josh’s presentation will provide insight on the typical measures being deployed within buildings to mitigate disease spread by improving indoor air quality, while simultaneously discussing the positive or negative impact they can have on energy efficiency and carbon emissions, in order to help provide education on the range of options available to address this issue which now has a renewed focus in the building sector.
