Does the biofilter consume a lot of energy?
A. Traditionally, the build-up of VOCs is avoided through ventilation. This is achieved with energy recovery ventilation systems (ERVs) that introduce new ‘fresh’ outside air into the building to dilute the accumulating indoor contaminants. The conditioning of this additional flow of air can be very expense. It must be heated or cooled (depending on the season) prior to distribution in the building. The cost of operating the biofilter is more than offset by the energy savings of reduced air exchanges to the outdoors. Further, ventilation does not solve the problem of the pollutants; instead it simply releases the pollutants to the outdoor where they become “someone else’s problem”.
