Conference Speakers

Bruce Lorange

Global Marketing Manager, Hollingsworth & Vose

BIOGRAPHY

Bruce Lorange is the Global Marketing Lead for Indoor Air Quality Solutions at Hollingworth & Vose, and host of H&V’s IAQ video podcast series, The Air Exchange. Prior to H&V, Bruce was the CEO of venture-backed respirator and performance materials company, O2TODAY, based in Salt Lake City, UT. He has spent a decade focused on the trends and business intersection of filtration, nonwovens, air quality, and public health. With a background across operations, marketing, and communications in consumer goods and luxury retail, Bruce aims to help the filtration industry position and tell the stories that resonate with customers and end-users around filtration solutions for better human health, energy, and environmental outcomes. Bruce earned his BA in English and Minor in Japanese Language from Villanova University in Pennsylvania and Kansai Gaidai University in Osaka, Japan.

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Promoting Enhanced Filtration for Human Health

We've all heard the statistics and they are clear. We live in a world where 9 out of 10 people are breathing unhealthy air according to The World Health Organization. And 9 out of 10 hours per day the air we breathe is indoors, where air quality has been shown to be 2-5x, even up to 100x, more polluted than outdoor air according to the American Lung Association. Yet, since the pandemic, few building owners, facilities managers, or those responsible for purchasing HVAC filters for clean air in the built environment are investing in even the recommended minimum filtration for human health.

At H&V, we recently launched a study in one of the cities most affected by the plight of air pollution - Delhi, India. Our multi-month study, in cooperation with Green Building Certification Inc. (GBCI) India, illustrated with real-world data that effective HVAC filtration does, in fact, greatly improve IAQ. While there is a higher price to pay for more premium solutions and higher efficiency filters, there are also evolving innovations in nonwoven media technology to help offset those costs, along with the often-veiled resulting economics of productivity and health benefits for building occupants.

From Salt Lake City, to London, to Krakow, to Mexico City, Ulaanbaatar and beyond, indoor air quality is the world's leading environmental health threat, especially in cities, where 70% of the global population will live by 2050. We know this yet the disparity between awareness and action is stark. Why? What can we do as the filtration industry to shift that? This presentation will be a review of our GBCI India case study and outcomes, alongside a call-to-action to the filtration industry as a whole to collectively amplify education and awareness that influences increased adoption of higher filtration in buildings for the benefit of a healthier human population.

From Data to Decisions: Leveraging Field Studies to Advance IAQ

Nearly all (99%) of the global population breathes air that exceeds WHO recommended health limits, and indoor air is often 2-5 times worse. Yet despite clear data, many building operators still overlook effective filtration. A recent study by GBCI India and H&V demonstrates how advanced HVAC filter media significantly improve indoor air quality (IAQ), driving both health and economic benefits. So why is adoption still lagging? It’s time for the filtration industry to take the lead – backing research, educating decision-makers, and converting awareness into widespread adoption to make clean indoor air the expectation – not the exception.