What Today’s Consumers Want From IAQ Products

Though some might say it’s not as prominent as during the pandemic, the market of indoor air quality (IAQ) would beg to differ.  

For years now, consumers have notably cared about healthy IAQ, and they’ve caught on to the fact that the equipment they install in their home plays a pretty big part in that, to say the least.  

Many of them are now aware that IAQ products and solutions exist — and they want more from them.  

They want solutions that improve IAQ, but also support decarbonization efforts. They want solutions that are intelligent. And all types of consumers want them, meaning they have to be available no matter the size of the space.  

At the 2025 AHR Expo, IAQ manufacturers like Acme, RGF, WellAir, Zehnder, and Panasonic showcased a variety of IAQ solutions they’ve designed to support these trends and more.   

  

Intelligent IAQ 

What the industry is facing in terms of decarbonization has had a direct impact in the world of IAQ; when decarbonizing a building, one must look at every aspect — that includes its HVAC. It’s led to the upgrade of older systems to smarter, more energy-efficient ones, and in a post-pandemic world, that’s led to the development of the same sort of IAQ solutions.  

“As there is a decarbonization of buildings, at the same time, you have general building systems being revised,” said Robert Presser, president of Acme Engineering Products. “You’re not just going to touch a boiler room and go from a gas boiler to an electric boiler, you’re going to look at your building automation system as a whole — so IAQ is getting mixed into that. So, you try to add intelligence into your gas detection systems.” 

And the intelligence should be able to provide something more than the ability to turn a fan on and off at a given level.  

“There should be an amount of predictability,” Presser said. “You can incorporate AI if you’re compiling the data when the system is used, and you should be able to predict something like traffic patterns in your building based on what you’re seeing.” 

Predictability is just one of the things that Acme’s latest dual-gas detectors, showcased at this year’s AHR Expo, can offer. Also showcased was the MGDS detection system, part of its new series of control panels. It was built to handle up to 50 detection points (which translates to 25 dual-gas remote sensor stations), and goes along with the MGMS detector module with dual sensors. All are designed to be intelligent. 

“In other words, they can communicate,” Presser said. 

But in a market where labor is hard to come by, IAQ solutions that are intelligent just aren’t enough. They have to be easy to install and easy to maintain.  

“The technicians who were around for 40 years and could touch mechanical, electrical, and electronic, they’re mostly gone,” Presser said.  

So the dual-gas detectors have quick-replacement, pre-calibrated sensor nodes that encourage maintenance, that way even non-skilled personnel can get the job done — meaning they plug-and-play, so all a technician has to do is show up and pop it into its slot, and recycle the old pod.  

“The panel knows what it is and will immediately configure it into the system,” Presser said. “The less a technician has to do, the better.” 

 

Energy-Efficient IAQ 

With the growing demand for smart and energy-efficient ventilation systems, consumers are likely to run into an energy recovery ventilator (ERV) or two.    

According to Russel Pope, research and development manager of IAQ at Panasonic, this is because homeowners (and various codes and standards) now recognize that smart and demand-controlled ventilation systems offer the ability to more closely manage energy efficiency, while also improving IAQ.   

These days, Panasonic has been seeing more interest in ERVs as opposed to heat recovery ventilators (HRVs), because of the ability an ERV has to recover both temperature and moisture. 

“And ERVs tend to be easier to install and actually have less maintenance costs for the long-term value proposition of the problem,” said Leon Van Oostende, group sales manager, Panasonic Eco Systems. 

On the AHR Expo show floor, Panasonic showcased two of their ERVs: the BalancedHome Elite and Elite Plus+ and the WhisperComfort 60. Both are designed for small multifamily dwellings, as well as large single-family homes. 

“By automatically adapting to a home’s real-time needs, these systems can reduce energy consumption, helping to lower costs, while maintaining a healthy indoor environment,” Pope said. “Panasonic is addressing this need by promoting smart ventilation strategies for modern, tightly built homes.” 

This is where the WhisperComfort 60 in particular shines: Its flexibility in installation allows for mounting in either the ceiling or wall.  

“In a lot of the smaller multifamily spaces where you’re working with 1,200 square feet or less, they’re looking for a very simple installation, and our WhisperComfort 60 ERV caters to that market,” said Pope. “It’s been very successful because of the ease of installation, and the concentric duct that allows the exit out of the building to include both exhaust and supply saves space on the outside of the building and helps aesthetics.” 

As far as the BalancedHome series goes, it includes 8 SKUs with air volume ranging from 30-160 CFM, and features SmartFlow Technology that overcomes static pressure to ensure effective performance.  

“We’re excited to introduce HVACR professionals to solutions that are the backbone of an effective ventilation strategy, delivering cleaner indoor air and more comfortable living spaces for their customers,” Pope said. “Available in top and side port configurations and compliant with major building codes, the new BalancedHome series ERVs are versatile and efficient, giving professionals the flexibility to choose between eight different models with four different CFM levels.” 

 

Compacting IAQ Solutions 

Some consumers might want an energy-efficient IAQ solution for the reason of decarbonization or health alone, but other market trends today show they might be more intrigued by the money it could save.  

“Homeowners and contractors today pay more attention to IAQ, so now the other thing we see is that there’s a trend towards more efficient units,” said Michael Zehnder, director of business development for ventilation units in North America at Zehnder Group. “Especially with energy prices going up — the more efficient the unit, the less power it consumes. And now people realize that that’s going to have an impact on your energy bill.” 

In addition to today’s consumer leaning toward more efficient IAQ solutions, another trend affecting the design of Zehnder products showcased on the show floor is the fact that cabinet size is getting smaller and smaller, as space has become more critical.  

“That has a direct impact on our units — we want to have them to be as compact as possible, while still maintaining high performance,” Zehnder said. “This has led to our units are becoming more compact, especially in the condominium market. Those units need to be tiny, but they still need to be efficient, and they need to be easy to install and maintain.” 

One of the products the Zehnder Group exhibited that supports this trend was the Lifebreath RNC 205. It was designed for single-family use and can provide ventilation for homes up to 4,000 square feet with four bedrooms, and also be just as efficient in a smaller home.  

RNC 205 came from the Zehnder Group’s desire to make the most efficient ventilation units. That’s why this specific HRV has an 88.1% SRE. Certain features like the Hex Core — a counter-flow heat recovery core easily removed for cleaning or service — and the washable MERV 6 filters that can be upgraded to MERV 13, were incorporated into the design to promote that ease of installation/service.  

“It’s a really efficient product,” Zehnder said. “It doesn’t consume a lot of power, and the unit recovers most of the heat, so that’s going to have a positive impact on your energy bill.” 

 

Customer Interest 

On the show floor, Brad Cox, vice president of sales at WellAir, compared today’s understanding of the importance of air purification to its understanding of the importance of water purification. While water purification is currently a common practice, it wasn’t always that way — at least, not until enough people became more aware of the risks that containments in water posed to their general health, which is why Cox said it’s important to consider that people are more likely to be breathing 2,000 gallons of air per day than drinking half a gallon of water per day. 

The pandemic was a tangible outcome of what can happen when people breathe in unclean or unpurified air. It sped up the trend of treating air purification like water purification.  

“The pandemic gave mobility to the market,” Cox said. “It gave validity to IAQ. It brought it to the forefront, and people became more aware of IAQ.” 

At the Expo, WellAir showcased the Plasma Air RapidPure, a plenum-rated, duct-mounted, needlepoint ionizer, with optional dry contacts to enable integration with BAS alarm system to report the status of ionization. 

With RapidPure, ionization can be added into a space by cutting a 5-inch hole into existing ductwork, and adding the mounting ring to pop the device into place. Then a tech just has to bring in a power source. It doesn’t have to be external; it can be powered directly from 24VAC, 120VAC, or 230VAC. 

“As soon as you bring power in, it starts producing ionization, and then the airflow carries the ionization to the conditioned space,” Cox said. “The closer you are to the conditioned space with ionization, the more the ionization is present, and that’s what you need. You want that to attack the harmful particles head-on.” 

The compact unit — weighing only 2.2 pounds and standing 9 inches tall — is also self-cleaning. Its ability to automatically remove dust and dirt buildup on the emitters eliminates the need for maintenance.  

“[Contractors] can’t believe this tiny little thing can do everything it can,” Cox said.  

IAQ in a home or office can be five times more polluted than indoor air. That’s because not everyone knows that indoor air has to be purified for the quality to improve. But those in the industry are working to educate to keep IAQ in the forefront.  

As a vertically integrated manufacturer, RGF Environmental Group does everything onsite in West Palm Beach, Florida, meaning they’re free from the influence of things like tariffs. 

“We have no major components that we source internationally,” said Paul Siegel, national sales manager, RGF. What they are seeing, however, is the need for air purification. 

“We’re seeing a very renewed interest in IAQ with the education push that we do,” said Siegel. “We do very extensive IAQ training with contractors, and we do that to keep the brand awareness very high.” 

As more people become aware, the demand for air purification products increases. And when it comes to these types of products, RGF has been around the block a time or two. In fact, they created the first induct IAQ device — the REME-305 — that has now undergone ten generations of product development. The REME Halo, which RGF showcased at the 2025 AHR Expo, is its most futuristic rendition. It came from the desire to replicate and enhance naturally occurring air purification processes — like the adage that sunlight is an effective disinfectant. 

Sunlight has the ability to create hydrogen peroxide and release it into the air, and hydrogen peroxide has been proven to be effective at reducing viruses, bacteria, mold spores, odors, VOCs, and other microbes in the air and on surfaces — and the UV rays of the sun help eliminate microorganisms.  

RGF inventors and researchers continuously study the science behind such naturally occurring processes, and in this case, it led to the birth of the REME Halo. 

“It’s a very optimized product,” Siegel said. “The installation is amazing, the serviceability is amazing, and it’s great for any kind of contaminant.” 

Much like Mother Nature’s process, the REME Halo uses RGF’s proprietary REME technology that combines a UV-C light on an advanced catalyst to create low concentrations of gaseous hydrogen peroxide in the air that disperse throughout a space, to disinfect and purify the surrounding air.