Panasonic's Intelli-Balance Elite Plus+ 150 - A 90% Energy Efficient ERV

Panasonic has developed an exciting line of ERVs, or energy recovery ventilators, designed to ventilate efficiently in high-performance, airtight, and multi-family buildings.  

The Intelli-Balance Elite and Elite Plus+ ERVs were designed to address the challenges of modern, airtight building envelopes, allowing for balanced, fresh, and tempered air while minimizing energy loss.

The Intelli-Balance Elite and Elite Plus+ series, which includes the 150 CFM model in this video introduction by Green Builder Matt Hoots, achieves about a 90% sensible recovery efficiency (SRE) and 84% total recovery (TRE), which accounts for both temperature and moisture efficiency.  Sensible recovery efficiency (SRE) greater than 80% is generally considered strong, and many units still fall in the 60–70% range. 

According to Panasonic, the Elite Plus+ 150 aims to bridge the gap between budget units and higher-end, expensive residential ERVs by offering high efficiency at a mid-range price point. Elite Plus+ 150 units are also designed to operate more effectively in extreme cold conditions as low as -13 Fahrenheit and with greater static pressure. The units have an airflow capacity of 30-150 CFM, suitable for mid-to-large sized homes and multi-family units. They ship as a default with higher efficiency MERV 13 filters, which can capture over 90% of particles 1-3 microns and over 85% of particles 3-10 microns. These filters can capture a high percentage of airborne particles including pollen, dust, pet dander, mold spores, and many bacteria and virus-carrying particles, helping to improve indoor air quality. These ERVs were designed to meet more stringent building codes, including ASHRAE 62.2, LEED, and California Title-24.

ERVs exhaust stale indoor air while bringing in fresh outdoor air, transferring both heat and moisture so that incoming outdoor air is partially “conditioned” by the outgoing indoor air. The energy and moisture transfer occurs as the two streams pass each other inside the unit’s enthalpy core—a thin, semi-permeable membrane that allows heat and moisture exchange without mixing the air streams directly.  To learn more, view this helpful video Panasonic shared to explain how ERVS work.