Commercial kitchen design professionals were concerned that the minimum exhaust air ductwork velocity of 1,500 fpm (7.62 m/s), as required by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA 96), was too restrictive. ASHRAE Technical Committee 5.10, Kitchen Ventilation, sponsored and provided project guidance for a recently completed research project, RP-1033, addressing the relationship between grease deposition and exhaust velocity. The research project not only resulted in several published documents, but NFPA 96 reduced the minimum exhaust velocity to 500 fpm (2.54 m/s) in March 2002.