Green Basics: Indoor Air Pollution
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 10.11.07
Pollution from power plants, cars, and other transportation is a well-known contributor to outdoor air pollution, but indoor air pollution is often worse; it can be up to 10 times worse for you than the air outside. Microbial pollutants like mold, pet dander and plant pollen can combine with chemicals like radon and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to create a pretty toxic environment in your home; since we spend an average of 90% of our time indoors and 65% of our time inside our homes, according to the National Safety Council that can add up to allergies, asthma and worse.
Everything that comes in to our homes has the potential to be harmful to our health; this includes things from the building materials and elements that hold our homes together to the furniture we sit on and the paint that goes on the walls. Indoor air pollution can be bad, but it doesn't have to be.
Indoor air pollution can be easy to manage once you understand where it comes from. Looking at the image above gives you some idea of the more common sources for poor indoor air quality. In many cases, it comes from chemicals that are part of the things that you bring into your home; the polyurethane common in mattresses, formaldehyde and organic chemicals like dioxin, polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) and polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) used in lots of furniture and other interior elements are all harmful to us humans. Drapes, carpets and other absorbent fabrics can help trap these nasties, along with dust, mites and other allergens, and our modern, mostly airtight homes keep them inside. Remember this: if there are chemicals and VOCs in a product, there are chemicals and VOCs that could come out, and they won't be good for you if they do.
Not having proper ventilation can also help promote mold and other microbial growth, especially in damp climates; if cellulosic materials (like paper, wood and drywall) become moist and fail to dry within 48 hours, mold colonies can propagate and release allergenic spores into the air. As such, a basic way of maintaining the health of indoor air is by the frequency of effective replacement of the indoor air with cleaner outdoor air.
Aside from keeping known pollutants out of our homes, there are several strategies for keeping the indoor air healthy. At the top of the list is maintaining proper ventilation, which can be done most easily by just opening up the windows at regular intervals (even in the winter). Using green cleaning products can help cut way back on the toxins in your home, as citrus and pine-based solvents can react with ozone to create formaldehyde. Keeping pesticides out of your garden and off your lawn can also help, as they're easy to track in on shoes and clothing. It's also important to keep filters and vents clean, as pollutants can cycle through air ducts and central heating and cooling mechanisms.
For further reading in TreeHugger, check out our top 5 plants for improving indoor air quality, our picks for improving the quality of the air in your homes, and read up on considerations when picking out an indoor air filter. For outside sources, we recommend checking out the US EPA's indoor air quality site, along with the US National Library of Medicine's Environmental Health and Toxicology indoor air quality section and the Medline Plus Indoor Air Pollution section.
Get the scoop on other Green Basics here, and stay tuned for more.
Pet dander and plant pollen are pollutants? Irritants and allergens perhaps, but pollutants? Worry about the VOC's you can't detect, not the stuff that makes you sneeze.
Doesn't look like the family in the last photo can open their windows- my problem at the office.
Air pollution is what we all notice least
Yet it is still a great pollutant beast
That we need to sort out quickly at least
Long before we ourselves cease to exist
(C) Samuel Goh Kim Eng Fri. 12th Oct. 2007
http://MotivationInMotion.blogspot.com
the home inside is also harmful to people's heath because of indoor polluting,it seems that we have no safe place to live in,why? whether we adopt some measures to improve this bad conditions or we make full use of natural materials to build our home with no polltions,this is indeed a interesting and boring problem,on one hand ,we humans create large amount of wealthiness over thousands years which greatly improve people's life,on the other hand,what we humans produce make great damage to the environment and also harm the human being,what should we do?It's a complicated problem,after all,the problem produced by the human have to be solved by human itself,reback to the nature and live with the nature harmoniously may be a solution,try best to suit with the environment around us,the human itself
is part of nature and should learn to abide by the natural laws until human and nature are combined to integrate to be one,the one is the top goal.
If all registered Blog Action Day bloggers do their part
It won't be long before we reach 151515 bloggers' hearts
Leaving behind enough strong impressions never to depart
Making 15th October 2007 with THE ENVIRONMENT as issue to impact and impart
(C) Samuel Goh Kim Eng Fri. 12th Oct. 2007
http://MotivationInMotion.blogspot.com
I was shocked when I found out that indoor air quality is worse than the air we breathe outside because this is where we spend most of our time!
To protect ourselves from VOCs it is also important to consider the furnishings we bring into our home. For me a green product is one which has an environmental AND a health benefit, because very often green products are considered green because they are made from renewable or recycled resources, and yet can still cause harm to our health through off-gassing of toxic chemicals, as very often found in the lacquered finishes on bamboo or wooden furniture. This learning was one of the reasons my partners and I started to represent TEAM 7 (www.team7.at) furniture in the US. This natural wood manufacturer uses only natural, non-toxic oils and waxes as wood finish and all products that are used in the production process must not be known to cause cancer or pose any other health risks, and must have very low VOC emmisions.
Everyone talks about how bad indoor air quality is how our homes are so bad off in these blogs. No one has mentioned anything about the solution. VENTILATION Most homes today are simply under ventilated. Our home's A~C systems are "closed loop" meaning they just recirculate the same toxins over and over again. Our E-Z Breathe ventilation system(ezbreathe.com) actually DOES something and expels all these toxins and gasses outside where they belong. Our very own independent tests have proven to reduce levels of Radon gas in homes where it was a problem in. Many air purifiers emit high levels of Ozone which only exacerbate or worsen respiratory conditions and the state of California has started to regulate this ever growing problem in cleaning up air cleaners. Read the press release on our website at http://www.ventilatetoday.com
i feel ill and achey a lot from work...and i often wonder if it has anything to do with the face that our building is a converted industrial space that was used for an automobile dealer previously...
houseplants really cut down on indoor pollution, i'm surprised its not mentioned here
According to a WHO report, indoor pollution is the most serious environmental crisis in the developing countries. The most dangerous pollutants released from bio-fuels are carbon monoxide, particulates, formaldehyde and polycyclic organic agents.
DON'T USE GREEN CLEANING PRODUCTS.
You wrote:
"Using green cleaning products can help cut way back on the toxins in your home, as citrus and pine-based solvents can react with ozone to create formaldehyde."
Actually, as you correctly indicate, citrus and pine-based solvents (green cleaning products) do react with ozone and do form formaldehyde, higher molecular weight aldehydes, acidic aerosols, and fine and ultrafine particles. Thus, using green cleaning will not cut way back on the toxins in your home but will increase exposure to toxic and irritating chemicals, more harmful than the ones from which they are formed. It doesn't take much ozone either, and there is sufficient ozone almost everywhere, especially during the afternoon on warm, sunny days and during the summer.
I am workingon a science fair in 7th grade imy problem is, "does air pollution vary in aweek". so i need to know how to test it using a graph on the weeks.
houseplants really cut down on indoor pollution... following NASA study ...
Right now a french designer + an american from Havard dvp an air purifier called Bel air...is it a progress or not?
Cedesol Foundation is greatly concerned with indoor air pollution, the kind produced in developing world countries through harmful cooking methods. It is one of only five organizations worldwide selected by the Environmental Protection Agency of the U.S.A. in a Partnership for Clean Indoor Air. To find out more about the work of Cedesol Foundation please visit www.cedesol.org or our community on change.or: cedesol
Thanks
I'm surprised no mention has been made of the industry body certifying furniture as 'indoor safe', having very low or no VOC seepage.
Greenguard
http://www.greenguard.org/
The Greenguard Environmental Institute governs the GREENGUARD Certification Program and provides the world's only guide to third-party certified low emitting interior products and building materials. All certified products undergo quarterly indoor air quality performance testing according to stringent environmental chamber testing protocols and meet current indoor air quality standards.
It's been amazing to me to see how indoor air quality can affect your life. We have an interesting video on our site if you'd like to check it out...it shows the insides of your air ducts before cleaning:
Duct Cleaning Video
I'm writing an article for All American Homes on Energy consumption in a typical home and indoor air quality. I'm looking for someone to interview on this topic. If anyone knows anyone who is an expert on this topic (not just a commentator giving opinions) please contact me and let me know within the next week.