TED 2009: How to Grow Your Own Fresh Air
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY 
on 02. 5.09
In case you don’t know TED 2009 is going on in California: TreeHugger’s own Graham Hill is in attendance, but one thing which caught my eye from the other side of the country was a slideshow on how to grow you own fresh air, using only three indoor plants: the Areca Palm, Mother-in-Law’s Tongue (an unfortunately named plant if there every was one), and the Money Plant:
After studying the effects these plants had on air quality for the past 15 years in a building in New Delhi, India it was found that there was a 42% probability of increasing blood oxygen by 1% simply by being in the building for one hour. Compared to other buildings in the city, eye irritation was reduced by 52%, respiratory symptoms down by 34%, headaches by 24%, lung impairment by 12%, and asthma by 9%.
The only possible downside to this seems to be that you have to have a number of these plants in a room for them to be this effective: Four shoulder high Areca Palms per person and six to eight Mother-in-Law’s Tongues that are waist high per person. So, you're creating you own personal, air purifying forest...
More: GreenSpaces and TED Blog
Indoor Air Quality
10 Tips For Improving Indoor Air Quality
VOCs: Volatile Organic Compounds, Indoor Air Quality and Respiratory Health
Green Eyes On: Healing and Air Purifying Plants
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