Attaining a Green Building with Good Indoor Air Quality
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| Karthik Guduru |
The vast majority of people spend most of their time indoors, whether working, relaxing or sleeping. So the quality of the air we breathe while indoors can have a huge impact on our health, well being, and productivity. There are a number of illnesses and complaints which can be traced back to poor indoor air quality, and too many people overlook these. It’s therefore important that we understand the root causes of poor quality indoor air, and what we can do to improve it.
A report published by Cornell University in 2002 identified the primary causes of poor indoor air quality. These include:
• Microorganisms (such as dust mites and bacteria).
• Poor ventilation and inadequate fresh air.
• Tobacco smoke and oven fumes.
• Chemicals and pollutants from building materials.
• Contaminants which have been brought in from outside the building (industrial pollution from a nearby factory, for example).
Improving indoor air quality can be done by a simple three step process:
Step 1. Avoid high indoor emission rates for all pollutants.
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Step 2. Ensure adequate ventilation.
Step 3. Use of air purifiers to clean and balance the indoor air quality.
Thankfully, there are solutions at hand in order to correct problems with ventilation and poor indoor air quality. Utilizing an air purifier can make a major difference in the quality of the air in the home or office. There are air purifiers available that are specially designed to help remove airborne bacteria and other particles, which in turn helps to prevent asthma and other serious respiratory problems. Sufferers of dust and mite allergies will particularly benefit from using such state of the art devices.