Improve Your Indoor Air Quality & Quality Of Life!
Poor ventilation increases pollutant levels. Air-sealing and duct-sealing offers advanced filtration to optimize health by improving your indoor air quality.
In the last several years, a growing body of scientific evidence continuously indicates that the air within our homes contains more pollutants than the outdoor air. In particular, this remains true even in the largest and most industrialized cities! Additionally, other research indicates people spend approximately 90% of their time indoors. Therefore, for many people, our health risks rise as we increase our exposure to indoor air pollution.
The primary cause of indoor air quality problems remains sources that emit gases or particles into the air in our homes. For example, poor ventilation increases the levels of these pollutants by not directing them outside. Additionally, poor ventilation doesn't bring enough outdoor (or fresh) air into our homes. As a result, reduced ventilation fails to dilute indoor pollutants. Plus, high temperatures and humidity levels also play a role in poor indoor air quality.
Common Symptoms of Poor Indoor Air Quality
Indoor air pollutants also cause a variety of health problems including:
- irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat.
With continued exposure, poor indoor air quality eventually causes respiratory disease, cancer, and heart disease. Also, the young, elderly and/or chronically ill (especially those suffering from respiratory or cardiovascular disease) remain particularly susceptible to the effects of poor indoor air quality. Even if your family doesn’t have noticeable symptoms, you should think about improving the air in your home. To help, please find some ideas and projects aimed at improving your air quality.
- Source Control — reducing or eliminating pollutant sources is generally the best and most effective way to improve your home’s IAQ. Some sources, like paint cans and some cleaning products, can simply be removed. Others, like gas stoves and water heaters, need to be adjusted to decrease the amount of pollutants they emit into your home. Air-sealing, duct-sealing, and moisture control—all major components of the GreenHomes home performance approach—also help keep pollutants out of your home.
- Ventilation Improvements — adding or replacing bathroom or kitchen exhaust fans that remove contaminants and dump them outside is another way to improve IAQ. Ventilation, whether mechanical or natural like opening your windows, brings in outdoor air and reduces the concentrations of indoor pollutants. Examining ventilation is another key element of home performance.
- Air Cleaners — installing the right air cleaners to remove pollutants from the air can be an important part of an overall IAQ strategy. We use advanced filtration and even UV technologies, depending on your needs. At GreenHomes we use this strategy only after source control and ventilation improvements have been tried. For more information see EPA’s Indoor Air Quality site.