You have experienced several COVID-19 lockdowns and have observed how much clearer the air is outside. You have liked spending time indoors while keeping all of your windows open to let in the fresh air.
This pristine air is a result of the pandemic’s global economic decline. But what will happen if the economic engine starts up again? When the local economy picked back up, did all those trucks restart?
Is it time to shut the doors and windows? Maybe… To a significant extent, this is based on your particular preferences. It’s also time to reconsider how you plan to control the quality of the air within your home (IAQ).
Even while you may be spending more time outside, the time you spend indoors exposes you to more pollution than you might realize. Therefore, you could be considering solutions to your home’s poor air quality issues. Let us assist you with the response.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that the typical person spends about 90% of their time indoors. The EPA also warns that interior air quality can be far worse than outside air pollution. It’s often two to five times more polluted.
According to a different study, long-term exposure to air pollution appears to have negative effects on cognition that get worse with age, potentially raising the likelihood of developing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
In other words, poor air won’t make you smarter and will really have a negative impact on your health!
We will discuss the factors that contribute to poor indoor air quality, their consequences, and the methods you may use to improve it in this post. There are many simple, non-permanent solutions for renters as well; this article is not just for homeowners.
Although this article is comprehensive and covers every aspect of IAQ, you can jump to any section by clicking the section below.
Why is indoor air quality so poor?
The main source of indoor air pollution is your home, where a variety of sources discharge gases and particles into the air.
Insufficient ventilation reduces the amount of outside air that contributes to dilution of emissions from interior pollution sources, as is the case in energy-efficient homes without enough mechanical ventilation.
Additionally, the ability of indoor air pollution to vent outside of your home is diminished by this lack of ventilation.
Understanding the origins of pollution helps improve your comprehension of how to address indoor air quality issues and eliminate them at the source, hence reducing the health risks.
Each of these sources contributes to the overall amount of indoor pollution in houses, even though none of them alone may constitute a serious health concern. These are all potential allergen triggers.
Although not all indoor air contaminants are listed below, the following are some of the most prevalent:
Polluting the air outside
Combustion sources, including those from motor vehicles, the burning of solid fuel for electricity production, and other sectors, are the main contributors of air pollution. Other sources include vegetation emissions, wind-blown dust, and wildfires like those that occur annually in the western US.
There are three standard methods for monitoring outdoor air pollution:
PM10 – Particulate Matter (PM)10 has a diameter that is 10 micrometers or less. Generally speaking, PM10 can be found in your home together with dust, pollen, mold, etc.
PM2.5 – The term “PM2.5” refers to particles with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or smaller. Due of its extreme smallness, PM2.5 is particularly hazardous and can only be detected under a microscope. Because of its size, it can pass through the nose and throat and enter the lungs deeply. Some of it might even enter the bloodstream.
Tropospheric Ozone – Heat reacts with contaminants in the lower atmosphere to produce ground-level ozone (O3). The most frequent ozone sources are gases produced by industrial and transportation processes, such as nitrogen oxides (NOX) and volatile organic compounds (VOC).
Other sources of air pollution include sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) (SO2). Higher levels of ozone and PM can have significant negative health impacts.
PM exposure puts elderly persons, children, and those with lung and heart conditions at higher risk. These are all significant health risks that will result in additional health issues!
Indoor Combustion Sources
Your home’s internal combustion sources could produce more particulate particles (PM). Gas stove cooking, cigarette smoke, candle burning, and unvented space heaters like kerosene heaters are a few of the more well-known sources.
Gas stoves release a variety of air pollutants, including CO, NOX, including NO2, particulate matter, and formaldehyde, according to some intriguing research that was recently published. They have all been connected to different long-term and short-term health impacts.
biological pollutants
These include pathogens like bacteria, mold, mildew, and viruses, as well as pollutants like dust, soil, plant debris, and pests like mites and cockroaches.
You can also include pollen, which for certain people might be a substantial source of allergens.
These toxins can be transmitted by a variety of channels, including animals, mice, and bugs that get inside your home, soil, and plant debris that is carried by people or the wind.
Organic Volatile Compounds (VOC)
VOCs, as they are generally called, are gases that are released into the air by a variety of goods and operations. These contain a range of substances that could have negative short- to long-term health consequences.
Indoors, VOC concentrations are constantly higher than outdoors, often up to ten times higher.
According to one study, various indoor sources were responsible for more than 70% of indoor VOC concentrations.
44 percent of the total came from household items, followed by 10.5 percent from combustion processes and environmental tobacco smoke, 8.5 percent from deodorizers, and 5.9 percent from off-gassing from building materials.
Many of the household products that include these organic compounds can be found in a variety of products and household items.
Common indoor sources of VOC’s:
Paints, varnishes, and waxes
Cleaning and disinfecting chemicals
Printers and copiers
Degreasing and hobby products
Fuel products
Aerosol sprays
Cosmetic and Beauty products
Floorings
Furniture and Building materials
Oil and gas sector emissions, traffic emissions, background emissions, and biogenic emissions were the main outdoor sources of VOCs. Plants produce biological emissions during the stages of growth, development, reproduction, and defense.
A fascinating observation about furniture is that, depending on the design, it may be a considerable generator of VOCs. It can frequently be found in glues, plywood, and particleboard.
Additionally, some fabrics, draperies, and some varieties of foam insulation contain formaldehyde. Even worse, foam has most likely been exposed to a chemical flame retardant.
A garage is vulnerable to a high VOC concentration since VOCs leach out of products throughout time, even while they are in storage, even if the amount released tends to diminish with time.
Central Cooling & Heating Systems
Mold, mildew, and other biological pollutants can grow and reproduce in contaminated central air systems.
They are ideal locations to disperse these evenly across your house. Your health could be harmed by the microorganisms that are growing in your HVAC system.
High Humidity
Extreme humidity is neither enjoyable nor pleasant. What’s worse is when this is a problem in your home. Your home’s excessive wetness promotes the growth of biological contaminants.
When warm, moist air meets a cold surface, moisture condenses into droplets.
However, excessively dry air can be uncomfortable, harmful, and cause static electricity to accumulate.
What humidity level should an interior space have? According to Energy Star, the ideal indoor relative humidity (RH) ranges from 30 to 50%.
Do you reside in Texas, Louisiana, or Florida? If so, you are fully aware of what I’m referring to. The moisture content of your property is undoubtedly influenced by regional climates and local weather.
The northeast and midwest are cold and wet, the southwest is hot and dry, and the western mountain states are cold and dry. The south is hot and wet. Different climates have different moisture problems and different remedies.
What about the interior, though? Bathing, cooking, drying clothing, and dishwashing are common indoor activities that contribute moisture to the air. In addition to encouraging the growth of pests, excessive moisture harms siding, paint, insulation, and wood.
Monitoring Air Quality
Numerous air quality monitors on the market for indoor use can gauge the concentrations of contaminants including VOC and PM. You can use this to make informed observations about the pollution sources.
Great items are produced by GZAIR. This gauge monitors pressure, total VOC, humidity, temperature, CO2, and radon.
The PT02 is the top air quality tester for 2022. This is the indoor air quality monitor you want if you’re also looking for PM2.5 and PM10 measurements.
With the help of this advanced device, you may measure CO2, VOCs, PM2.5, PM1.0, temperature, and humidity.
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