Improving Indoor Air Quality: Moving to the Top of the To-Do List
While new studies highlight the perils of poor indoor air quality, innovative air filters point to a solution
RIVERDALE, N.J., Aug. 22, 2014 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- Air Filtration News:
The news, it seems, is everywhere: Clean indoor air has become a pressing concern -- and priority. In France, a recent study estimated that the health care costs and lost productivity stemming from indoor air pollution amounted to €19 billion annually (approximately US $25 billion), in that country alone. Another study -- by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency -- found that indoor levels of air pollutants are often 2 to 5 times higher than outdoor pollutant levels. And perhaps most ominously, the World Health Organization recently estimated that 4.3 million deaths in 2012 could be linked to poor indoor air quality.
Little wonder, then, that hospitals, schools, manufacturers, and other businesses are all asking the same question: How can indoor air quality (IAQ) be improved -- and the risks of poor IAQ, including asthma, heart disease, and cancer, be reduced? (It's a question homeowners are asking, too, with The Wall Street Journal reporting in June on the use of hospital-grade air filtration systems in residential projects in New York and other cities.)
Yet this is a question that has an answer -- and one that can be implemented much more easily and cost effectively than most businesses and property owners might think. Next-generation air filters do a dramatically better job of removing harmful particles from indoor air, while lasting longer -- and using less energy -- than more traditionally designed filters.
While outdoor air quality has improved markedly in certain regions over the past generation, indoors -- where we spend some 90 percent of our day, according to the EPA -- is the new battleground. The headlines show that we still have plenty of work cut out for us to improve indoor air quality, and reduce the risks that can bring harm to schoolchild and factory worker alike. But with today's cutting-edge clean air solutions, IAQ is a battle that can be won -- and a victory that can be shared by all of us.
