Tag Archives: air quality

In recent years, all sorts of companies have focused their attention on the environment—and some have intensified efforts to correct the ills of poor air quality due to global air pollution. Now, home furnishing giant IKEA is stepping into the indoor air quality arena in a most unusual way.

Introducing GUNRID

The company has developed a fabric curtain that helps reduce air pollution when exposed to light—both sunlight and indoor lighting. Called the GUNRID, the curtain is coated with a mineral-based treatment that acts almost like photosynthesis, breaking down surface pollutants to reduce indoor air pollution. Given that indoor air is two to five times more polluted than outdoor air—which itself is quite polluted—any measure of help in helping poor air quality is a boon.

“For me, it’s important to work on products that solve actual problems and are relevant to people. Textiles are used across homes and by enabling a curtain to purify the air, we are creating an affordable and space-saving air purifying solution that also makes the home more beautiful,” says Mauricio Affonso, Product Developer at IKEA Range & Supply.

In addition, the company is also committed to reducing air pollution in its manufacturing processes. IKEA is exploring ways to turn rice straw, a rice harvesting residue that contributes to air pollution because it is typically burned for disposal, into a renewable material source for future products.

Still, the company acknowledges that these are small steps. “We know that there is no single solution to solve air pollution,” says Lena Pripp-Kovac, Head of Sustainability at Inter IKEA Group. “We work long term for positive change, to enable people to live healthier and more sustainable lives.”

What can you do about poor air quality now?

Currently, there’s a more proven—and significant—solution to poor air quality. The complete line of AeraMax Professional air purifiers uses a four-stage filtration system employing hospital-like True HEPA filtration to eliminate 99.97 percent of airborne contaminants, including viruses, germs, bacteria, odors and volatile organic compounds, from enclosed indoor spaces. The units also have a unique sensing system, which continually monitors the air, adjusting to clean air when necessary for the ultimate in set-it-and-forget-it convenience.

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In recent years, researchers have charted a medical phenomenon that affects a wide swath of people with no discernable connection—save one. All the people who experience symptoms of headaches, tiredness, ear, nose and throat irritation, dizziness and nausea have one thing in common: They spend a large amount of time in buildings. And the buildings are making them sick.

Sick Building Syndrome is a malady related to poor air quality in a building—air with germs, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), allergens and pathogens that is recirculated and “trapped” through inadequate ventilation. Compounding the problem is the fact that many buildings are constructed specifically to trap this air, with no way of opening windows. Likewise, older buildings have HVAC systems that cannot handle increased airflow—or worse yet, are “dialed down” to save on energy costs.

sick building syndrome

 

Newer, more energy-efficient buildings aren’t immune to the problem of Sick Building Syndrome either. According to the World Health Organization, up to 30 percent of new or remodeled buildings also cause Sick Building Syndrome. That’s because paint, solvents and adhesives used in new construction produce VOCs, as do new furniture and newly installed carpeting.

One way to potentially ease the threat of Sick Building Syndrome is to thoroughly scrub inside air. But given that indoor air is constantly being infiltrated with outdoor air—though open doorways and outside access—it’s important to continually monitor and clean it. And that’s exactly what the complete line of AeraMax Professional air purifiers were designed to do.

These commercial-grade air purifiers use a four-stage filtration system employing hospital-like True HEPA filtration to eliminate 99.97 percent of airborne contaminants from enclosed spaces. So, while conventional HVAC systems exacerbate the problem of sick air, AeraMax Professional actually removes it, cycling cleaned air into the enclosed space.

The units have a unique sensing system, which continually monitors the air, adjusting to clean air when necessary. Since they are effective in removing VOCs from the air, they are also ideal in new construction, or buildings that have been recently remodeled.

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In recent years, the scientific community has accelerated efforts to combat air pollution and poor air quality with every defense in its arsenal—after all, many cities across the world experience hazardous levels of pollution, and more cities join the list every day.

So, it’s no wonder scientists have taken to some extreme measures in hopes for a cure-all. To this end, researchers recently focused efforts on finding a solution to indoor pollution; indoor air quality is often two to five times more polluted than outdoor air. So, scientists at the University of Washington genetically modified a strain of the common houseplant Pothos Ivy to actively remove benzene and chloroform from the air in controlled lab settings. Benzene is a known carcinogen and is found in secondhand smoke; chloroform is a probable human carcinogen.

Pothos Ivy to actively remove benzene and chloroform from the air in controlled lab settings

The scientists modified the genetic makeup of the plant, introducing a protein that proved to absorb and degrade benzene and chloroform in the air in small amounts. While promising, the results are still a long way from providing large-scale relief…but have encouraged researchers to explore more genetic modification avenues to improve indoor air quality.

Currently, there is a simpler way to improve indoor air quality—the complete line of AeraMax Professional air purifiers removes up to 99.97 percent of airborne contaminants like allergens, bacteria, volatile organic compounds, germs and viruses from indoor spaces such as offices, labs and common areas. Using sophisticated four-stage True HEPA filtration systems, the purifiers automatically scan indoor settings and scrub the air when contaminants are present.

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As a dental lab owner, you know the air inside the lab is often hazy, what with all the grinding and polishing and chipping and chiseling. But you may not know indoor air—any indoor air—is already two to five times more polluted than outdoor air. That makes air inside dental labs even more problematic.

Unfortunately, some dental lab owners think the solution to bad air lies in focusing on the building’s HVAC system. That won’t solve the problem of poor air quality. Here’s why:

HVAC systems recirculate air, but they don’t do a thing about cleaning the air. HVAC filters can trap very large particles, but things like volatile organic compounds (VOCs), germs, bacteria and allergens pass right through typical HVAC filters. That doesn’t alleviate the problem of poor air quality inside buildings.

Dental lab owners may think installing better filters in existing HVAC systems will eliminate the problem. It won’t. That’s because premium filters designed specifically for HVAC systems are bulky, and while they do a better job of trapping bad air in the direct area near the intake, these thick filters drag down HVAC efficiency, significantly reducing airflow. So, HVAC will work harder, break down more often and still not solve the poor air quality problem. Additionally, these modifications to existing HVAC systems do nothing for areas that aren’t near the intakes.

That’s also true of the intakes around grinding equipment—they will suck in dust in the immediate vicinity of a work station, but don’t help with the dust that escapes the intake and floats in the air.

Perhaps most importantly, HVAC systems spread dust and other contaminants farther and faster through recirculation. In essence, HVAC systems are air movers, not air improvers. There just isn’t enough efficiency in HVAC systems, because they are designed first and foremost to push air throughout buildings. Also, HVAC systems focus on the entirety of buildings, pushing air at the same rate throughout. That means indoor air quality problem areas will be ignored.

Instead of recirculating poor air, lab owners need to focus on removing it. In our opinion, the best way to do that is by installing AeraMax Professional air purifiers. These commercial-grade systems use hospital-type True HEPA filtration to effectively, quickly and efficiently remove 99.97 percent of airborne contaminants, like germs, bacteria, smoke, odors, allergens and VOCs, from indoor air. The four-stage filtration systems work automatically, because the units sense when poor air is present, adjusting to remove the bad air.

And, AeraMax Professional offers an array of different units to accommodate a variety of lab room sizes, meaning you can let your HVAC focus on what it’s meant to be doing. It’s a proven solution for dental labs—a solution dental lab owners need to consider.

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In recent years, scientists and health care professionals have focused more attention on the effects of poor indoor quality in a variety of settings. Two recent studies have turned the spotlight on an area that historically has been rife with germs, viruses and bad air: daycare centers.

Because daycare centers cater to children from infants to toddlers to pre-school-aged children, the chances of passing along germs and bacteria are relatively high.

The Finnish Study

So researchers in the city of Espoo, Finland—part of the metropolitan Helsinki area—looked at a random sample of 30 daycare centers to determine overall indoor air quality, gauging humidity, CO2 concentrations, temperature, airflow and other metrics.

In recent years, scientists and health care professionals have focused more attention on the effects of poor indoor quality in a variety of settings; two recent studies have turned the spotlight on an area that historically has been rife with germs, viruses and bad air: daycare centers.

If the air quality was already compromised, it would be made worse with the introduction of germs, viruses and bacteria. They took air samples during a one-day period and found air quality across the board was poor.

  • CO2 levels were charted beyond safe limits.
  • Older buildings not using newer HVAC systems experienced the worst levels.
  • Airflow was inadequate and temperature and humidity levels varied.

Children and staff were not well served, and air quality levels needed significant improvement. Surveys conducted with staff members cited unpleasant odors as the most prevalent perceptual problem.

The South Korean Study

But the bad air in childcare facilities is not isolated to Finland. A similar study was conducted by researchers in Seoul, Korea, where measurements were taken at 25 daycare centers. The researchers found high levels of the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene and styrene in the air. Their findings also showed significant levels of bacteria and mold, which was prevalent because of water damage to older centers and buildings. The study concluded that much more needed to be done to ensure healthier environments for children with still developing respiratory systems.

But what to do?

One answer lies in actually cleaning the air. AeraMax Professional air purifiers have been proven to effectively and efficiently remove contaminants from indoor air. Using a True HEPA hospital-type filtration system, AeraMax can rid the air of bacteria, VOCs, viruses, odors, germs and other irritants. It removes up to 99.97 percent of these pollutants from indoor air, sensing when the air needs to be clean automatically.

To see how AeraMax Professional helped childcare centers and nurseries, check out our case studies. Daycare facilities from France to Canada trust AeraMax Professional to make their facilities cleaner and healthier.

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