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Recently, a researcher affiliated with Harvard said facility managers do more as “healthcare workers” for a workforce than physicians. The thinking: people spend the majority of their day in workplaces, and facility managers can influence that environment.

Joseph Allen, Ph.D., assistant professor of Exposure Assessment Science and director of the Healthy Buildings Program at the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Chan School, worked on a study that showed a correlation between cognitive function and indoor environment.

“The person most responsible for your health is the (facility manager)…more so than any medical doctor,” Allen said. “We spend so much of our time indoors that these people are critical. They can be thought of as healthcare workers because they are responsible for our health—and if that person is doing a good job, they are keeping everybody in that building healthy.”

The Study

In his study, called COGfx (short for cognitive effects), 24 white-collar workers were given cognitive performance tests to compare test-taking in green building office environments versus those with conventional construction.

The green buildings used enhanced air ventilation with low volatile organic compound production and high ventilation, while conventional buildings didn’t have improved ventilation in place. Participants were given daily cognitive assessment tests in areas such as crisis response, strategy development and information usage.

The Results

Based on the study, the workers averaged scores 101 percent higher in enhanced green buildings than not and crisis response scores were 131 percent higher in the enhanced “green” building settings. In information usage tests, scores were 299 percent higher in enhanced air ventilation environments than conventional settings, and were 288 percent higher during strategy tests.

Allen also thinks the study can shine a light on needed focus. “(These results suggest that) even modest improvements to indoor environmental quality may have a profound impact on the decision-making performance of workers,” he said. “We spend 90 percent of our time indoors, and 90 percent of the cost of a building are the occupants, yet indoor environmental quality and its impact on health and productivity are often an afterthought. We have been ignoring the 90 percent.”

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You know those TV commercials pushing probiotics, the ones claiming there’s good microorganisms in your stomach that battle the bad? Well, that’s what healthcare professionals call the Human Microbiome, a balance of microorganisms in internal organs that both regulate health and cause illness. Researchers have for years been mapping the Human Microbiome, much like in the way that predecessors mapped the Human Genome. The idea: by mapping out the microorganisms living in humans, healthcare professionals may be able to see patterns or affect change in the body by modifying the overall mix.

Now, researchers at the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) are attempting to map a microbiome for manmade environments, like office buildings, in the hopes that they can understand how microbial environments affect human health.

As part of its study, NAS is looking at the ways different microbials invade built environments, as well as how humans impact these environments, like workplaces. By better understanding the interplay of people and environments, the researchers hope to determine how to influence these environments—like what kinds of building materials, ventilation systems and construction techniques would create positive microbiomes. The final report is expected to be released sometime this year.

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At the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show, the focus was on the “Internet of Things:” the interconnectivity of devices with lifestyles and constant feedback via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. So, you now have refrigerators that can alert you when you’re running low on milk, or home security systems that also change lighting to fit your mood.

One company, Plume Labs, introduced a wearable air quality monitor for the general public at CES. Called Flow, the device is meant to crowdsource data on air quality and monitor pollution as a person goes about their workday and evening. The thinking: With more data, consumers can make informed decisions about pollution solutions.

The monitor resembles a perforated tube with a leather-like strap that allows you to affix it to your backpack, clothing, a stroller, your bike…you name it. By taking it with you, and syncing it to an app—naturally—you’d get a readout of particulate matter and dust levels, nitrogen oxide from car emissions, ozone and volatile organic compound levels, as well as outside temperature and humidity.

Because other people around your area will also have continuous readings from their Flow devices, the app will aggregate crowd-sourced data to provide maps of problem areas, as well as places with better air.

Flow could become a good way to see what’s happening in the air around you, which is a perfect transition to actually combatting bad air, like installing AeraMax® Professional air purifiers in workplaces.

Flow will be launched nationwide later this year; pricing is yet to be determined.

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The Problem

When it comes to air pollution, there’s bad, and then there’s Beijing bad. The air quality was so poor in the major Chinese city during the fourth quarter of 2016 that officials took the unusual step of grounding air flights from the Beijing airport. The reason: Pilots couldn’t see the runway on landing approach, even from only a few hundred feet in the air.

Credit: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

The Cause

Officials attributed the heavy smog to a number of factors, including automobile exhaust, a drop in temperatures that resulted in increased use of wood-burning stoves and fireplaces, a spike in humidity that kept smog in place, and the coal-burning factories and plants in the area.

Worst yet, Beijing wasn’t the only hotspot. In the Sichuan province, more than 20,000 people were stuck at that local airport one day after flights were grounded because of heavy smog.

The Solution

In an effort to limit these instances, Beijing is experimenting with as new police force, which is tasked with tracking down environmental offenders. So, the new squad will be on the lookout for people burning garbage, organic fuel like wood or moss or barbequing in the open. In addition, the local government has pledged to close the city’s coal-fired energy plant, reducing coal consumption by 30 percent. Officials also want to removed older vehicles from the road, and improve some road conditions, which kick up dust from use.

Still, issues remain. In the region, regulatory violations are openly flaunted by companies, with industries continuing production even when told to cease because of pollution concerns. There’s no word whether the new police squad will enforce industrial regulations.

All this comes at a time when Chinese workers are becoming more anxious about pollution levels, with sales of personal filtration masks and novelty “fresh air” canisters at an all-time high.

Credit: The Washington Post

AeraMax PRO combats bad air

To this end, AeraMax Professional has redoubled efforts to bring commercial-grade air filtration systems to more Chinese companies, in a move to improve overall indoor air quality. AeraMax Professional air purifiers have been proven to remove up to 99.97 percent of airborne contaminants from indoor spaces, making them a perfect way to combat bad air coming in.

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In recent years, foggy Londontown has been more like smoggy Londontown—that’s because diesel vehicle emissions have gone unchecked, spewing toxic nitrogen dioxide chemicals into an air that was more souplike than fresh.

Now, however, the city’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, plans to do something about it.

He’s proposed a doubling in funds to combat air pollution, and aims to improve overall air quality via new measures. The biggest move: he plans to improve the more than 9,000 buses in the city’s public bus fleet, retrofitting them to operate on clean diesel fuel or replace buses outright. He also will be creating a compensation fund to prompt taxi drivers to replace older taxis with electric or hydrogen-fueled cars with zero emissions.

In addition, he’s developed a “low emissions zone” in the city, where older diesel vehicles that produce more nitrogen dioxide pay more to enter. That hopefully will encourage owners of these vehicles to replace them in the long run.

“With nearly 10,000 Londoners dying early every year due to air pollution, tackling poor air quality is a public health emergency that requires bold action,” Khan said. “I want London to be a world leader in how we respond to the challenge of cleaning up our air.”

Still, there’s a long way to go. To wit: a plan proposed by the mayor to ban older cars altogether was voted down by the local government.

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