Most Indoor Air Dirtier Than the Dirtiest Outdoor Air
August 18, 2009
By Joe Castner
So I'm sitting on the sun porch of a cozy log cabin on the shores of Payette Lake, in McCall Idaho, breathing cool, clean mountain air, reading the Idaho Statesman, when I come across a newspaper article entitled, "Small Particulates Can Be a Big Problem In Your Home", written by Mehmet Oz and Mike Roizen, "The You Docs". It really is unbelievable how much news and information about the health risks associated with poor Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) is out there if you're tuned into it.
Well, being in the biz, I am definitely tuned into it. The first thing that catches my eye is that Los Angeles is no longer the dirty air capital of the US. That infamous title now belongs to Bakersfield CA, and Pittsburg, PA. But before anyone should breathe a sigh of relief, the authors disclose that most people's indoor air is dirtier than the dirtiest outdoor air, and that it's small, airborne, respirable suspended particles (RSPs) that are the culprits, and that they are "so small that 50,000 of them could pit on top of the period at the end of this sentence". Now that's small!
The article reiterates that these particles can trigger asthma attacks and can worsen or even cause serious respiratory diseases including Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), and inscrease the risk of heart attack, stroke, and early death.
The authors also host a website chocked full of useful health related information. Go to http://www.RealAge.com. For example, by typing "particulates" into their search engine, I was able to locate 152 articles from some very reputable sources that should be able to convince anyone that poor IAQ is a serious health problem that is probably going to become a lot worse before it gets any better, and homeowners need to do something about it now, both to protect themselves and their loved ones. These guys really are providing a wonderful public service and I recommend you visit their website.
They also included in the article a six-point checklist for reducing the damaging health risks associated with airborne particles Among these was maintaining your HVAC system including keeping the filters clean. I heartily agree with this recommendation. They also recommend creating a "safe haven" in the home by buying and installing a "hepa" system in at least one room in the house. On the face of it, this may sound like a good idea, but being in the biz, I cannot support this idea. These systems are very expensive, consume tons of electricity, emit harmful ozone which can be as bad or worse for your health than tiny airborne particles, are difficult to clean, and only clean the air in a very small area for a very short period of time before they need to be cleaned. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone, especially when you could instead have AspenAir Inside, turning your entire home into a "safe haven", lowering your energy bills by up to 30% with zero risk of ozone entering your indoor environment. Now I could recommend this solution to anyone and everyone, and, in fact, I have!
Vacation also afforded me the opportunity to consider how fortunate I am to have AspenAir Inside my home. Many people "get away from it all" taking trips to the beach or the mountains to get to someplace where the air is fresh and clean. I love taking trips and getting away from time to time, but not escape bad air. My family and I already enjoy the cleanest, heathiest air that we will ever breathe back home with our AspenAir Inside. We get to enjoy this "vacation-grade" air everyday. I came back to work re-committed to educating and informing the public about the health risks associated with bad IAQ, as well as how simple and affordable it is to eliminate those risks with AspenAir Inside.
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