Air quality in our office
Hi, I’m Dr. Kille and today I’m discussing an important aspect of health, air quality. In our office we use an air purifier with electric particle separation or precipitator to improve air quality. A friend sent information on a natural way to clean the air in your home or work place. This plant-based system can improve air oxygen levels and reduce VOC’s, volatile air chemicals found in paint, carpet and more.
As we expand our office space Perfect Health staff will be using ideas like these to continue providing the best possible environment for our patients and care givers.
Thank you to Paharpur Business Centre for the suggestions below.
Air quality in your home
1. Areca Palm (Chrysalidocarpus lutescens)
Works well in the day time
Great for living areas
One needs about 4 shoulder high plants/person
Needs to be put outdoors once every 3-4 months
The leaves of the plant need to be wiped everyday in Delhi and perhaps once a month in a cleaner city
The soil used should be of vermi manure or use hydroponics
2. Mother-in-law’s Tongue (Sansevieria trifasciata)
Converts CO2 into O2 at night
One requires about 6-8 such waist high plants per person in the bedroom
Leaves need to be wiped in the same way as the Areca Palm
The soil used should be of vermi manure or use hydroponics
3. Money Plant (Epipremnum aureum)
Excellent for removing Formaldehyde and other VOC’s
Best grown using hydroponics
How do we know this works?
We have tried and tested these plants for 15 years at Paharpur Business Centre and Software Technology Incubator Park (PBC™ – STIP) in New Delhi, India. It is a 20 year old, 50,000 ft2 building, with over 1,200 plants for 300 building occupants.
PBC™ – STIP is rated the healthiest building in Delhi by the Government of India.* Their study found that there is a 42% probability of increasing blood oxygen by 1% if one is inside the building for 10 hours.
Also, compared to other buildings in Delhi, the incidence of eye irritation reduced by 52%, lower respiratory symptoms by 34%, headaches by 24%, upper respiratory symptoms by 20%, lung impairment by 10-12% and Asthma by 9%. As a result of fewer sick days — employee productivity also increased.
* Study published on September 8, 2008 by The Govt. of India, Central Pollution Control Board and Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute, Kolkata, India
We conducted another experiment and sealed all fresh air and exhaust from the building for 6 weeks and found that that the air quality inside the building was better than outdoors.
We saved over 15% in energy costs as we did not have to inject 15-20 cfm of fresh air in to the building as suggested by ASHRAE – an industry standard.
Our experience points to an amazing increase in human productivity resulting from using these plants to be >20%, and energy costs to reduce by an extraordinary >15%.
You can check on today’s indoor air quality at http://www.pbcnet.com